Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
maintaining SA in dynamic complex systems (Endsley, Bolte, and Jones
2003). Supporting the SA of health professionals may be achieved by apply-
ing these principles to the design of biosurveillance systems. Because of the
limited length of this chapter, we will not present all 50 design principles
but will instead provide a few general guidelines based on a hypothetical
biosurveillance system.
Organize information around goals
. SAOD proposes that effective systems
provide information organized around the major goals and subgoals, as
identified in the GDTA. For our hypothetical system, three main goals and
nine subgoals were identified (refer to Figure 4.3). One possible way to design
a system is to create an interface with three separate modules based on the
main goals. However, this would not lead to a very usable interface as some
functions would be buried under several menu layers. A better approach
would be to design a system focusing on the hypothetical subgoals that must
be performed to support the top-level goals. Based on these subgoals, five
general work areas can be identified: alerts, alert details, assets, readiness,
and trends (see Figure 4.5).
The top-level screen lists all current country alerts that are clustered based
on some user-defined parameters (e.g., location, type). The second tab decom-
poses the clustered alerts and provides detailed information on each indi-
vidual alert, which is needed to determine validity and criticality. The third
Number Alerts
2
1
5
10
4
Level
Country
Reporting Agency
Low
Moderate
Severe
Severe
Moderate
Brazil
Algeria
Chad
Sudan
Dem. Republic Congo
San Pablo Hospital
Bechar Universitie
Red Crescent
Khartum Hospital
United Nations
Figure 4.5
Interface example showing organization around goals.
