Analysis, Redesign, and Evaluation of a Patient-Controlled Analgesia Machine Interface

The hypothesis explored in this paper is that, by adopting human factors design principles, the use of medical equipment can be made safer and more efficient We have selected a commercially available patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) machine as a vehicle to test this hypothesis. A cognitive task analysis of PCA usage, combined with a set of human factors design principles, led to a redesigned PCA interface. An experimental evaluation was conducted, comparing this new interface with the existing interface. The results show that the new interface leads to significantly faster, less effortful, and more reliable performance. These findings have implications for improving the design of other medical equipment.