Eric Shaver

Human Factors Professional

Little Details Make the Difference

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So many companies get hyper-focused on achieving radical or disruptive innovations that they overlook how simple incremental innovations can enhance the jobs of their customers.

Case in point: The cardboard box used by a circulator nurse to aseptically tie the surgical gown worn by a surgical technologist.

surgical gown cardboard box

The cardboard box is routinely kept by the circulator nurse to make notes during or after surgeries. Typically it has branding on one side and is blank on the other. Halyard took it a step farther. They introduced a simple design change of adding a “Notes” and lines on the back of the cardboard box.

This past year I’ve worked with numerous circulating nurses and surgical technologists when they were dressing for a simulated surgical procedure. Almost to a person, the simple change incorporated by Halyard sparked joy for these circulator nurses because (1) they saw the value in the design change and (2) they realized the the company truly understood their needs.

The moral of the story? It’s the little details that can often make an outsized difference to your users.

Tom Fishburne on Apple

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Anyone that follows my blog knows that I’m a fan of Tom Fishburne’s cartoons. Well, he has done it again with his April 1st cartoon poking fun at how the Apple product line has ballooned since the passing of Steve Jobs.

Over the years I’ve become more of a user of Apple products. It started with an iPad, followed by an iPhone, and now I write this on a Mac. For the most part, I like their products. But, I haven’t fully consumed the Kool-Aid. I have no problem being frustrated – and making it known – when their product designs go off the rails. And, in my opinion, removing all ports besides Thunderbolt (USB-C) on the Mac is a perfect example.

I still want a “normal” USB port – or two! And it drives me nuts that they’ve removed the HDMI port. I’ll take a thicker Mac that includes those ports. Now I realize all this can be solved by purchasing expensive dongles, but it shouldn’t be necessary. Plus, I REALLY don’t want to pack them around the country when I work.

What’s interesting is they used to be a company focused on the customer experience. Now they’re transitioning their focus to identifying opportunities – numerous at times – for selling expensive accessories to maintain compatibility with other devices. What a pain! Hopefully this will change, but it’s not looking promising.

FDA Guidance Document on Medical Device Interoperability

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On September 6th, the FDA issued the guidance document Design Considerations and Pre-market Submission Recommendations for Interoperable Medical Devices.

According to the document:

“This guidance is intended to highlight the following items that medical device manufacturers should consider to provide a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness of their interoperable medical devices: 1) designing systems with interoperability as an objective; 2) conducting appropriate verification, validation and risk management activities; and 3) specifying the relevant functional, performance, and interface characteristics in a user-available manner such as labeling.” (p. 3)

For those new to the topic, they define interoperability “…as the ability of two or more products, technologies or systems to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged.” (p. 2)

With respect to human factors, it highlights a couple areas of importance for our discipline, including:

  • “Validate the user(s) interface. Determine that the user(s) are capable of correctly using the interface(s)” (p. 11)
  • “Validation of labeling regarding the use of the electronic interface should consider human factors as appropriate.” (p. 17)

It’s good to see that the FDA understands the challenges associated with interoperability and that human factors is an important part of designing, developing, and deploying interoperable technology that allows users to safely and effectively perform their duties.

AAMI Warnings and Safety Information in Device Labeling Webinar

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aami-webinar-screenshot

On November 3rd and 10th, I’ll be presenting a two-part webinar on Warnings and Safety Information in Device Labeling for the AAMI University Distance Learning program.

Part I will introduce attendees to the science of warnings and safety information. Part II will focus on highlighting the best practices of designing and presenting warnings and safety information in device labeling. Each session will last 90 minutes and start at 11:00 am EST.

To learn more about the webinar, including how to register, visit the following link.

Human Factors as a Source of Innovation

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creative-confidence-coverIn their book, Creative Confidence, Tom and David Kelley discuss the importance of balancing three factors (technical factors, business factors, and human factors), often referred to as the IDEO Three Lens of Human-Center Design, when undertaking innovation initiatives.  While they go into detail about all three, for myself, their commentary about the third element – human factors – is most interesting.  They state:

The third element involves people, and is sometimes referred to as human factors.  It’s about deeply understanding human needs. Beyond just observing behaviors, this third aspect of successful innovation programs is about getting at people’s motivations and core beliefs. Human factors aren’t necessarily more important than the other two.  But technical factors are well taught in science and engineering programs around the world, and companies everywhere focus energy on the business factors. So we believe that human factors may offer some of the best opportunities for innovation, which is why we always start there. (pp. 20-21)

I completely agree that deeply understanding human factors is vital for successful innovation.  It’s great to see respected professionals in the design community write about the importance of this topic.

References

Kelley, T. and Kelley, D. (2013). Creative confidence: Unleashing the creative potential within us all. Crown Business: New York, NY.