Smart pump user interface evaluation

there are at least 73 infusion pump manufacturers registered with the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA). Many events reported by the FDA occurred due to usability problems of medical devices, which are often related to lack of consistency in the interface. This may induce the user to error and consequently the occurrence of problems during the device operation. To minimize such events, it is required a careful evaluation of the interface device and also its standardization. Infusion pumps are always present in ECRI's reports as one of the devices that have the highest probability of risk to the patient. The objective of this study is to verify the interfaces consistency of four infusion pumps developed by leading manufacturer in world market. The methodology is structured in two stages. The first stage referred to the development of an appropriate set of criteria for comparing the interfaces of the smart infusion pumps. In the second stage, it was applied the developed criteria to the interfaces using the four pumps as a practical study Evaluation results showed that there is no standardization for designing medical devices of the same type and cathegory; in this case study the smart pumps. It also suggested that each manufacturer designs a device considering only aesthetic issues and does not maintain any consistency with other manufacturers and even with other models or different version devices. This preliminary study provides us with evidence that this lack of consistency between the interfaces of these devices can lead to usability problems, and can lead untrained users to error. Additional studies are needed to further investigation and thereby demonstrate qualitatively results.