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SUMMARY:Improved patient safety by better alarm systems: How to get the de
 vice designers off the fence? - Bernd Wittner
DTSTART:20071205T160000Z
DTEND:20071205T170000Z
UID:TALK8918@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Julie Jupp
DESCRIPTION:*Abstract*: As part of the software system in most of today’
 s medical devices\, alarm systems are omnipresent in the clinical work env
 ironment. It is their purpose to inform medical staff about any deviations
  in the patient status or the treatment process. If working properly\, ala
 rm systems will facilitate staff in delivering adequate and timely care fo
 r the patients and therefore make an important contribution to patient saf
 ety.\n\nClinical practice however shows a number of shortcomings in the cu
 rrent designs of such systems. Medical professionals as well as patients s
 uffer from high numbers of false alarms\, inadequately designed alarm soun
 ds and inconsistent designs between machines. Obviously\, such a lack of u
 sability can in turn jeopardise the initially gained increase in patient s
 afety and has already caused a number of serious incidents. Interestingly\
 , most of these problems have been well known for some years and extensive
 ly described in numerous papers. Alarm system design has been the focus of
  a good number of research projects\, and as a result\, different technica
 l solutions have been proposed to overcome the limitations of today’s de
 signs.\n\nThe medical device industry\, however\, has been surprisingly sl
 ow in utilising these solutions for new\, improved designs. The speed of e
 volution seems to be remarkably slow\, especially given the strong demand 
 for innovation from the customer side. This talk will discuss some of the 
 technical\, organisational and legislative difficulties designers have fac
 e in medical device design\, particularly in the design of alarm systems. 
 It will show the designer’s opinions on the proposed solutions\, and exp
 lain why some of them are rather difficult or even impossible to implement
 . Finally\, a number of suggested changes to the current design process wi
 ll be discussed\, aiming to facilitate designers to come up with better\, 
 more usable and therefore safer products in the future.
LOCATION:Meeting Rooms 1A+1B\, (off the Oatly Lab)\, 2nd Floor\, Engineeri
 ng Department
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