title: Making the constraints visible: testing the ecological approach to interface design.
abstract: A haemodynamic monitoring and control task was used to evaluate the ecological approach to interface design for complex high-technology environments. Guidelines proposed by Bennett and Flach (1992) were used to design multilevel displays that made visible (a) anatomical constraints, and (b) causal constraints on haemodynamic systems. These displays were compared with a traditional display that showed pressure and flow values in five separate graphs. Simulations of clinical problems were generated by a computer model and presented in an interactive computer environment. Critical care nurses and nursing students observed changes in pressures and flow corresponding to certain disease states and corrected those states using simulated drugs. For both groups, speed and accuracy were progressively improved by the enhanced, multilevel displays.
authors.affiliation: Center for the Ecological Study of Perception and Action, University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Effken
authors.forename: N G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Shaw
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D003626:Data Display; D006439:Hemodynamics; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D014584:User-Computer Interface