A User-Centered Evaluation of three Intravenous Infusion Pumps

Considerable research has focused on whether medical equipment can be made safer/more effective using user-centered design principles. Medication errors may result from improper operation, mechanical failure, and tampering. The present study evaluated the effectiveness and advantages of three intravenous infusion pumps. Five evaluators used heuristic evaluation to identify, categorize, and prioritize usability problems. Positive and negative features were classified according to usability and design principles. The most common negative feature was difficulty setting up an infusion. The most common positive feature was visual feedback regarding pump status. The methodology was effective at identifying a number of problems. Ongoing research involves testing domain-experts to validate the severity of the usability problems identified and discover other safety-relevant errors.