Knowledge Acquisition for Trauma Care Information Management System
Goal
Improve trauma care on the battlefield and trauma emergency centers and resolve research questions concerning the efficacy of Wi-Fi handheld units for access to and entry of data into a trauma care information management system that can be used at many points in the trauma care process.
Challenges
- Project had both research goals and actual real-time usage goals since the funding agency was DARPA, with the cooperation of university research sites
- Project team included over twenty entities ranging from the University of Texas and the University of Maryland to government contractors and hospitals around the nation
- Knowledge acquisition at this level of complexity had never been done before; job roles for which knowledge acquisition had to be conducted included: EMTs, police and fire department first responders, fire battalion commanders who handle large trauma events, military medics, military hospitals, life flight personnel, doctors and nurses at public trauma care hospitals.
Solution
Cognitive's approach was to:
- Perform a demonstration of knowledge acquisition techniques with a trauma physician at a DARPA-funded conference with an audience of over 500 people to help convey what it is and the level of detailed and interviewing skill required to elicit knowledge from highly trained subject matter experts
- Prepare a methodology and systematic set of tools to capture required knowledge in a form that can be validated and conveyed to the system developers, supporting the flow of information from point of trauma and medical dispatch, to patient treatment
- Conduct job analysis and information analysis with people in a variety of job roles, requiring "ride-alongs" with emergency teams, observation in trauma bays, interviews with physicians of various specializations, observations and interviews on hospital ships, etc.
- Capture scenarios of use for each job type and analyze the information to develop user scenarios that can be documented for requirements and interface design
- Review user interface for handheld tools to ensure congruence with user scenarios.
Cognitive Value Added
Cognitive Technologies was asked to be a part of this team because we "wrote the book" (in fact, two books) on knowledge acquisition and user-centered requirements engineering. We provided:
- Knowledge acquisition methodology and standardized toolset
- Specialized team members who conducted knowledge acquisition
- Team training in how to elicit requirements using the standardized toolset
- National-level expertise in knowledge acquisition and user-centered requirements.