Designing Clinical Data Presentation Using Cognitive Task Analysis Methods

Despite the many decades of research on effective use of clinical systems in medicine, the adoption of health information technology to improve patient care continues to be slow especially in ambulatory settings. This applies to dentistry as well, a primary care discipline with approximately 137,000 practicing dentists in the United States. One critical reason is the poor usability of clinical systems, which makes it difficult for providers to navigate through the system and obtain an integrated view of patient data during patient care. Cognitive science methods have shown significant promise to meaningfully inform and formulate the design, development and assessment of clinical information systems. Most of these methods were applied to evaluate the design of systems after they have been developed. Very few studies, on the other hand, have used cognitive engineering methods to inform the design process for a system itself. It is this gap in knowledge – how cognitive engineering methods can be optimally applied to inform the system design process – that this research seeks to address through this project proposal. This project examined the cognitive processes and information management strategies used by dentists during a typical patient exam and used the results to inform the design of an electronic dental record interface. The resulting 'proof of concept' was evaluated to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of such a cognitively engineered and application flow design. The results of this study contribute to designing clinical systems that provide clinicians with better cognitive support during patient care. Such a system will contribute to enhancing the quality and safety of patient care, and potentially to reducing healthcare costs

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 338)

This bibliography lists 139 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during June 1990. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance

DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTELLIGENT GRAPHS FOR EVERYDAY RISKY DECISIONS TUTOR

Simple graphical visual aids have now been shown to be among the most effective means of quickly improving people’s ability to evaluate and understand risks (i.e., risk literacy), particularly for diverse and vulnerable groups (e.g., older adults, less educated, less numerate, minority and immigrant samples). Although well-developed theory and standards for user-friendly graph design exist, guidelines are often violated by designers faced with constraints like conflicts of interest (e.g., persuasion and marketing vs. informed decision making). Even when information is presented in well-designed graphs, many people struggle with appropriate data interpretation. Can basic computerized graph literacy training improve essential graph and risk evaluation skills? To begin to answer this question, I conducted three studies that developed and validated psychometric tests of three component graph literacy skills, namely (1) graph type knowledge, (2) selecting appropriate graphs, and (3) knowledge of graph distortions. I then developed a computerized graph literacy training platform and conducted a mixed-factorial experiment investigating a wide-range of training effects. Results indicate that even in a sample of tech savvy college students one hour of basic computerized training can dramatically improve graph literacy (Cohen’s d = 1.10). Results also provide some of the first evidence that graph literacy training can improve general decision making skills that involve spatial or visualization-relevant processing, such as resistance to sunk costs, framing effects, and class-inclusion illusions. Discussion focuses on practical and theoretical implications, including usability modeling that should inform continuing development of the RiskLiteracy.org Decision Making Skills Training Program

Evaluation Of Information Visualization For Decision Making Support In An Emergency Department Information System.

The purpose of this dissertation is to propose an evaluation framework to assess various IV techniques in EDIS and provide recommendations for developers

The role of cognitive schemas in a web-based student evaluation of teaching system: usability issues of design and implementation

With the increase in the use of web-based student evaluations of teaching (SETs) by institutions of higher education, the importance of understanding the usability of such web-based systems has increased. Such understanding is needed to ensure that web-based SETs produce the best information possible. By using schema theory from cognitive psychology as a backdrop, this study seeks to identify the impact that the method of response and grouping of items displayed per page have on the usability of web-based SETs. Issues of user satisfaction, error rate, and time on task are examined. Participants were divided into one of six similarity groups based on the degree to which participant expectation and the design of the web-based SET system matched. Analyzing data from 791 university students at a large southern University, it was determined that the use of a radio-button response format with SET items grouped by area produces the best results from a usability perspective. The use of drop-down boxes and text boxes is discouraged as a response format. Limitations of this study and suggested directions for future research are discussed.Educational Psycholog

Information Technologies for Cognitive Decline

Information technology (IT) is used to establish a diagnosis and provide treatment for people with cognitive decline. The condition affects many before it becomes clear that more permanent changes, like dementia, could be noticed. Those who search for information are exposed to lots of information and different technologies which they need to make sense of and eventually use to help themselves. In this research literature and information available on the Internet were systematically analyzed to present methods used for diagnosis and treatment. Methods used for diagnosis are self-testing, sensors, Virtual Reality (VR), and brain imaging. Methods used for treatment are games, websites with information and media, Virtual Reality (VR), sensors, and robots. The resulting concept of knowledge was the basis of an artifact whose main goal was to present the facts to the broad public. This implied that a user-friendly artifact was developed through three iterations using the Design Science framework. A total of nine users and IT usability experts have evaluated the artifact returning the SUS score of 85,83 for users and 87,5 for IT usability experts. Nielsen´s heuristics were assessed by IT usability experts only, returning an average score of 4,28. The general response was positive regarding both the content and the attempt to present methods used in cognitive decline. It reminds to be seen how to bring this knowledge to those who are most affected by the decline.Masteroppgave i informasjonsvitenskapINFO390MASV-INF

Somatic ABC's: A Theoretical Framework for Designing, Developing and Evaluating the Building Blocks of Touch-Based Information Delivery

abstract: Situations of sensory overload are steadily becoming more frequent as the ubiquity of technology approaches reality--particularly with the advent of socio-communicative smartphone applications, and pervasive, high speed wireless networks. Although the ease of accessing information has improved our communication effectiveness and efficiency, our visual and auditory modalities--those modalities that today's computerized devices and displays largely engage--have become overloaded, creating possibilities for distractions, delays and high cognitive load; which in turn can lead to a loss of situational awareness, increasing chances for life threatening situations such as texting while driving. Surprisingly, alternative modalities for information delivery have seen little exploration. Touch, in particular, is a promising candidate given that it is our largest sensory organ with impressive spatial and temporal acuity. Although some approaches have been proposed for touch-based information delivery, they are not without limitations including high learning curves, limited applicability and/or limited expression. This is largely due to the lack of a versatile, comprehensive design theory--specifically, a theory that addresses the design of touch-based building blocks for expandable, efficient, rich and robust touch languages that are easy to learn and use. Moreover, beyond design, there is a lack of implementation and evaluation theories for such languages. To overcome these limitations, a unified, theoretical framework, inspired by natural, spoken language, is proposed called Somatic ABC's for Articulating (designing), Building (developing) and Confirming (evaluating) touch-based languages. To evaluate the usefulness of Somatic ABC's, its design, implementation and evaluation theories were applied to create communication languages for two very unique application areas: audio described movies and motor learning. These applications were chosen as they presented opportunities for complementing communication by offloading information, typically conveyed visually and/or aurally, to the skin. For both studies, it was found that Somatic ABC's aided the design, development and evaluation of rich somatic languages with distinct and natural communication units.Dissertation/ThesisPh.D. Computer Science 201