A Design-Based Approach to Support Hospital Wards in the Digital Turn.

The error in pharmacological therapy is a significant issue in the context of hospital care practices. This contribution does not consider the error as a mere casual event, nor as the result of deviations from defined procedures, but inscribes it within the framework of the activities (and relations between activities) that define care. As a privileged point of view, the analysis circumscribes the communication system, highlighting as a critical point the passage of information between medical and nursing staff. The article takes its cue from a real case study, in which we analysed the networks of information and communication, starting from the medical and nursing documents that accompany the care activities. The interpretation of the processes investigated stems from the design culture, particularly from a human-centred perspective. The first design elaboration follows the analysis phase; in this context, the artefact acts as a transitional prototype, a bridge-object between the established routines and practices of the current reality and their role as a gateway to a digital future.