User requirements for a medical robotic system: Enabling doctors to remotely conduct ultrasonography and physical examination

We report the results of a user requirements analysis for a medical robotic system that enables doctors to remotely conduct ultrasonography and physical examination on patients. As there are three different user groups in this scenario - doctors, patients, and assistants - we collected user requirements for all of these groups. This analysis forms a basis for the technical specification of the medical robotic system. To gather the user requirements, we conducted a literature review, observed two examinations of a patient conducted by a doctor, organised four workshops with doctors and patients, and quantified the qualitative data in two online surveys. The most important findings of the requirements analysis are that doctors need accurate kinesthetic, tactile, and audiovisual feedback for a proper diagnosis. They need additional patient data apart from the ultrasonography and physical examination (e.g., olfactory information and skin wetness). Doctors, patients, and assistants all want to have a secure audiovisual communication channel during the whole examination and especially patients have concerns regarding safety of the robot arm and data privacy. We present a list of requirements for doctors, patients, and assistants, and discuss their implications for the technical specifications of the system.