Customizing ICU Patient Monitoring: A User-Centered Approach Informed by Nurse Profiles

Abstract Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurses are burdened by excessive number of false and irrelevant alarms generated by patient monitoring systems. Nurses rely on patient monitoring systems for timely and relevant information about patients. However, systems currently in place are not sensitive to nurse capabilities and fail to communicate information efficiently. Ensuring efficient communication and effective collaboration between patient monitoring systems and ICU nurses is possible through improving system design to be sensitive to nurse capabilities and preferences. Recognizing nurses as users of patient monitoring systems, we aim to gain in-depth understanding of the user group. We conducted a survey study involving nurses from two IC units to reveal their individual characteristics. Subsequently, we performed hierarchical cluster analysis to develop data-driven nurse profiles. We discuss the implications of nurse characteristics on system use. We suggest design recommendations tailored to four distinct user profiles to address their unique needs through system design. By optimizing the system interactions to match the natural tendencies of nurses, our we aim to alleviate the cognitive burden induced by system use to ensure that healthcare providers receive relevant information, ultimately improving patient safety.