Medical Software: Design of Patient Tracking Tools May Have Unintended Consequences

Design of Patient Tracking Tools May Have Unintended Consequences
University at Buffalo News (11/26/07) Goldbaum, Ellen
A new field study by researchers at the University at Buffalo, the University of Rochester, and the University of Florida, Jacksonville found that properly designing computational tools is critical for the successful use of such tools in patient-care applications, particularly in hospital emergency rooms. The study examined the use and efficiency of new electronic patient-status boards in the emergency departments of two busy, university-affiliated hospitals. Overall, the researchers found that computational tracking systems affect how health care providers communicate information and track activities regarding patient care, which can change how providers work. The results provide an important example of what can happen when new technologies are not developed by designers with a sufficient understanding of how the technology will be used, says UB professor Ann Bisantz. "Research in human factors, the study of the interactions between humans and technology, has shown that in complex workplaces where safety is critical, such mismatches between the way practitioners work and the technologies that are supposed to support them can have unintended consequences, including inefficiencies and workarounds, where the technology demands that people change their work method," Bisantz says. During observations, focus groups, and interviews with nurses, physicians, secretaries, IT specialists, and administrators, the researchers found that the computerized systems are unable to match the functionality of the manual, erasable whiteboards traditionally used in emergency departments. "If you don't understand the underlying structure of the work that is being done in a particular setting, then you cannot design the technology that will best support it," Bisantz says.
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