Designing Novel Visual Physiologic Monitor Displays for Patient Care

Objective This study compared how numeric and configural visual displays affect reaction time (RT), accuracy, and workload during a simulated patient monitoring task. Background We previously showed that a configural display that maps vital sign variables in a two-dimensional space reduced RT to emergency events compared with a numerical display. Method Thirty participants monitored simulated patient vital signs using concurrently presented numeric and configural displays, which varied in relative position (numeric or configural on the left or right) and eccentricity (distance from the screen center) across trials. Participant RT and accuracy in identifying abnormal vital signs were measured. Participants simultaneously performed a secondary task (N-Back) to simulate multitasking, with performance assessed through RT and accuracy. Workload was measured using both pupillometry and NASA-TLX self-reports. Results Primary task RT and accuracy depended on emergency event. In the secondary task, positioning the configural display to the right of center and positioning close to center speeded task RT and improved accuracy. Secondary task accuracy was better at lower display eccentricity. Pupil dilation increased during emergency events, and NASA-TLX workload scores increased with greater eccentricity. NASA-TLX scores showed that participants found the task to be mentally demanding but not physically demanding. Conclusion Display configuration significantly affects primary and secondary task performance and NASA-TLX-measured workload. Right-positioned configural displays at low-eccentricity may better support multitasking in clinical environments. Application These findings highlight how spatial arrangement and eccentricity of displays influence multitasking performance and workload, informing interface designs that better support user efficiency under demanding conditions.