MEDICAL INFORMATICS AND THE SCIENCE OF COGNITION

Recent developments in medical informatics research have afforded poss ibilities for great advances in health care delivery These exciting op portunities also present formidable challenges to the implementation a nd integration of technologies in the workplace. As in most domains, t here is a gulf between technologic artifacts and end users. Since medi cal practice is a human endeavor, there is a need for bridging discipl ines to enable clinicians to benefit from rapid technologic advances. This in turn necessitates a broadening of disciplinary boundaries to c onsider cognitive and social factors pertaining to the design and use of technology. The authors argue for a place of prominence for cogniti ve science. Cognitive science provides a framework for the analysis an d modeling of complex human performance and has considerable applicabi lity to a range of issues in informatics. Its methods have been employ ed to illuminate different facets of design and implementation. This a pproach has also yielded insights into the mechanisms and processes in volved in collaborative design. Cognitive scientific methods and theor ies are illustrated in the context of two examples that examine human- computer interaction in medical contexts and computer-mediated collabo rative processes. The framework outlined in this paper can be used to refine the process of iterative design, end-user training, and product ive practice.