User research about e-books in healthcare, for the five nations

We were asked by Health Education England knowledge and library service to undertake user research about the use of e-books amongst healthcare staff.

The work was led by Health Education England on behalf of the five nations, and covered the needs of healthcare staff in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The research engaged with both users and non-users across these five nations, exploring interactions with e-books and pain points.

We carried out 14 remote interviews, with the majority of these taking place over Zoom. We also ran a remote user workshop, helping us to gain a deeper understanding of the type of users accessing e-books and what their interactions with these typically look like. This enabled us to put together a comprehensive list of user needs, which we then tested and validated with users through an online survey.

The opportunity to work with users and clients from across the five nations involved in the project brought with it some unique opportunities and challenges. We needed to recruit users with a range of attributes AND with an even representation across the five nations. And recruitment proved to be more challenging in some nations than others. 

Our research revealed a high level of satisfaction amongst users of e-books, as well as a particularly high level of need.

We presented a detailed set of findings to representatives from NHS England, NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, HSC Northern Ireland and HSE Ireland. These conclusions will be used to support future decisions surrounding the provision of healthcare library service e-books.