Abstract
Distributed Cognition (DCog) has been proposed as being a better approach to analyzing healthcare work than traditional cognitive approaches, due to the collaborative nature of healthcare work. This study sought to explore this by applying two DCog frameworks, DiCoT and the Resources Model, to the analysis of infusion pump use in an Intensive Care Unit. Data was gathered through observations and interviews, and then analysed using DiCoT and the Resources Model to construct models representing the social structures, information flows, physical layouts and artefact use involved in infusion administration in the ICU. The findings of the study confirm that DCog can be a methodology of choice for studying healthcare work: nurses collaborated significantly, artefacts played a major role in coordinating activity, and the physical environment influenced activity – properties which DCog effectively supports reasoning about.
Highlights
The question addressed in this research is whether or not DCog supports reasoning about the design and use of one type of device in a hospital, taking the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) as an example, and what roles Distributed Cognition for Teamworking systems (DiCoT) (Furniss & Blandford, 2006) and the Distributed Information Resources Model (Resources Model) (Wright, Fields, & Harrison, 2000) can play in supporting analysis
The ICU consists of 5 bays, a bay being a cluster of beds in a separate room, with a total of 36 beds
The overall function of the ICU is to receive patients from other wards who are in a critical state and are in need of intensive monitoring, or who need post-anaesthetic care, and to take care of them until their condition is stable enough for them to be returned to normal wards
Summary
There is a need to understand how health practitioners use infusion pumps in context, to improve the design of the devices; incidents occasionally occur during infusion administration, compromising patient safety or even causing death, in general wards (Husch et al, 2005; Vicente, Kada-Bekhaled, Hillel, Cassano, & Orser, 2003; Taxis & Barber, 2003), and in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) (Malhotra, Laxmisan, Keselman, Zhang, & Patel, 2005; Shulman, Singer, Goldstone, & Bellingan, 2005).Researchers have called for taking a Distributed Cognition (DCog) approach when analyzing human-computer interaction in the healthcare context (Hazlehurst, Gorman, & McMullen, 2008; Nemeth, 2006; Nemeth, Nunnally, O'Connor, Klock, & Cook, 2005; Patel & Kushniruk, 1998; Patel, Cytryn, Shortliffe, & Safran, 2000). The question addressed in this research is whether or not DCog supports reasoning about the design and use of one type of device (infusion pumps) in a hospital, taking the ICU as an example, and what roles Distributed Cognition for Teamworking systems (DiCoT) (Furniss & Blandford, 2006) and the Distributed Information Resources Model (Resources Model) (Wright, Fields, & Harrison, 2000) can play in supporting analysis. It delivers an improved understanding on the situated use of infusion pumps, based on this analysis. In the seemingly chaotic environment, the team works together in a coordinated way and relies on sophisticated patient care technology, including infusion pumps
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
