Macroergonomic and Implementation Issues of Guidelines for Accessible Medical Devices

This chapter describes the barriers to the implementation and use of guidelines and other human factors knowledge and skills for the design of accessible medical devices. After describing a generic system design process, we discuss the steps of the design process in which human factors can make significant contribution to improve the usability and accessibility of medical devices. We then describe the elements of the work system of a designer and identify various work system characteristics that can hinder the application of guidelines and human factors knowledge by designers of medical devices. The final part of the chapter provides information on organizational barriers to the implementation of guidelines, such as financial issues, and barriers related to organizational culture and structure.