W21C Research Publications

 

"A Heuristic Evaluation of Three Automated External Defibrillators" by Nicole Bryn Percival, Andrew K. Mayer, & Jeff K. Caird, Heathcare Human Factors and Simulation Laboratory, W21C. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 54th Annual Meeting. Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is a major cause of death in Canada and the leading cause of death in the United States and Europe with survival rates as low as 5%. Defibrillation is the key intervention for improving survival from SCA and can increase survival up to 75%. This has sparked the movement to increase public access to defibrillation by placing automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public areas such as universities, shopping centers, and athletic centers. The effectiveness of AEDs to revive those with SCA is dependent on the design of these devices. The purpose of this study was (1) to evaluate the design features that aid or hinder the effective and timely use of three commercially available AEDs using a heuristic evaluation; (2) to rank the three AEDs in terms of overall usability based on user comments and preference, and the severity of usability heuristic violations; and (3) develop design recommendations to guide the future design of AEDs. To learn more about this research, please visit: HFES_Percival_Heuristic_Eval_AEDs[1].pdf.

 

"Standardizing anesthesia medication drawers using human factors and quality assurance methods" by Jonas Shultz, MSc,  Jan M. Davies, FRCPC, Jeff Caird, PhD, Susan Chisholm, MSc, Karen Ruggles, BA and Raymond Puls, RRT (2010). To access the paper please visit: Standardizing Anesthesia Medication Drawers using Human Factors and Quality Assurance Methods.

 

Congratulations to Dr. Joslyn Conley, Dr. Michaela Jordan and Dr. William Ghali on the publication of their paper "Audit of the Consultation Process on General Internal Medicine Services" in Quality and Safety in Health Care. The objective of this research was to determine the proportion of consultations requested by general internal medicine services that communicate key components of the consultation process to medical subspecialists. The design included a retrospective chart review by two researchers, using a standardized chart abstraction instrument (93.1% agreement, k 0.85). A random sample of medical consultations was selected from those generated on two medical teaching units (MTU)  from 2003-2004.