An approach to human-centered design of nuclear medical equipment: the system of caption of the thyroid

Technology plays an important role in modern medical centers, making health care increasingly complex, relying on complex technical equipment. This technical complexity is particularly noticeable in the nuclear medicine and can increase the risks for human error. Human error has many causes such as performance shaping factors, organizational factors and user interface design. Poorly design human system interfaces of nuclear medical equipment can increase the risks for human error. If all nuclear medical equipment had been designed with good user interfaces, incidents and accidents could be reduced as well as he time required to learn how to use the equipment. Although some manufacturers of nuclear medical equipment have already integrate human factors principles in their products, there is still a need to steer the development of nuclear medical technology toward more human-centered approach. The aim of this paper is to propose a methodology that contributes to the design, development and evaluation of nuclear medical equipment and human system interface, towards a human-centered approach. This methodology includes the ergonomic approach, based on the operator activity analysis, together with human factors standards and guidelines, questionnaires and user based testing. We describe a case study in which this methodology is being applied in evaluation of the thyroid uptake system, getting essential information and data, that ill be used in development of a new system. (author)