Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 50, Issue 4 , Pages 384-386 , October 2007

Studying the Technical Work of Emergency Care

  • Christopher P. Nemeth, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Cognitive Technologies Laboratory, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
    • ,
  • Richard I. Cook, MD

      Affiliations

    • Cognitive Technologies Laboratory, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
    • ,
  • Robert L. Wears, MD, MS

      Affiliations

    • Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Florida, Jacksonville, FL, and Clinical Safety Research Unit, Imperial College London, London, UK.
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress for correspondence: Robert L. Wears, MD, MS, 655 W 8th Street, Jacksonville, FL 32209; 904-244-4124, fax 904-244-4508

References 

  1. Cook RI, Woods DD. The messy details: insights from technical work studies in health care. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 47th Annual Meeting. Denver, CO: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society; 2003;p. 379–380
  2. Nemeth CP, Cook RI, Woods DD. The messy details: insights from the study of technical work in health care. IEEE Trans Syst Man Cybernet A Syst Hum. 2004;34:689–692
  3. Cook RI, Nemeth CP, Brandwijk M. Technical work studies: understanding human work amidst complexity, uncertainty, and conflict. 2004;Paper presented at: AHRQ 3rd Annual Patient Safety Research Conference; Arlington, VA. March 8. http://www.ctlab.org/documents/TechnicalWorkStudies_Mar04.pdf. Accessed November 7, 2005.
  4. In:  Barley SR,  Orr JE editor. Between Craft and Science: Technical Work Studies in US Settings. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press; 1997;
  5. Wears R, Perry S, Wilson S, et al. Emergency department status boards: user-evolved artefacts for inter- and intra-group coordination. Cognit Technol Work. 2007;9:163–170
  6. Hutchins E. Cognition in the Wild. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 1996;
  7. Nunnally M, Nemeth CP, Brunetti V, et al. Lost in menuspace: user interactions with complex medical devices. IEEE Trans Syst Man Cybernet A. 2004;34:736–742
  8. Kneebone RL. Crossing the line: simulation and boundary areas. Simul Healthcare. 2006;1:160–163
  9. Chisholm CD, Collison EK, Nelson DR, et al. Emergency department work place interruptions: are emergency physicians multi-tasking or interrupt driven?. Acad Emerg Med. 2000;7:1239–1243
  10. Chisholm CD, Dornfeld A, Nelson D, et al. Work interrupted: a comparison of workplace interruptions in emergency departments and primary care offices. Ann Emerg Med. 2001;38:146–151
  11. Coiera EW, Jayasuriya RA, Hardy J, et al. Communication loads on clinical staff in the emergency department. Med J Aust. 2002;176:415–418
  12. Levin S, Aronsky D, Hemphill R, et al. Shifting toward balance: measuring the distribution of workload among emergency physician teams. Ann Emerg Med. 2007;50:419–423
  13. Mackenzie CF, Xiao Y, Hu F-M, et al. Video as a tool for improving intubation tasks for emergency medical and trauma care. Ann Emerg Med. 2007;50:436–442
  14. Conners GP, Hays DP. Emergency department drug orders: does drug storage location make a difference?. Ann Emerg Med. 2007;50:414–418
  15. Fairbanks RJ, Caplan SH, Bishop PA, et al. Usability study of two common defibrillators reveals hazards. Ann Emerg Med. 2007;50:424–432
  16. Xiao Y, Schenkel S, Faraj S, et al. What whiteboards in a trauma center operating suite can teach us about emergency department communication. Ann Emerg Med. 2007;50:387–395
  17. Fairbanks RJ, Bisantz AM, Sunm M. Emergency department communication links and patterns. Ann Emerg Med. 2007;50:396–406
  18. Woloshynowych M, Davis R, Brown R, et al. Communication patterns in a UK emergency department. Ann Emerg Med. 2007;50:407–413
  19. Woods DD, Hollnagel E. Joint Cognitive Systems: Patterns in Cognitive Systems Engineering. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group; 2006;
  20. Cook RI, Woods DD. Operating at the sharp end: the complexity of human error. In:  Bogner MS editors. Human Error in Medicine. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates; 1994;p. 255–310

 Supervising editor: Michael L. Callaham, MDFunding and support: By Annals policy, all authors are required to disclose any and all commercial, financial, and other relationships in any way related to the subject of this article, that might create any potential conflict of interest. The authors have stated that no such relationships exist. See the Manuscript Submission Agreement in this issue for examples of specific conflicts covered by this statement.Reprints not available from the authors.

PII: S0196-0644(07)01442-4

doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2007.08.013

Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 50, Issue 4 , Pages 384-386 , October 2007

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