Medical Equipment Usability in India - a question of Life or Death

By Ajay Khape


The deaths of two newborns in incubators at hospitals in Delhi and Ahmedabad last week has raised questions over the safety of patients seeking medication through various medical devices. A recent study of usability issues of medical devices in intensive care units (ICU) in some hospitals in and around the city has revealed serious deficiencies of life support devices and their usage.

"The issue of usability of medical equipment in hospitals across the country is very serious. The initial study has revealed that there is a need to impart training of using medical devices to the assistive staff along with design of devices," said Ganesh Bhutkar, assistant professor at Vishwakarma Institute of Technology (VIT) who is pursuing a PhD in medical usability.

Bhutkar is being guided by Dr Dinesh Katre, expert in human computer interaction (HCI) and head of the National Multimedia Resource Centre of C-DAC, and Dr N R Rajhans, industrial engineer and professor with VIT.

Drawing from the survey of seven different ICUs — four from the city, one each in Baramati, Shirwal and Bhopal — Bhutkar said, “The assistive staff has been found to have insufficient knowledge of using the devices. The observations are they learn by trial and error. Many functions of the devices remain hidden and unused due to lack of training.”

“The serious issue exists not only in the country but in other parts of the world as well,” he said, claiming that he had studied around 50 research papers while conducting his research. “The problems might be different, but they do exist elsewhere and they seem to be more severe in hospitals in India.”

Associated Link: Use of medical devices by hospital staff under scanner

Increase data Usability, save Billions
Source: ZDNet, 6 September 2010
 
Data usability? less sexy than social emotional interfaces, more money than you can imagine.

Three Things Steve Krug Didn’t Tell You About Usability Testing
Source: George Saines, 2 September 2010
 
Don't make me think. Well, ok, maybe a little bit.

Trace exactly what Users are doing
Source: killerstartups, 30 August 2010
 
A new tool lets you watch all of your website activity, in real-time replays.

Google boosts Usability with Gmail revamp
Source: V3.co.uk, 28 August 2010
 
Long overdue improvements to Gmail may increase its appeal to business users.

Tech4Africa conference runs in Johannesburg
Source: bizcommunity, 26 August 2010
 
A new conference in Africa recognises usability as a central concept to IT uptake.

Top 3 Usability Tips for Building Better Blogs
Source: CMS Wire, 24 August 2010
 
If you're compelled to blog, may as well get it right.

Outdoors and Out of Reach, Studying the Brain
Source: New York Times, 23 August 2010
 
Fascinating account of how heavy use of digital devices changes how we think and behave, and how a retreat into nature might reverse those effects.

Tips for International In-home User Research
Source: System Concepts Ltd, 20 August 2010
 
In-home user research can provide richer, more illuminating information than lab-based studies. Here are some tips for a successful in-home international research.

New Study- Gender differences in Web Usability
Source: Demystifying Usability blog, 18 August 2010
 
Comscore has released a new study (June 30 2010) entitled Women on the Web: How Women are Shaping the Internet.

UX Myths: Usability testing is Expensive
Source: UX Myths, 16 August 2010
 
Many organizations still believe usability testing is a luxury that requires an expensively equipped lab and takes weeks to conduct.