WISH 2019: Bridging the High-Stakes Gap Between HCI and Healthcare Informatics

TL;DR

The Workgroup on Interactive Systems in Healthcare (WISH) symposium acts as a vital bridge between two often-disconnected worlds: the technical innovation of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and the rigorous, high-stakes environment of Biomedical Informatics. By fostering a cross-disciplinary agenda, WISH aims to solve the persistent "adoption gap" in health technology.

The "Silo" Problem: Why Health Tech Fails

Despite the explosion of wearable devices and electronic health records (EHRs), the medical field is littered with "well-designed" tools that fail in practice. The authors identify a critical mismatch:

• Prior Work Failure: Many systems are designed without a deep understanding of clinical workflows or the nuanced needs of patients managing chronic diseases.
• The Disconnection: HCI researchers (who focus on usability) and Biomedical Informaticians (who focus on health outcomes) rarely publish in the same venues, leading to fragmented knowledge.
• The Consequence: This lack of synergy results in medical errors, poorly designed systems, and technologies that are ultimately ignored by the people who need them most.

Methodology: A Trans-disciplinary Roadmap

The WISH 2019 symposium isn't just a meeting; it's a strategic intervention. The methodology for change involves:

1. Iterative Integration: Alternating the symposium between the CHI (HCI-focused) and AMIA (Informatics-focused) conferences to ensure both communities "speak the same language."
2. Mentorship as Infrastructure: By pairing junior researchers with industry and academic veterans, the symposium ensures that the next generation of designers understands the complexities of the healthcare human factor early on.
3. Broad Technical Scope: The agenda moves beyond basic interfaces to include cutting-edge tech like Data Science, AR/VR, and pervasive sensing.

Figure 1: WISH 2019 brings together global expertise to drive future healthcare innovations.

Experiments & Results: Building Momentum

While WISH is a symposium rather than a singular experiment, its "results" are measured by community growth and impact:

• Consistent Participation: Previous iterations have seen up to 150 participants from diverse backgrounds.
• Academic Output: The symposium has directly led to prestigious special issues in journals like JAMIA, indicating that the work discussed has the rigor to influence policy and clinical standards.
• Global Reach: By situating CHI 2019 in Glasgow, the symposium expanded its influence into European research frameworks like Horizon 2020.

Figure 2: The technical program emphasizes peer-reviewed research, posters, and rapid-fire "Ignite" talks to maximize knowledge transfer.

Critical Insight: Why This Matters for the Future

As we move into an era of AI-driven diagnostics and remote patient monitoring, the lessons from WISH are more urgent than ever. The symposium highlights that clinical efficacy is inseparable from user experience.

Conclusion: The true value of WISH lies in its recognition that the "Human Factor" is not a secondary concern but a primary driver of medical safety and efficiency. To build better health tech, we must stop working in silos and start designing at the intersection of information, technology, and human behavior.

Limitations & Future Work: WISH continues to face the challenge of sustainability—how to maintain a consistent community when researchers are pulled toward their own primary disciplines. Future efforts will focus on expanding global collaboration beyond the US and EU, looking for universal solutions to healthcare's digital transformation.