#10. Presenting To The Professionals.

When presenting a successful questionnaire (or any information) to another human being, we must communicate successfully, without blaming those who are trying to understand us for any failure of that communication. If an audience of willing participants does not understand our communication, we are ill served if we assume it is caused by the audience's innate inability to receive communication. If we were to assume that all healthcare professionals were too stupid to understand our failed communication attempts, that opinionated assumption would likely be wrong.

Even if an audience's inability to comprehend a presentation was to blame for a failed communication attempt, under no circumstance does the responsibility for receiving that information rely on the recipient—the successful exchange of information is almost always dependent on the person who submits the information; such is the nature of willingness.

For example, if participants are willing, but information is submitted in a foreign language, then chances for successful information transfer are not very great—and that willingness is lost—obfuscated by the necessity for recipients to learn a new language. Therefore, if we are cultivating a system that is based on the willing and peaceful participation that is inherent to healthcare as a profession, then we must not require end users to do anything, or conform in any way.

Moreover, one fact remains about the class of end users that we have assigned the label Healthcare Professionals (or other) that comprises doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, and the like—they are varied.

In fact, not only do the individuals vary from one another as proven by their names and titles—their job descriptions vary widely; no singular job description entitled "healthcare professional" actually exists. Doctors have completely different job descriptions than do nurses; respiratory therapists have completely different job descriptions than do dentists, and so on. Job descriptions (comprising tasks) vary from field to field.

Furthermore, even individuals themselves differ from one another within their individual practices within their individual fields.

How ludicrous to assume that one questionnaire to hold all pertinent questions would suffice to address every individual who communicates in every language all the time. That one questionnaire to supposedly contain all healthcare practice would be so immense that no one could ever use it.

Therefore, guidelines to conduct a study of end-users within the field of healthcare (for the purpose of creating a user-centered healthcare electronic information system), must effectively submit different questions to different individuals.