Software Requirements Engineering in Digital Healthcare: A Case Study of the Diagnosis and Monitoring of Autism Spectrum Disorders in Children in the UK’s National Health Service

Abstract

A major issue in designing digital healthcare software solutions is ensuring they meet the clinical needs and requirements of key services, as well as the expectations of various healthcare professionals. Modern software requirements engineering must be adapted to cater for this demand; we argue that traditional (and popular) requirements engineering processes – particularly in relation to the elicitation and validation of key requirements – may not be the most appropriate within the context of a multi-disciplinary team of healthcare professionals. Successful software requirements engineering is vital in ensuring that digital healthcare solutions fulfill expectations and meet the clinical needs; we thus propose that new methods of gathering requirements in the ‘third space’ are needed. This paper draws on a case study of the multi-disciplinary team of healthcare professionals involved in the diagnosis and support of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in young children within the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). It is worth noting that, in the context of our case study, requirements engineering is an iterative process and requires the input of numerous stakeholders from often stretched and fragmented services.