Anaesthetists' attitudes to monitoring instrument design options

A survey into the attitudes of anaesthetists to features in monitoring instruments, particularly the design of alarms, visual warnings, alarm limits and the general instrument interface is reported. Questions in the survey had short introductions outlining a clinical scenario followed by items that proposed alternative design features that an instrument might have. Participants were asked to grade their responses to these alternatives on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The results suggest that anaesthetists would welcome the use of more advanced technology in instrument design. They prefer context-specific messages and alarms. They reject overt control systems for delivering anaesthesia, except for use in exceptional circumstances. Generally, the preferences of anaesthetists are consistent with known principles of safe, ergonomic design.