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Analysis of Tasks and Human Factors in Anesthesia for Coronary-Artery Bypass

PETER J. KENNEDY, MS^*, ALFRED FEINGOLD, MD, EARL L. WIENER, PhD, and RONALD S. HOSEK, PhD

*Registered Professional Engineer. IBM, Boca Raton, Florida. Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Management Sciences. University of Miami, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida 33152. Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology. Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Management Sciences. University of Miami, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida 33152. Professor of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences. Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Management Sciences. University of Miami, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida 33152. Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering. Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Management Sciences. University of Miami, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida 33152.

Abstract

A comprehensive task analysis of the anesthetist's activities during coronary-artery bypass procedures was carried out using time-lapse cinematography. This film was analyzed frame by frame to detect types of activities and the proportion of time spent on each. Link analysis was used to reveal recurring sequences of activities. Of the 9 activity categories, the anesthetist spends the greatest portion of time observing the patient and scanning the entire operative and monitoring field. Ten to 15% of the time is spent logging data on the anesthetic record. The challenge for the anesthetist is to optimize his performance, and those under his direction, in the face of the changing workload resulting from variations in patients' conditions. Use of an automated monitoring system that charts patient vital signs would allow the anesthetist to apportion this time among other tasks.