Usability Tests as a Benchmarking Tool - A Case Study on Complex Medical Ventilators
Paper in proceeding, 2009

Medical ergonomics has become an important topic in the field of ergonomics due to the increasing deficiencies in medical device design. The aim of the present study was to use usability testing as a benchmarking tool of modern and complex ventilator machines in a real hospital setting to propose future redesign ideas for a target machine – SERVO-i. A usability study was carried out at the neonatal intensive care unit (ICU) with 6 expert nurses. During the tests, an artificial lung was used to simulate the real treatment context on a neonatal patient. A number of potential usability problems were detected on SERVO-i. Using Babylog and Stephanie as two reference machines, the strengths and weaknesses of SERVO-i were identified as well. Some valuable lessons were learnt from the study, which could be used as guidance for the choice of test subjects and control of tests in real life human-machine working environments.

benchmarking test

usability testing

medical ventilator machine

neonatal intensive care unit

Author

Yuanhua Liu

Chalmers, Product and Production Development, Design and Human Factors

Anna-Lisa Osvalder

Chalmers, Product and Production Development, Design and Human Factors

Contemporary Ergonomics 2009

182-188
978-0-415-80433-2 (ISBN)

Subject Categories

Production Engineering, Human Work Science and Ergonomics

Pharmaceutical Sciences

Medical Laboratory and Measurements Technologies

Human Computer Interaction

Clinical Science

ISBN

978-0-415-80433-2

More information

Created

10/7/2017