Cognitive Artifacts in Complex Work - Ambient Intelligence for Scientific Discovery - page 175

care are time pressured and resource constrained. For this reason, artifacts that
participants create embody information that matters in that work setting. Ar-
tifacts are maintained as a part of everyday work because they are valued.
Acute care cognitive research such as the work that has been described here
reveals information about the work setting that can be used to create displays
that are well-suited to staff work. Findings can also show how to create other
types of displays that might add value to practitioner and coordinator daily
activities. Displays of information that are related to staff assignments for patient
procedures are typically organized according to the location where they are to be
performed. As Figs. 1 and 3 show, the cases that are slated to be performed in the
OR suite are listed according to each OR room. However, most of the cognitive
work that coordinators perform in making and managing staff assignments is
temporal - organized according to time.
Any tools that are created to assist these complex and highly sensitive in-
teractions need to reflect the underlying complexity of the work that is to be
performed. An effective computer-supported version of the master schedule could
improve team performance by supporting work in ways the research had revealed.
How would an ambient intelligent environment assist clinician needs to sched-
ule and manage anesthesia resource assignments? Because time is the key aspect
here, designing a display according to time would allow the staff to easily track
changes, to anticipate future events, and to respond to emerging situations. What
has happened, what has been set in motion, what can be expected, and when
each occurs is best depicted in time series representations. Figure 4 illustrates
Fig. 4. Conceptual approach for temporal master schedule (all names are fictitious).