Management System for a Pediatric Heart Pump
Carolynn R. Johnson · Proceedings of the International Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care · 2013
Companies understand that for a product to succeed, it must be designed with the user in mind; they also understand that to design for the user they must know their user. Yet many cling to the idea that they already know their user – knowledge gained through assumptions, anecdotes, customer service logs, sales relationships, and usability testing, rather than through unbiased observations and interviews with users. Design research – ethnography structured to support and inform product design – allows companies to truly understand their users. It illustrates the problems the user is striving to overcome and the obstacles in the way. It articulates the impact a product will have on the user’s life, both positive and negative, and allows for identification of the user’s goals – those willingly shared and those the user cannot or will not articulate. Design research provides insight into the user’s environment and how it, and artifacts within it, affect his or her frustrations and goals. This paper presents a design research case study illustrating the process and showcasing its advantages in the development of a pediatric heart pump management system.