Background This article investigates the research problem of digital solutions to overcome the pandemic, more closely examining the limited effectiveness and scope of the governmental COVID-19 tracing apps, using the German COVID-19 tracing app (Corona-Warn-App) as an example. A well-designed and effective instrument in the technological toolbox is of utmost importance to overcome the pandemic. Method A multi-methodological design science research approach was applied. In three development and evaluation cycles, we presented, prototyped, and tested user-centered ideas of functional and design improvement. The applied procedure contains (1) a survey featuring 1993 participants from Germany for evaluating the current app, (2) a gathering of recommendations from epidemiologists and from a focus group discussion with IT and health experts identifying relevant functional requirements, and (3) an online survey combined with testing our prototype with 53 participants to evaluate the enhanced tracing app. Results This contribution presents 14 identified issues of the German COVID-19 tracing app, six meta-requirements, and three design principles for COVID-19 tracing apps and future pandemic apps (e.g., more user involvement and transparency). Using an interactive prototype, this study presents an extended pandemic app, containing 13 potential front-end (i.e., information on the regional infection situation, education and health literacy, crowd and event notification) and six potential back-end functional requirements (i.e., ongoing modification of risk score calculation, indoor versus outdoor). In addition, a user story approach for the COVID-19 tracing app was derived from the findings, supporting a holistic development approach. Conclusion Throughout this study, practical relevant findings can be directly transferred to the German and other international COVID-19 tracing applications. Moreover, we apply our findings to crisis management theory—particularly pandemic-related apps—and derive interdisciplinary learnings. It might be recommendable for the involved decision-makers and stakeholders to forego classic application management and switch to using an agile setup, which allows for a more flexible reaction to upcoming changes. It is even more important for governments to have a well-established, flexible, design-oriented process for creating and adapting technology to handle a crisis, as this pandemic will not be the last one.

eHealth technologies strongly influence healthy lifestyles. In addition to numerous advantages and positive effects, we analyze adverse effects of technologies that are used in everyday life to support a person's health or health management. Therefore, we conducted short interviews and a literature review to structure aspects of a healthy lifestyle in eight areas related to the potential technology usage. Based on that, this contribution presents a systematic collection of negative effects of eHealth technologies on end users or patients. With regard to our results, this contribution provides seven scientific and six practical implications.

Cross-industry innovation (CII) aims to reuse existing solutions by leveraging the innovative power of partners’ knowledge from another industry. CII is a key concept for identifying and adapting potential (disruptive) innovations and technologies and gains importance in recent years. To enable CII in companies, we examine the topic holistically. First, we summarize the existing literature, including frameworks of CII. Second, we conduct expert interviews in order to consider also the practical perspective. We then consolidate the results into a framework with a structured procedure and detailed methods, which can be used by companies. Our contribution has several implications for practice and research. For practice, we derive five recommendations for actions for companies that already use or plan to use CII. For the scientific community, we summarize the state of research on CII and present our framework, which can serve as a starting point for further research.

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ZusammenfassungPflegebedürftige können ihre Medikamente oft nicht selbstständig stellen, deshalb wird dies durch geschultes Fachpersonal ambulanter Pflegedienste übernommen. Dieser Prozess ist fehleranfällig, denn die Medikamente werden häufig manuell und in der Nachtschicht vom Pflegefachpersonal zusammengestellt. Hierdurch kann es zu Risiken wie Doppelmedikationen und unberücksichtigten Wechselwirkungen unterschiedlicher Medikamente kommen. Zudem ist dieser Prozess nicht ressourceneffizient und durch den bereits bestehenden Fachkräftemangel nicht tragbar. Durch die vergleichsweise geringe digitale Vernetzung im deutschen Gesundheitswesen gibt es bei der interprofessionellen Zusammenarbeit zwischen Apotheken, Pflegediensten, Blisterzentren und Arztpraxen weiteren Verbesserungsbedarf. Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es daher aufzuzeigen, welche Erkenntnisse und Handlungsbereiche sich aus einer Fallstudie zur digitalen Vernetzungsplattform MediMan ableiten lassen und wie in diesem Zusammenhang die maschinelle Medikamentenverblisterung dazu beitragen kann, die interprofessionelle Zusammenarbeit zwischen Apotheken, Pflegediensten, Blisterzentren und Arztpraxen durch eine sichere und effiziente Patientenversorgung zu führen. Anhand einer Prozessmodellierung, basierend auf Experteninterviews und Fokusgruppen mit Stakeholdern aus dem Gesundheitswesen, wird aufgezeigt, welche Potenziale sich aus der maschinellen Verblisterung in Kombination mit einer Vernetzungsplattform ergeben. Als Ergebnis lassen sich acht Erkenntnisse bzw. Handlungsbereiche ableiten, die in diesem Beitrag vertiefend vorgestellt werden: (1) Prozessvereinfachung, (2) Plattformerprobung, (3) Abstimmungsbedarfe, (4) Mitarbeitereinbindung und -schulung, (5) Informationsverbreitung, (6) Vergütungsregelungen, (7) Schnittstelle Warenwirtschaftssystem sowie (8) Interoperabilität und Telematikinfrastruktur.