A Modeling Research on How to Solve Ventilator Alarms from Behavioral and Cognitive Perspectives

ABSTRACT

Objective: This paper was studied the behavior of ventilator operators from a cognitive perspective. A model was built from the behavior of the operators, especially when an alarm happened. Introduction: The frequency of ventilator use is increasing due to COVID-19. Thus, there is an increasing need for staff who can manipulate the ventilator appropriately. There is a need for a support system that will enable the operator to manipulate the equipment appropriately for the situation, especially when an alarm happens. Methods: The operator’s behavior during the ventilator alarm was video-recorded. The verbal protocol data were also recorded to examine the thinking during the manipulation. After the experiment, the video recordings were reviewed with the participants and interviewed about the reasons for their speeches and behaviors. Results: As a result of behavioral analysis of each participant, behavioral patterns split into “Skilled Group (SG)” and “Inexperienced Group (IG)” around about 17 s after the alarm happened. From the verbal protocol data and interview data obtained from the experiment, the reasons why the behaviors divided into two groups were analyzed. Based on these results, the cognitive reasons behind the behavior were clarified. In addition, a cognitive model of the operators when a ventilator alarm happens was built. Applications The results of this research can be applied not only to the manipulation of ventilator alarms, but also to the manipulation of medical equipment, for example, ECMO (Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation). © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.