Topic 4 - Egonomics

Question 1

Key Research

Answer 1

Drews + Doig (2014) - Evaluation of a configural vital signs display for intensive care unit nurses.

Question 2

Aims

Answer 2

To develop and evaluate a Configural Vital Signs (CVS) display that would help nurses in ICU to detect physiological deterioration in a patient bu not just giving them numerical data but giving them graphical data that represented variability over time without the nurse having to go beyond the intial screen.

Question 3

Sample

Answer 3

42 nurses
Miniumum 1 year’s experience
Mean age = 44.6
69% Female

Question 4

Procedure

Answer 4

Presented with 4 different patient scenarios with 5 minutes to complete them;

1. Early sepsis
2. Septic Shock
3. Pulmonary Embolus
4. Stable Scenario

Each time they were provided with the patients’ medical history + past/present medications

Question 5

IVs

Answer 5

Half the nurses used a traditional (numerical) display and the other half used the CVS (graphical) display.

The CVS display had a thin grey outline to represent normal thresholds, a solid white rectangle to represent the range of the Ps heart rate / blood pressure and the current state object.

Question 6

DVs

Answer 6

Response time
Accuracy of data interpretation

Question 7

Results

Answer 7

Response times - Graphcial display were 48% quicker in the septic shock scenario.

Accuracy - Graphical display were 1/3 more accurate in the septic shock.

Nurses also reported significantly lower mental demand in the graphical CVS display condition.

Question 8

Conclusion

Answer 8

Presenting ICU nurses with trend data in graphical form can lead nurses to diagnose patients’ conditions significantly quicker and with significantly improved accuracy.

Question 9

Brown + Poulton

Answer 9

Secondary Task Performance
Participants either drove in an area with a relatively small number of important inputs (residential area) or a high number of inputs (busy car park)

Whilst driving, they listened to a tape with a series of numbers and were asked to identify any changes in the series.

Ps made more mistakes on the number task whilst in a busy car park

Cognitive Overload Theory - Ps had less spare mental capacity when in a busy car park, leading to worse performance in the secondary task.

Question 10

Miller

Answer 10

Short-term Memory (STM) + Chunking

Suggests that if we chunk information together into units that mean something to us, then the 7 chunks of remebered material can be quite large.

There are limits to people’s short-term memory span.

Question 11

Hawthorne Studies

Answer 11

Aimed to investigate the impact of the physical environment on the productivity levels of the workers.

Varied light levels (experimental group) or constant light levels (control group).

Both groups increased productivity - social desirability bias

This was called the Hawthorne Effect.

Basically just showed social desirability bias / demand characterisitics

Question 12

Higuera-Trujillo

Answer 12

To study the effect of different colours applied to walls of university classrooms on students’ memory and attention performances. (VR)

80 uni students with good vision and fluent in Spanish

Memory Task = Remebering 3 lists of 15 words, which they had to repeat.

Attention = Reacting to 24 auditory objectives whilst avoiding others (96 distractors), reaction time was recorded.

Colour has a significant impact on memory (p<0.01) and attention (p=0.002). In particular, cold hues (eg, purple / blue) best enhanced cognitive performance.

Question 13

Application - Cognitive Overload for security guards (CCTV)

Answer 13

1. Reduce the Number of screens - Miller
2. Paint the room purple - Higuera-Trujillo
3. Rotating Shifts - Czeisler