Auditory and visual alarm designs impact clinicians' perceived cognitive workload.

Area of Science:

• Human Factors Engineering
• Clinical Informatics
• Medical Device Design

Background:

• Healthcare professionals face significant cognitive load due to multisensory stimuli and vital sign alarms.
• Effective interpretation of patient decompensation alarms is critical for timely clinical intervention.
• Existing alarm systems may contribute to cognitive overload, potentially impacting patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of modified auditory and visual alarm designs on clinicians' perceived cognitive workload.
• To assess whether redesigned alarms can reduce cognitive demand while maintaining or improving performance.
• To compare the intuitiveness and effectiveness of novel alarm interfaces against conventional designs.

Main Methods:

• An experimental study was conducted at Vanderbilt University Medical Center involving 26 clinicians (nurse practitioners, residents, fellows).
• Participants evaluated simulated mean arterial pressure (MAP) using standard and modified visual (line-graph display) and auditory (harmonic overlays) alarms.
• Perceived cognitive workload was measured using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) post-trial.

Main Results:

• Clinicians reported significantly lower temporal demand with the modified visual monitor compared to the conventional one (p=0.022).
• In auditory trials, clinicians showed significantly higher perceived performance with conventional alarms versus non-clinicians (p=0.022).
• Non-clinicians experienced higher temporal demand with conventional auditory alarms than clinicians (p=0.024), suggesting modified alarms improve clarity.

Conclusions:

• Modifications to both visual and auditory alarms can effectively reduce perceived cognitive workload, especially temporal demand.
• The redesigned alarms maintain or improve clinician performance without negatively affecting other workload components.
• These findings support the implementation of enhanced alarm designs to optimize clinical workflow and patient monitoring.