ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses means to acquire such knowledge and how it might be used to inform system design. It also discusses computerized monitoring of physiological functions in adult and neonatal intensive care. The chapter reviews the literature on human decision making, with specific reference to the medical domain. It explains possible methods for studying working practices and cognition in the intensive care unit (ICU) and describes findings from the application of these methods. The chapter shows that this approach to cognitive engineering offers mutual benefits for both cognitive theory and design practice. The clinical monitoring of patients in the ICU has three objectives: allow conzfirmation that the patient is stable or is responding appropriately to treatment; the early detection of physiological events which occur spontaneously, with a view to rectifying problems before they become too established. Another objective is to detect situations in which the patient fails to respond to a particular therapeutic intervention, thereby requiring alternative action.
