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Wednesday, June 18, 2014

On the EHR-related term "cognitive overload"

I often use the term "cognitive overload" when writing about EHR and related information technology systems that present a needlessly complex user experience to clinicians.  This affects the care they deliver in negative ways.

Physicians and nurses are presented with too much complexity for the hard, fast, unpredictable work they have to perform.

This picture of a B36J cockpit illustrates the concept of cognitive overload instantly:


(Click to enlarge)

A 360-degree "virtual tour" is at http://www.nmusafvirtualtour.com/media/062/B-36J%20Engineer.htm.  Scroll around the cockpit to see more.

Any questions?

-- SS
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2 comments:

  1. Trevor3130June 18, 2014 at 5:32:00 PM EDT

    That illustrates why the complexities confronted by cabin crews are worlds apart from those put in front of health care workers.

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  2. InformaticsMDJune 19, 2014 at 11:46:00 AM EDT

    Trevor3130 said..

    That illustrates why the complexities confronted by cabin crews are worlds apart from those put in front of health care workers.

    Well, yes, but as a metaphorical example, the picture makes the point that cognitive overload is a bad thing. Overly complex user interfaces provide a poor user experience.

    I think (and hope) today's aircraft instrumentation is a bit better engineered from the human perspective than that of this B36J.

    -- SS

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