Expertise and the interpretation of computerized physiological data: implications for the design of computerized monitoring in neonatal intensive care

This paper presents the outcomes from a cognitive engineering project addre ssing the design problems of computerized monitoring in neonatal intensive care. Cognitive engineering is viewed, in this project, as a symbiosis betw een cognitive science and design practice. A range of methodologies has bee n used: interviews with neonatal staff, ward observations and experimental techniques. The results of these investigations are reported, focusing spec ifically on the differences between junior and senior physicians in their i nterpretation of monitored physiological data. It was found that the senior doctors made better use of the different knowledge sources available than the junior doctors. The senior doctors were able to identify more relevant physiological patterns and generated more and better inferences than did th eir junior colleagues. Expertise differences are discussed in the context o f previous psychological research in medical expertise. Finally, the paper discusses the potential utility of these outcomes to inform the design of c omputerized decision support in neonatal intensive care. (C) 2001 Academic Press.