Applying Human Factors Engineering Methods for Risk Assessment of a Neonatal Incubator.

Renata Aparecida Ribeiro Custódio,Renata Pinto Ribeiro Miranda,Guilherme Henrique Donda Angelini,Jade Souza Bordón,Clarissa Trzesniak,Leila Cristina Santos Vieira,Carlos Henrique Pereira Mello

doi:10.1155/2019/8589727

Abstract

This research aimed to find main users, frequent utilized tasks, major usability problems, and the context of use of a neonatal incubator (NI) present in a neonatal intensive care unit from a Brazilian hospital and to find out the problems faced by a new user. The chosen methods were the heuristics analysis, contextual investigation, and usability test (UT). Nurses and technicians are the main users of NIs. The predominant contexts of use are the admission of newborns and the replacement of the equipment. Eight selected tasks were performed in the UT, and the most significant problems refer to alarms and configuration of the Air and Skin Modes, because the interface is not intuitive to novice users. Therefore, mitigating errors should be an investment in human factor engineering methods from the beginning of the product development process to the training of the main users.

Highlights

To provide safe and high-quality care for patients, the medical care sector requires effective and well-designed devices. e project of these devices must consider the environment, the working pattern of the professional users, and the lifestyle of patients and caregivers [1].For Donchin and Seagull [2], intensive care units (ICU) often use complex and error-prone devices because there are many patient data to be processed by health professionals simultaneously
In the 1950s, Silverman et al [4] verified that 83.5% of the children maintained in the neonatal incubator (NI) with higher temperatures (31.7°C) survived in comparison with 68.1% of the children kept in the NI with lower temperatures (28.9°C)
Carayon et al [10] point an approach to ergonomics and human factors as a central Journal of Healthcare Engineering element of improving patient safety. erefore, the incubators’ interface must provide barriers to avoid errors of use and conflicting technological interactions that may cause injuries to the patient, considering the specific users, goals, and context, as recommended by the norm of usability focused on human-system interaction [11]. us, this study proposed to identify the main users, the frequent tasks, the major usability problems faced, and the context of use of a model of an NI in an Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a hospital in the Brazil’s southeast region

Summary

Introduction

To provide safe and high-quality care for patients, the medical care sector requires effective and well-designed devices. e project of these devices must consider the environment, the working pattern of the professional users, and the lifestyle of patients and caregivers [1]. Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is considered an environment of high complexity, with potential risk for serious adverse events to occur [3]. In this context, the neonatal incubator (NI) is an important medical equipment of life support, as the survival rate of premature newborns (NB) increases. Erefore, the incubators’ interface must provide barriers to avoid errors of use and conflicting technological interactions that may cause injuries to the patient, considering the specific users, goals, and context, as recommended by the norm of usability focused on human-system interaction [11]. It aimed to know the problems faced by a novice user of an NI. e selected methods, heuristics analysis (HA), contextual inquiry, and usability testing (UT), were chosen to achieve these goals

Materials and Methods

Study Design

Results and Discussion