Electronic health record on the go: Device form factor and Fitts' law.

Purpose: With electronic health records (EHRs) becoming ubiquitous, computer use in exam rooms during patient-provider interactions is commonplace. Although computer use brings many benefits to providers, and patients generally rate computer-use as having a positive impact, the use of mobile devices could eliminate existing issues, for example allowing providers to enter or review records while face-to-face with patients. Using mobile devices increases flexibility of providers, but also creates challenges associated with the mobile device itself.

Improving central line maintenance to reduce central line-associated bloodstream infections.

Objective: A human factors engineering-based intervention aimed at the modification of task behavior to increase adherence to best practices and the reduction of central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI). The hypothesis was tested that a central line maintenance kit would improve adherence and reduce CLABSI compared with a standard, nonkit-based method of performing central line maintenance.

Design: The study design was a 29-month prospective, interventional, nonrandomized, observational, and clinical research study using a pre-post implementation assessment.

An economic analysis of adherence engineering to improve use of best practices during central line maintenance procedures.

Objective: Adherence engineering applies human factors principles to examine non-adherence within a specific task and to guide the development of materials or equipment to increase protocol adherence and reduce human error. Central line maintenance (CLM) for intensive care unit (ICU) patients is a task through which error or non-adherence to protocols can cause central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs). We conducted an economic analysis of an adherence engineering CLM kit designed to improve the CLM task and reduce the risk of CLABSI.