Human-Computer Interaction in Medical Devices

This chapter broadly introduces Human Factors (HF) and Human Computer Interaction (HCI) topics unique to the design and evaluation of medical devices. It covers medical device regulations that specify HF and HCI requirements, standards, and recommendations. It also highlights some of the user interface design challenges caused by the complexity and heterogeneity of healthcare. Specifically, we demonstrate how medical device usability and safety is a function of the nature and interplay of device use environments, patient characteristics, device users, care tasks, and device constraints. We also present two case studies: one showing how HF and HCI played a major role in reducing deaths related to the use of anesthesia machines, and another showing how simple changes to number entry interfaces can decrease the chance of serious medical errors.