The task of landing helicopters on ships is cognitively complex and is bounded by several limitations for safe operation. To design technologies to support helicopter pilots in shipboard operations, a better understanding of cognitive processes underlying helicopter piloting in shipboard landing maneuvers is required. Limitations in prior work on ship-based helicopter pilots motivate more studies to better understand how pilots compensate for difficulties associated with ship motion, air turbulence among other factors. We report a preliminary study that used the Applied Cognitive Task Analysis (ACTA) method. We interviewed three participants who have ground-based helicopter piloting experience. The results indicate that ACTA can be used in eliciting knowledge from helicopter pilots. However, we have identified several caveats with the use of the method for this application. The revised method will be used to interview helicopter pilots with shipboard landing experience. Our study has identified a number of cognitive elements in the task which are associated with task management, divided attention, and noticing anomalies.
Rotorcraft pilots face a number of unique challenges in shipboard-landing maneuvers. Even very experienced rotorcraft pilots find such maneuvers to be challenging and delicate, as they require the pilot’s undivided attention. To minimize risk, these maneuvers are conducted within well-defined boundaries associated with weather and visibility. To expand the envelope of safety, technological aids that augment decision-making capabilities and reduce pilot workload are being proposed. Our paper reports a cognitive task analysis, which involved interviews with five rotorcraft pilots experienced in shipboard-landing maneuvers. Our results reveal cognitive elements in which expertise plays a critical role. We have articulated our understanding on why pilots are faced with difficulties during these critical points, which led us toward design recommendations and system requirements for technological aids and their displays. We have also identified a number of system limitations and quantities of interest, which may be useful in safety evaluations.
This paper provides a detailed explanation of the link between NeoCITIES, a crisis management simulation of emergency response teams, and team cognition. Descriptions of the NeoCITIES simulation structure, interface, and modifications are provided, along with its functionality in effectively studying team cognition. The paper focuses on three commonly examined constructs within the team cognition literature, namely, team situation awareness, team mental models, and information sharing.
BackgroundClinicians, such as respiratory therapists and physicians, are often required to set up pieces of medical equipment that use inconsistent terminology. Current lung ventilator terminology that is used by different manufacturers contributes to the risk of usage errors, and in turn the risk of ventilator-associated lung injuries and other conditions. Human factors and communication issues are often associated with ventilator-related sentinel events, and inconsistent ventilator terminology compounds these issues. This paper describes our proposed protocol, which will be implemented at the University of Waterloo, Canada when this project is externally funded.ObjectiveWe propose to determine whether a standardized vocabulary improves the ease of use, safety, and utility as it relates to the usability of medical devices, compared to legacy medical devices from multiple manufacturers, which use different terms.MethodsWe hypothesize that usage errors by clinicians will be lower when standardization is consistently applied by all manufacturers. The proposed study will experimentally examine the impact of standardized nomenclature on performance declines in the use of an unfamiliar ventilator product in clinically relevant scenarios. Participants will be respiratory therapy practitioners and trainees, and we propose studying approximately 60 participants.ResultsThe work reported here is in the proposal phase. Once the protocol is implemented, we will report the results in a follow-up paper.ConclusionsThe proposed study will help us better understand the effects of standardization on medical device usability. The study will also help identify any terms in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Draft International Standard (DIS) 19223 that may be associated with recurrent errors. Amendments to the standard will be proposed if recurrent errors are identified. This report contributes a protocol that can be used to assess the effect of standardization in any given domain that involves equipment, multiple manufacturers, inconsistent vocabulary, symbology, audio tones, or patterns in interface navigation. Second, the protocol can be used to experimentally evaluate the ISO DIS 19223 for its effectiveness, as researchers around the world may wish to conduct such tests and compare results.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.