Imagine watching over someone's shoulder to see exactly where their eyes go when they make a mistake. That's essentially what researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst did with 31 nursing students — and what they discovered could make IV pumps safer for patients everywhere.
The researchers outfitted the students with special eye-tracking glasses while they programmed IV smart pumps, devices that deliver medication directly into a patient's bloodstream. By recording exactly where the students looked and for how long, the team identified moments of confusion and error that standard usability tests miss.
"The technology shows you exactly where the participants are looking and for how long," said Karen Giuliano, a professor of nursing at UMass Amherst. "You can see hesitation, confusion, and the exact steps that lead to errors."
IV medication errors are more dangerous for patients than mistakes with any other delivery method. That's partly because medication goes straight into the bloodstream with no second chance. Each year, U.S. hospitals perform an estimated 1.7 billion infusions using these devices — many in ICUs where minutes matter.
Giuliano has been studying IV pump safety since 2012, producing more than 30 research publications on how these machines perform in real hospitals. For the new study, her team tested four different pump brands. The results, published in the journal Advancing Medical-Surgical Nursing, showed that newer touchscreen systems were easier for students to use than older models currently found in many hospitals.
Doctoral student Seonhun Lee led the research, which was conducted in a special lab at the Institute for Applied Life Sciences. The team collaborated with Shannon Roberts, a professor who previously used the same eye-tracking methods to study how drivers interact with car dashboards.
"This study provides a great example of how eye-tracking technology can jump from the driving domain straight into a health care setting," Roberts said. "It's a powerful reminder that our best tools, techniques and metrics rarely stay confined to a single discipline."
The researchers have already expanded their work nationally, studying experienced critical care nurses from hospitals across the country. Their goal is to help pump manufacturers, hospitals, and regulators understand how device design affects patient safety — ultimately reducing the medication errors that harm thousands of patients each year.