Ergonomics
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The aim of this study was to explore operator experience and performance for semantically congruent and incongruent auditory icons and abstract alarm sounds. It was expected that performance advantages for congruent sounds would be present initially but would reduce over time for both alarm types. Twenty-four participants (12M/12F) were placed into auditory icon or abstract alarm groupings. ⋯ Practitioner Summary: Alarms are used in many operating systems as emergency, alerting, or continuous monitoring signals for instance. This study found that the type and representativeness of an auditory warning will influence operator performance over time. Semantically congruent iconic sounds produced performance advantages over both incongruent iconic sounds and abstract warnings.
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This work examined the effects of operators' exposure to various types of automation failures in training. Forty-five participants were trained for 3.5 h on a simulated process control environment. During training, participants either experienced a fully reliable, automatic fault repair facility (i.e. faults detected and correctly diagnosed), a misdiagnosis-prone one (i.e. faults detected but not correctly diagnosed) or a miss-prone one (i.e. faults not detected). ⋯ Differences in trust levels that were instilled by the different training experiences disappeared during the testing session. Practitioner Summary: The experience of automation failures during training has some consequences. A greater potential for operator errors may be expected when an automatic system failed to diagnose a fault than when it failed to detect one.
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Comparative Study
Reading from computer screen versus reading from paper: does it still make a difference?
Four experiments were conducted to test whether recent developments in display technology would suffice to eliminate the well-known disadvantages in reading from screen as compared with paper. Proofreading speed and performance were equal for a TFT-LCD and a paper display, but there were more symptoms of eyestrain in the screen condition accompanied by a strong preference for paper (Experiment 1). These results were replicated using a longer reading duration (Experiment 2). ⋯ A paper-like positioning of TFT-LCDs seems to enable unimpaired reading without evidence of increased physical strain. Practitioner Summary: Given the developments in screen technology, a re-assessment of the differences in proofreading speed and performance, well-being, and preference between computer screen and paper was conducted. State-of-the-art TFT-LCDs enable unimpaired reading, but a book-like positioning of screens seems necessary to minimise eyestrain symptoms.
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We assessed sleep patterns, psychomotor vigilance performance, work demands and mood of 77 crewmembers of USS NIMITZ (CVN-68) on the rotating 5-h on/10-h off (5/10) watchstanding schedule. Within the 3-day cycle of the 5/10, sleep occurred at distinctly different times each day. On two of these days, sailors typically received only brief, 4-h sleep episodes followed by periods of sustained wakefulness (approximately 22 and 20 h). ⋯ Practitioner summary: We assessed crewmembers' sleep patterns, psychomotor vigilance performance and work demands when working a rotating 5-h on/10-h off (5/10) watchstanding schedule. The 5/10, combined with other work duties, resulted in poor sleep hygiene. Crewmembers experienced periodic bouts of sustained wakefulness and accrued a significant sleep debt due to extended workdays and circadian-misaligned sleep.
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Healthcare systems need to be redesigned to provide care that is safe, effective and efficient, and meets the multiple needs of patients. This systematic review examines how human factors and ergonomics (HFE) is applied to redesign healthcare work systems and processes and improve quality and safety of care. ⋯ We assessed risk of bias in 16 studies reporting the impact of HFE-based healthcare system redesign and found varying quality across studies. Future research should further assess the impact of HFE on quality and safety of care, and clearly define the mechanisms by which HFE-based system redesign can improve quality and safety of care.