Putting the Human Touch into Human Factors During the Pandemic

Thank you to all essential workers.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been quick to recognize healthcare workers as heroes, and rightly so. But as a human factors researcher, coronavirus has highlighted that our heroes are something more important than heroes: they’re human.

As of late January 2021, it is estimated that more than 3,000 healthcare workers have died of COVID-19, with workers of color disproportionately affected by the virus. As the rest of the world settles into the “new normal,” healthcare workers are instead growing in frustration and anxiety as they continue to put their lives on the line.

Fortunately, medical technology has been evolving rapidly to prioritize healthcare worker safety during the pandemic and beyond. Telemedicine visits have grown exponentially during COVID-19 and continue to remain high.

The medical device industry is pivoting, too: in October, AAMI published an emergency guidance for remotely controlled medical devices, such as ventilators, to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission in healthcare environments. These technologies and the related advances in human-machine teaming can improve patient care and workflow efficiency even after the pandemic. 

Take this brilliant but ultimately terrifying automatic nasal swab robot concept developed by a Taiwanese medtech startup. The whole user experience lasts less than two minutes, but for the user, that’s time spent with their head strapped into a device best described as a combination between a roller coaster seat and a torture device. The user watches with their head immobilized as a robotic arm ever so slowly approaches with a long Q-tip to insert into their nose. The founder, who sat himself for the demonstration video, admitted that even he was terrified and said they were working on improving the user experience.

The benefits of an autonomous COVID-19 swab are enormous - increased safety for healthcare workers, more PPE conserved, and potentially more testing locations, such as in airports or on college campuses - but without a safe and reliable user experience, very few people will be willing to sit for the swab. The challenge remains to foster trust between stakeholders to ensure that remote medical technologies like the Brain Navi robot are safe, reliable, and, ultimately, actually adopted.

Protecting and empowering patients and healthcare staff has always been our mission. Designing a trustworthy medical device requires empathy as well as validation. By putting end users first, we at Core ensure that medical technologies are safe and reliable, we stand by our mission “to apply a human touch to all aspects of user research.” We are excited to continue working on novel solutions to meet the needs of our clients and participants. Contact us on our website to discuss our research options.