Comparative Evaluation of Manual Defibrillators

Issue
The Healthcare Human Factors Group was approached to support the potential procurement of new manual defibrillator for use at University Health Network (UHN). The objective was to assess the possibility of integrating a newer version of the manual defibrillator device with its predecessor in the existing clinical environment. It was important to ensure that the two technologies could co-exist at UHN without negatively affecting the user’s workflow or mental model. A procurement decision needed to be made between: 1) purchasing a small number of devices for supplementation, and 2) replacing all existing devices and standardizing the manual defibrillator technology used across UHN.

Methods
A heuristic evaluation was conducted on each manual defibrillator device to determine similarities and differences between devices when performing the same task. Fourteen UHN clinicians with varying degrees of experience were involved in end-user testing by performing realistic tasks with the devices. Usability issues were documented and prioritized according to severity. Although users are traditionally given minimal training before device evaluations, this project was unique in that training was omitted in order to analyze the true ease of use, intuitiveness and usability of the technology.

Results
Heuristic and end-user evaluations determined that the two devices were unique in terms of physical appearance and the accessibility of similar functions. Significant differences between the new and current device included differences in the layout, user prompts, and menu screens. Interestingly, observations revealed that the current defibrillator was more intuitive and usable compared the newer defibrillator even with its aesthetically pleasing design.