Use of wearable physiological sensors to predict cognitive workload in a visuospatial learning task.

Background: Increased cognitive workload, sometimes known as mental strain or mental effort, has been associated with reduced performance.

Objective: The use of physiological monitoring was investigated to predict cognitive workload and performance.

Methods: Twenty-one participants completed a 10-minute seated rest, a visuospatial learning task modeled after crane operation, and the Stroop test, an assessment that measures cognitive interference.

Data-Driven Estimation of the Impact of Diversions Due to In-Flight Medical Emergencies on Flight Delay and Aircraft Operating Costs.

In-flight medical emergencies (IFMEs) average 1 of every 604 flights and are expected to increase as the population ages and air travel increases. Flight diversions, or the rerouting of a flight to an alternate destination, occur in 2 to 13% of IFME cases, but may or may not be necessary as determined after the fact. Estimating the effect of IFME diversions compared to nonmedical diversions can be expected to improve our understanding of their impact and allow for more appropriate decision making during IFMEs.

Medical error and human factors engineering: where are we now?

The goal of human factors engineering is to optimize the relationship between humans and systems by studying human behavior, abilities, and limitations and using this knowledge to design systems for safe and effective human use. With the assumption that the human component of any system will inevitably produce errors, human factors engineers design systems and human/machine interfaces that are robust enough to reduce error rates and the effect of the inevitable error within the system. In this article, we review the extent and nature of medical error and then discuss human factors engineering tools that have potential applicability.