Search Results (9)

Background: Ensuring the safety of patients in the operating room, through the monitoring and prevention of adverse events is a central priority of healthcare delivery. In the professionalization of operating room nurses, the processes of identifying, assessing, developing, monitoring, and certifying transversal competencies are crucial. While national and international frameworks have attempted to define such competencies, they often vary in scope and remain inconsistently integrated into education and clinical practice. There is, therefore, a need for a comprehensive and structured identification of transversal competencies relevant to both perioperative and perianesthesiological nursing roles. Objectives: To formulate a validated and structured repertoire of transversal competencies demonstrated by operating room nurses in both perioperative and perianesthesiological contexts. Methods: A qualitative descriptive design was adopted, combining shadowed observation with Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA). A convenience sample of 46 participants was recruited from a university and a public hospital in Italy. Data were collected between September 2021 and June 2023 and analyzed using content analysis and data triangulation. Results: Through a qualitative, inductive and iterative approach the study identified 15 transversal competencies, 50 sub-competencies, and 153 specific tasks and activities. Specifically, operating room nurses working in perioperative and perianesthesiological roles presented the following transversal competencies: communication and interpersonal relationships, situation awareness, teamwork, problem solving and decision-making, self-awareness, coping with stressors, resilience and fatigue management, leadership, coping with emotions, task and time management, ethical and sustainable thinking, adaptation to the context, critical thinking, learning through experiences, and data, information and digital content management. Each competency was associated with specific tasks observed. Conclusions: This framework complements the existing repertoire of technical-specialist competencies by integrating essential transversal competencies. It serves as a valuable tool for the assessment, validation, and certification of competencies related to patient and professional safety, emotional well-being, relational dynamics, and social competencies. The findings underscore the need for academic institutions to revise traditional training models and embed transversal competencies in both undergraduate and postgraduate nursing education. Full article

User experience (UX) is crucial for interactive system design. To improve UX, one method is to identify failure modes related to UX and then take action on the high-priority failure modes to decrease their negative impacts. For the UX of interactive system design, the failure modes under consideration are human errors or difficulties, and thus the risk factors concerning failure modes are subjective and even subconscious. Existing methods are not sufficient to deal with these issues. In this paper, a fuzzy failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA)-based hybrid approach is proposed to improve the UX of interactive system design. First, hierarchical task analysis (HTA) and systematic human error reduction and prediction approach (SHERPA) are combined to identify potential failure modes concerning UX. Subsequently, fuzzy linguistic variables are employed to assess the risk parameters of the failure modes, and the similarity aggregation method (SAM) is adopted to aggregate the fuzzy opinions. Then, on the basis of the aggregation results, fuzzy logic is adopted to compute the fuzzy risk priority numbers that can prioritize the failure modes. Finally, the failure modes with high priorities are considered for corrective actions. An in-vehicle information system was employed as a case study to illustrate the proposed approach. The findings indicate that, compared with other methods, our approach can provide more accurate results for prioritizing failure modes related to UX, and can successfully deal with the subjective and even subconscious nature of the risk factors associated with failure modes. This approach can be universally utilized to enhance the UX of interactive system design. Full article

In the domain of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), Simplified Vehicle Operations (SVOs) promise a reduction in handling complexity and training time for pilots. Designing a usable human–machine interface (HMI) for pilots of SVO-enabled aircraft requires a deep understanding of task and user requirements. This paper describes the results of two user research methods to gather these requirements. First, a traditional Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) mission was examined using a Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA). The findings were used to formulate a theoretical HTA for a single-piloted electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) system in such a scenario. In the second step, qualitative interviews with seven subject matter experts (pilots and paramedic support) in HEMS operations produced vital user requirements for HMI development. Key findings emphasize the necessity of a simplified information presentation and collision avoidance support in the HMI. Full article

Highly mechanized forestry operations are essential for efficient timber harvesting. Therefore, the skills of harvester operators appear to be key to productive and sustainable use of the machines. Recent research has revealed a knowledge deficit regarding the work practices of forest machine operators. This urges systematic research into forestry machine handling and a corresponding refinement of analytical methods. Current analyses of operator tasks in forestry are less formalized and focus predominantly on machine efficiency and overall performance, but not so much on the human-related conditions of work performance and workload. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to introduce hierarchical task analysis (HTA) into forestry science. HTA is a versatile, formalized human-factors method that can be used to describe the work objectives of forest machine operators. HTA is suitable, for example, for describing (in)efficient work practices and thus as a basis for designing machine operator training and for systematically evaluating assistive technologies. The task analyses in this paper draw on a recently published empirical approach to analyzing work practices, workflows, and machine operator behavior for optimal human–machine collaboration in forestry application research. Specifically, the main work methods of clearcutting and thinning stand in European forestry were considered, with examples from Scandinavian and German method application. The process of HTA is described and a prototypical approach to HTA for both working methods provided. As a result, this work could show that a single work practice affects operator goals within different work elements and sets out how inefficient work practices can be described in terms of operator goals. With the introduction and exemplary application of HTA, a structured task definition in human-centered approaches is encouraged to analyze work practices, workflows, and machine operator behavior for optimal human–machine collaboration in forestry application research. Full article

