Human Factors Considerations in the Design of Automated Systems for Nursing

Abstract

This paper describes human factors relevant to the design of automated systems for clinical nursing information management, and several studies investigating human factors aspects of new clinical nursing information systems. Functions of systems to assist clinical nurses with information management are described. The importance of human factors in designing these computer systems is discussed by describing three categories of human factors: physical and demographic characteristics of nurses, characteristics of the hospital physical environment, and characteristics of the nursing care environment. Several human factors studies conducted by a multi-hospital corporation and two vendors to understand the nature and impact of human factors on systems design are discussed. Various data collection methodologies are described that investigate two different approaches to the design of hardware solutions for a clinical nursing information system.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ball

M.J.

Hannah

K.J.

(1984). Using computers in nursing. Reston, VA: Reston Publishing Company, Inc.

Dainoff

M.J.

(1983). Video display terminals. Occupational Health Nursing, 31(12), 29–33.

Hudgings

C.I.

(1987). Challenges in information management for nursing practice. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 11(2), 44–49.

Jelger

U.G.

Peterson

(1988). The human-computer interface. In Ball

M.J.

Hannah

K.J.

Jelger

U.G.

Peterson

(Eds.), Nursing informatics: Where caring and technology meet (pp. 46–51). New York: Springer-Verlag.

Larson

D.E.

(1984). Effective screen designs for nursing CAI. Computers in Nursing, 2(6), 224–228.

Levinson

(1985). Computer applications in clinical practice: An overview. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.

Lytle

J.S.

Shideler

Core

H.E.

(1988). Minimizing health hazards of health care workers who use video display terminals. Health Care Supervisor, 6(3), 52–57.

MacArthur

A.M.

Sampson

M.R.

(1985). Screen design of a hospital information system. Nursing Clinics of North America, 20(3), 471–486.

Nemeth

S.C.

Childress

C.M.

(1987). Video display terminals. Journal of Ophthalmic Nursing and Technology, 6(3), 106–109.

10.

Saba

V.K.

McCormick

K.A.

(1986). Essentials of computers for nurses. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company.