TEACHING

Doing Field Research on Information Infrastructures

SWS & Credits

This course is a research seminar with excursions

Term: Summer 2025
Instructor: Kai Reimers
Topic: The Management of Medication Data in the Netherlands
CP (Credit Points): 10
Maximum number of participants: 16
Language: English

Programs

Objectives

Students will learn how to conduct field research on the topic of large information systems (information infrastructures). In particular, they will become familiar with the case study research method and learn how to collect data through in-depth interviews.

Contents

The so-called digital transformation of the healthcare sector is presently a top priority of many national governments and the subject of numerous projects and conferences. One area of particular concern is the risk that results from medication therapies. If a patient takes three or more drugs, the risk of harmful and unintended but avoidable interactions and side effects becomes quite significant. Often, the main problem for healthcare professionals is simply to know which drugs a patient takes. This problem can be addressed in various ways, including through a medication plan, a shared national patient record of medication data, and locally maintained patient records of medication data shared with others on demand.

For example, in Germany, a standardized medication plan was introduced in 2016 which, through a 2D barcode, allows for easy import of the medication data into the systems of various healthcare professionals. Beginning this year, a national electronic patient record is meant to provide medication data in a central repository (“ePA für Alle”) that can be accessed by authorized healthcare professionals. Denmark has introduced such a system in 2009, the so-called FMK, which was the subject of last year’s research seminar. An alternative route is pursued in the Netherlands. There, medication data of a patient are managed by an assigned pharmacy. Other healthcare professionals authorized to know the medication data of a patient will access the database of that pharmacy to retrieve the patient’s data automatically or otherwise contact that pharmacy to obtain the data. The main advantage of such a system is seen in its higher data quality, as there is a clearly assigned custodian responsible for the quality of a patient’s medication data.

The purpose of this Summer’s seminar is to explore in detail how this system works and how it has evolved. For this purpose, participants will study all available material on the Dutch system of managing medication data (published articles, reports, websites etc.) and, based on the understanding acquired in this manner, i.e. on desktop research, conduct in-depth interviews with relevant actors to fill in the gaps that could not be closed through desktop research. Based on these inquiries, they will prepare a report that describes the Dutch systems, how it works and how it has evolved. The report should be such that it is suitable for being submitted to an academic journal.

In practical terms, the seminar will initially focus on required techniques for conducting case study research, based on Robert Yin’s textbook (Yin 2014). In parallel, participants will engage in desktop research about the Dutch system of managing medication data. This phase will be concluded with the presentation of an initial research design, including the naming of possibly relevant organizations and persons to be approached for interviews. In the next phase, students will contact these persons and conduct interviews, ideally face-to-face. Since all destinations in the Netherlands can be easily reached by public transport from Aachen, students are quite flexible in terms of arranging their interviews (travel expenses will be reimbursed by us). Subsequently, participants will work on their final report and, for this purpose, continuously discuss upcoming issues in the regular meetings. Based on a first version, students will present their findings orally and also submit their first report for review. Based on feedback by the instructor, they will prepare the final version of their report.

Regular meetings with mandatory in-person participation :Wednesday, 10:30 to 12:00 a.m. In case of unanticipated problems or illness, a maximum of three sessions can be missed.

Course Dates

Research Seminar

 

Curriculum:

April 9: Kick-off

April 16: Case Study Research, Chapter 1

April 23: Case Study Research, Chapter 2

April 30: Case Study Research, Chapter 3

May 7: Case Study Research, Chapter 4

May 14: no session

May 21: Discussion of findings of desktop research

May 28: Case Study Research, Chapter 5; presentation of research design (first exam)

June 18: Presentation of interview findings

June 25: Presentation of interview findings (cont.)

July 2:Presentation and handing in of first report version (exam)

July 09: Feedback on presentation and report

July 17: : Report due

References

Yin, R. K. 2014. Case Study Research: Design and Methods, Los Angeles et al.: Sage.

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