Feasibility of Eyetracking in Critical Care Environments - A Systematic Review

Achieving a good understanding of the socio-technical system in critical or emergency situations is important for patient safety. Research in human-computer interaction in the field of anesthesia or surgery has the potential to improve usability of the user interfaces and enhance patient safety. Therefore eye-tracking is a technology for analyzing gaze patterns. It can also measure what is being perceived by the physician during medical procedures. The aim of this review is the applicability of eye-tracker in the domain of simulated or real environments of anesthesia, surgery or intensive care. We carried out a literature research in PubMed. Two independent researchers screened the titles and abstracts. The remaining 8 full-papers were analyzed based on the applicability of eye-trackers. The articles contain topics like training of surgeons, novice vs. experts or the cognitive workload. None of the publications address our goal. The applicability or limitations of the eye-tracker technology were stated incidentally.