Representations of step-by-step procedures, such as task flows, are developed and used to support technology design and evaluation as well as for training purposes in complex work domains. However, task flows may not represent how people carry out work under uncertainty, time pressure, or high-risk conditions. We combined methods of cognitive task analysis and participatory design, resulting in a new approach for developing task flows. This approach accounts for both cognitive and behavioral work and explicitly represents its dynamic nature. Additional advantages of this approach include flexibility and adaptiveness to help overcome challenges of conducting research in real-world domains, including time constraints and access to subject matter experts. We demonstrate this approach in the context of developing a task flow for a submarine watch team’s use of an updated imaging system to maintain the ship’s safety by forming and maintaining a picture of the external environment. We provide a detailed description of each phase as well as a domain-neutral ready-to-use job aid.
This panel discussion will examine the societal awareness of cognitive engineering today. Cognitive engineering celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2018 at the HFES annual meeting. Still, some would say that cognitive engineering is not as well-known as it should be, and that it is applied in an ad hoc manner in the many high-stakes, high-risk technology modernization efforts where it would be useful. As technology advances proliferate for sharp end of the spear decision makers, we are at risk of catastrophic results if CE remains in the shadows; these results are arguably emerging on a daily basis. Each panelist will describe, from their vantage point, CE’s state of the art today, thoughts on barriers to acceptance and application, and how they envision we act towards a future in 2028 in which cognitive engineers engage systematically in complex systems’ development.
Cognitive task analysis (CTA) methods are most widely known for their contributions to military, nuclear power plant, and aviation research. In recent years, however, these methods have been adapted and applied with increasing frequency to address issues in healthcare. CTA methods have been used in the context of designing and integrating health information technology, in pursuit of improved patient safety, and as a means to improve education and training. This panel will 1) reflect on strategies for tailoring CTA methods for use in a range of healthcare settings, 2) highlight challenges to conducting CTA in healthcare settings, and 3) highlight important contributions of CTA in addressing challenging issues in healthcare today.Summary: A relatively recent confluence of events has led to an increased demand for understanding cognitive complexity in healthcare. Calls to increase safety in healthcare settings have led to efforts to better understand the challenges that healthcare professionals, as well as patients and caregivers, face in planning, tracking, and managing care. Medical device manufacturers have been encouraged to place a greater emphasis on understanding where end users are likely to get confused, and to build designs that increase the likelihood of error detection, and reduce errors where possible. The relatively rapid transition from paper to electronic health records has driven increased interest in understanding the impact of health information technology on assessment, decision making, sensemaking, and other critical cognitive skills. This panel will explore how cognitive task analysis methods (CTA) have been used to better understand cognitive complexity in healthcare. Panelists have diverse experiences and backgrounds. Each will share his or her own experiences tailoring CTA methods for use in healthcare. Panel presentations will address a range of important healthcare problems including strategies for learning from adverse events, invisible aspects of RN work, decision making strategies pharmacists and physicians use to avoid drug-drug interactions and manage medication alerts. In addition, panelists will discuss CTA methodological challenges such as investigating cognition at a team or system level, eliciting difficult to articulate knowledge such as mental models and knowledge representations, and analyzing qualitative data.
To fulfill its name and purpose, cognitive engineering must emerge from its application primarily as a research practice into implementation within recognized practices of systems engineering. Although generally accepted in military research circles, cognitive engineering theory and methods have not gained widespread application in systems engineering processes. This panel will enable five speakers with different perspectives on this problem to describe means for attempting to change this state of the practice. The focus of the panel will be in gaining traction and advocacy for applying cognitive engineering in the acquisition of major military systems, which are typically employed in high-stakes, time-critical, high-uncertainty environments.
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