Problem Formulation

Assignment 3: Problem Formulation

Create an intuitive interface for anesthesiologists, enhancing focus on patient care.

Statement-restatement technique:

Stated problem: inefficient monitoring for anesthesiologists

Real Problem: reduce errors caused by diverted attention

Stated boundaries: the current physical requirement to look away to examine vitals. 

Actual boundaries: High costs and training time.

Initial goals: enhance monitoring efficiency, and design a user-friendly interface. 

Meaningful goal: creating a new standard in the healthcare industry.

The inputs are the VR headsets, the software developed. The outputs are increased efficiency. Unknowns are if anesthesiologists would like to use this. 

Original: Design a VR tool to improve anesthesiologists' monitoring

Restated: Create a virtual reality system that improves the ability of anesthesiologists to monitor patient vitals and anesthesia levels

Revision method:

Exploring new technologies that could be patented, ensuring a competitive edge and intellectual property protection as older patents expire. Also, it could be used in all fields of medicine. 

Source/cause approach:

Problem: Inefficient monitoring of patient vitals and anesthesia levels.

Source/Cause: The lack of real-time data integration and an intuitive user interface.

Solution Approach: Develop a VR tool that integrates real-time data and features a user-friendly interface.

Present state-desired state (PS-DS) strategy:

Present State: Anesthesiologists rely on many separate sources for patient monitoring, leading to inefficiencies.

Desired State: A single, integrated VR interface that includes all necessary patient information, and streamlines the monitoring process.

Kepner-Tregoe (KT) situation analysis 

Knowns:

What: Creating an intuitive interface for anesthesiologists to enhance focus on patient care using VR technology

When: Next couple of years

Who: Anesthesiologists

Where: Hospitals

Why: To enhance focus on patients 

How: Using VR technology in front of anesthesiologists eyes

Timing: Patient care is a high-priority industry that is open to improvement. 

Trend: VR is trending in many fields 

Impact: High impact on patient safety 

Tasks to Be Performed

Technology Assessment: What current VR devices are currently used?

User Needs Analysis: how convenient is this to the anesthesiologists?

Prototype Development: Develop an initial version based on the technology assessment and user needs.

Testing and Feedback: Test the prototype and gather feedback.

Iterative Improvement: Refine the tool based on feedback and re-test.

Order of Tasks

Technology Assessment and User Needs Analysis to be done at the same time for efficiency 

Prototype Development - with info from the last step 

Testing and Feedback- to make sure it works/is efficient

Iterative Improvement - final model that achieves all goals 

Kepner-Tregoe (KT) problem analysis 

Define the Problem: 

Anesthesiologists are reading vitals at a sub-par level

Identify Possible Causes

Technical Limitations: Currently, VR technology isn’t utilized

Integration Issues: There may be vision issues with using VR during treatment

User Interface Design: VR may have some learning curve but it is ultimately intuitive.

Data Accuracy and Latency: The data must be accurate when being displayed on VR

Evaluate Causes

If we could allow anesthesiologists to read vitals faster, there would be more time for patients to receive care which is very important. 

Next Steps:

Further Investigation: For complex or unclear causes, plan a deeper dive to gather more data or insights.

Solution Development: For the identified causes, continue to improve on the hardware and software to make the final model better and more efficient 

Duncker diagram:

Problem Space: Finding issues with current anesthesiology monitoring practices (slow monitoring of vitals).

Solution Space: Propose real-time data integration with VR visualization tools.

By applying these techniques and strategies, we can streamline the development approach for the VR assistance tool, ensuring it effectively meets the needs of anesthesiologists.