In the manufacturing environments of today, human–machine systems are constituted with complex and advanced technology, which demands workers’ considerable mental workload. This work aims to design and evaluate a Graphical User Interface developed to induce mental workload based on Dual N-Back tasks for further analysis of human performance. This study’s contribution lies in developing proper cognitive analyses of the graphical user interface, identifying human error when the Dual N-Back tasks are presented in an interface, and seeking better user–system interaction. Hierarchical task analysis and the Task Analysis Method for Error Identification were used for the cognitive analysis. Ten subjects participated voluntarily in the study, answering the NASA-TLX questionnaire at the end of the task. The NASA-TLX results determined the subjective participants’ mental workload proving that the subjects were induced to different levels of mental workload (Low, Medium, and High) based on the ANOVA statistical results using the mean scores obtained and cognitive analysis identified redesign opportunities for graphical user interface improvement. Full article

The high costs of pilot training and remuneration have placed a heavy financial burden on airlines, prompting people to actively study Single Pilot Operations (SPO). Achieving SPO undoubtedly requires the development of the new conceptual framework, and how to reallocate system functions among new agents to obtain optimal system design has become the primary problem in the early stages of the system lifecycle. To solve this problem, this paper applied the Human-centered Design (HCD) approach for the first time to the development and evaluation of SPO in the typical approach and landing scenario. Firstly, the combination of Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) and Abstraction Hierarchy (AH) was used to identify five function requirements and six function assumptions for the transition from the current Two-crew Operations (TCO) to the future SPO to develop the SPO model. Subsequently, the TCO and SPO models were transformed into two network models to evaluate the result of system function reallocation from the network level and node level using Social Network Analysis (SNA). The network parameters of both levels show that the future SPO developed in this paper has the advantages of better stability, less pilot workload and higher safety than the current TCO. Full article

Oil tanker offloading is a human-related and high-risk task. A small operational error may trigger catastrophic accidents such as fire and explosion. It is recognised that more than 70% of industrial accidents are blamed for human errors, so preventing them is crucial. As human error is associated with a variety of Performance Shaping Factors (PSFs), it is meaningful to identify key PSFs for safe operations during oil tanker offloading process. However, some issues are obstacles to finding the crucial PSFs. The recording data of most PSFs are always incomplete and imperfect. Moreover, the standard for ranking PSFs should be rational. In addition, the performance of each PSF at the different stages is oil offloading is usually unstable and may change with time. As a result, this study aims to conduct a method that mainly relies on Grey Relational Analysis (GRA), the definition of “Risk” (combination of likelihood and impact), and Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) to find several significant PSFs to prevent human errors. GRA deals with the incomplete and imperfect data; the definition of “Risk” provides a rational basis for ranking PSFs; and HTA gives support for considering the PSFs’ changes at different stages of a task. The proposed approach is tested on a real engineering case of oil tanker offloading work at offshore terminal. The result indicates that the method can be applied to identify key PSFs, which in turn provides recommendations for human error prevention to ensure the safety both on board and at terminal. Full article

The use of pesticides in agriculture is a significant problem at a global level, not only from an environmental perspective but also from the farmers’ health and safety point of view. In the literature, several studies have discussed the safe behavior and risk perception of farmers. However, human errors when dealing with pesticides and the related work equipment are rarely considered. To reduce this research gap, a study of the human safety errors in pesticide use based on hierarchical task analysis is proposed. In particular, such a bottom-up approach was applied to vineyard cultivation and considered all the activities that operators carry out when using pesticides. The results of this study showed that most of the identified human errors were action errors, i.e., potential failures of the operator in completing the activity successfully. In addition, retrieval and checking errors resulted in being rather common. These outputs shed light on the gap between the information received and the practical need for operators to reduce their failure to perform specific activities. Therefore, while the present study augments current knowledge on the safe use of pesticides, further research is needed to address human errors in agricultural activities, thus extending these results to a larger sample size as well as to other cultivation types. Full article

Human-robot collaboration (HRC) is a complex procedure in manufacturing due to the problems posed by compatibility and operational safety among humans and robots, and by task definitions among them in a collaborative order. In this paper, the research results of the human-robot collaboration study for the case of an automotive brake disc assembly is presented. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is proposed as a decision-making method for the human-robot collaboration system, and detailed hierarchical task analysis (HTA) is applied to allocate operational tasks to humans and robots, thus reducing the chance of duty interference. Additionally, a virtual environment software (Tecnomatix Process Simulate, version 11.1,80, Siemens, Munich, BY, Germany, 2012) is used to model the assembly workstation, providing an opportunity to evaluate the feasibility of the process through different scenarios. Finally, an experimental test is conducted to evaluate the performance of the assembly procedure. This research proves that, although human-robot collaboration increases the total process time slightly, this collaboration improves human ergonomics considerably and reduces the operator injury risk. Full article