Meaningful Technology at Work – A Reflective Design Case of Improving Radiologists' Wellbeing Through Medical Technology

DOI

In radiology, medical technology providers (MTP) focus mainly on technology-related issues, such as image quality or efficiency of reporting. Broader notions of radiology as "meaningful work" are largely seen as out of scope for an MTP. The present paper challenges this. In a real-world case with a large MTP, we showed that medical technology could be designed more holistically to explicitly improve radiologists' wellbeing. We first gathered work practices experienced as especially conducive to wellbeing. From there, we distilled ideal practices to increase wellbeing and turned them into two software applications. The MTP's initial skepticism dissolved, while radiologists unanimously emphasized wellbeing and demonstrated how they work towards improving it. Based on our insights, the applications resonated well among the radiologists involved, the healthcare provider, and other customers of the MTP. We close with a critical reflection of the challenges and opportunities of designing wellbeing-driven technology in the work domain.