Summary

Advocating a user-centered approach to medical technology design, Designing Usability into Medical Products covers the essential processes and specific techniques necessary to produce safe, effective, usable, and appealing medical systems and products. Written by experts on user-centered research, design, and evaluation, the book provides a range of alternative approaches to the subject. Wiklund and Wilcox explore how to make medical devices safe and effective by involving users in the design process. They discuss specific design and evaluation methods and tools, present case studies of user-friendly medical technologies and corporate human factors programs, and supply related resources for medical design professionals.

The book conveys an in-depth understanding of the user-centered design process, covers design methods for FDA compliance, and offers guidance on performing a variety of hands-on user research, user interface design, and user interface evaluation. The authors make a compelling case for treating the user's needs and preferences as a top design priority, rather than an afterthought. They demonstrate that high-quality customer interactions with systems and products leads to effective medical diagnosis and treatment, increases the physical and mental well being of patients and caregivers, and leads to commercial success in a crowded marketplace.