Despite continued interest in Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) techniques for the analysis and design of complex, human-technology systems, few published accounts exist that document all of the five recommended phases of CWA in real world applications. Delineating a work-centered conceptual framework that guides the design of technology, Applications of Cognitive Work Analysis provides the understanding necessary to apply these robust techniques to real world, large scale system design problems in a variety of domains. The book provides a complete CWA analysis for a complex, simulated air traffic control environment and a three phase analysis of an actual healthcare system. It includes detailed applications of work domain, control tasks, and strategies analysis for systems including military command and control, transportation, and emergency management. The contributors present discussions and examples of techniques drawn from research and design traditions other than CWA that can be used to complement and enrich CWA analyses in areas of social and organization analysis, and knowledge and skills analysis. They emphasize important theoretical and application oriented advances in CWA related to the integration of CWA within a larger system design. The concluding chapter examines the progress of CWA as a cognitive engineering tool, then outlines its theoretical underpinnings and a path for the future of this approach. The book demonstrates how these methods can be applied in complex, real world design contexts, subject to constraints of cost, time, and information. It shows the how, when, and where CWA techniques can be integrated into the systems engineering design process and provides concrete evidence for the value that the CWA approach provides in every domain.

Cognitive systems engineering has been widely and successfully applied in the design of safety critical systems such as nuclear power, aviation, and military command-and-control. More recently, these methods are being applied to the design of health and medical systems in order to improve health care quality, reduce errors and adverse events, and improve efficiencies. Cognitive Systems Engineering in Health Care provides an overview of cognitive systems engineering principles in the context of health care. It contains state-of-the-art examples of cognitive systems applications that can be adapted by health care practitioners interested in systematic engineering approaches to systems improvement. The book highlights current cognitive engineering-oriented research, analyses, and applications in settings such as cardiac surgery, obstetrics, and emergency medicine. It focuses on the impact cognitive engineering analyses can have in supporting communication and coordination with health care teams. The text then demonstrates the use of cognitive engineering methods to inform the design of information technology. It then details the systematic adaptation and application of specific cognitive engineering methods in the medical domain. The book concludes with examples of how in-depth cognitive engineering analyses can lead to demonstrated improvements in health care environments. Through a series of sample studies, the book gives you a deeper understanding of how cognitive engineering approaches might be applied in the health care domain. You'll see common themes that underline the complexity of the health care domain and this insight can build a deep respect for the expertise of the practitioners who work in it. By identifying the abstractions that hold constant in this domain, you can build solutions for that will evolve to handle new applications, challenges, and approaches.