I am currently taking a course titled Human Computer Interaction. It is a very interesting class and it brings up a lot of useful discussion. The following is a quote from Wickens highlighted in the course book titled "Display and Interface Design: Subtle Science, Exact Art" by Kevin M. Bennett and John M. Flach:
"Many aspects of decision making are not as accurate as they could be. The limitations of information processing and memory, previously discussed, restrict the accuracy of diagnosis and choice. In addition, limits of attention and cognitive resources lead people to adopt decision-making heuristics, or "mental shortcuts," which produce decisions that are often adequate but not usually as precise as they could be ... Finally, we will sometimes refer to general biases in the decision-making process. These biases are either described as risky -- leading to a course of action based on insufficient information -- or conservative -- leading to the use of less information or less confidence in a decision than is warranted."
Just some food for thought.. I felt the quote contained some concepts that should be more heavily considered in the design of both Electronic Health Records and Clinical Decision Support tools. The project I will be working on for this class will be a prototype of a 'Diabetes Provider Decision Support' tool. We will be using the concepts discussed in the class to create our version of the ideal interface design to aid providers in understanding their patients' diabetes risk in a simple, easy-to-interpret display. Stay tuned for updates from class and/or the finished product of the project.
industrial engineers focused on improving healthcare
