Abstract
Many medical devices on the market are labelled “user-centred”; however, a large percentage of them are not designed to adequately reflect the needs and features of the end-users. Design issues have led to accidents in which poor experiences impair product functionality and even threatens users’ safety. This study explored the user information factors that hindered the success of new medical devices that were effective, safe and easy to use, and also the correlations between these factors. A case study methodology was utilised to gain improved understanding of the factors that substantially influence the user performance of new products. In specific, the project processes of sixteen medical devices produced by two carefully selected manufacturers were analysed, through analysing the project archives of the devices, interviewing team members playing key roles in the development processes, and validation workshops. The results also revealed that the design of most of the devices in the study was based on insufficient user insights. This owed to the issues embedded in both the ways of obtaining user information and using the information. These are as follows: 1) unreliable information sources; 2) linear and unidirectional data delivery manner; 3) inconsistent ways of translating and presenting data; and 4) lack of central governance of project information.
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This study was supported by the Department of Education of Guangdong Province (Grant 2020GXJK135 and Grant 2020KZDZX1136). The funding sources had no role in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript.
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Yang, F., Wang, L., Ding, X. (2022). Why Some “User-Centred” Medical Devices do not Provide Satisfactory User Experiences? An Investigation on User Information Factors in New Device Development Processes. In: Soares, M.M., Rosenzweig, E., Marcus, A. (eds) Design, User Experience, and Usability: UX Research, Design, and Assessment. HCII 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13321. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05897-4_22
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