TY - JOUR T1 - Usability testing of a new mixed mode ventilator JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 44 IS - Suppl 58 SP - P4700 AU - Sahisha Ketheeswaran AU - Etienne Veschambre AU - Dion Martin AU - June Mendoza AU - Julia Lord AU - Alison Wimms Y1 - 2014/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P4700.abstract N2 - Aim: Due to the inherent complexity of ventilators, operation is often challenging for users. The aim of this test was to evaluate the usability of a new mixed mode life support ventilator (Astral, ResMed Ltd).Methods: Participants were asked to complete several realistic task based scenarios which evaluated the ventilator core operating functions, for example 'setting up the ventilator for invasive ventilation with a leak circuit on an adult patient'. A total of 307 different tasks were identified for evaluation, and each task was required to be tested by a minimum of 8 participants, or 15 participants for safety critical tasks. Participants were also asked to respond to 'emergency' situations during which ventilator alarms and patient conditions were simulated.Results: 90 participants (55 clinicians, 27 lay operators, 8 biomedical technicians) completed the evaluation. Participants' ages ranged from 18 to >70 and participants level of experience ranged from no experience to >20 years. All safety related tasks and core ventilator tasks were successfully completed by participants. Areas which participants found most difficult involved circuit set-up. Areas which participants rated as having the highest usability (an average usability score of 10/10) were: conducting alarms tests; changing alarms volumes; and identifying the activation of the remote alarm. Results from this evaluation were fed back to the ventilator design team to be used for future design refinement and/or modifications to education materials.Conclusion: During this evaluation the ventilator was able to be used safety, as intended, with strong overall usability ratings from participants particularly concerning the testing, and activation of alarms. ER -