Work Domain Analysis Applied to Medical Diagnosis. Issue 1 (June 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nystrom, Daniel; Williams, Linda; Paull, Douglas; Graber, Mark
• Is Part Of: Proceedings of the International Symposium of Human Factors and Ergonomics in Healthcare. Volume 3:Issue 1(2014)
• Page Start: 157
• Page End: 161
• Publication Date: 2014-06
• Subjects: Human engineering -- Periodicals; Medical care -- Periodicals; 620.8
• DOI: 10.1177/2327857914031026
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2327-8579

Abstract

Few studies have described the cognitive components that characterize the diagnostic process. This article illustrates the use of work domain analysis to create a functional depiction of diagnosis. The resulting abstraction-decomposition space clarifies the medical diagnostician's work domain and provides a glimpse into the fundamental cognitive features of diagnosis. To facilitate comprehension of the abstraction-decomposition space's portrayal of diagnosis, features of a generalized depiction of diagnosis and the abstraction-decomposition space were graphically coded to communicate areas of similarity. Limitations, suggestions for future work, and future applications of this work to reduce diagnostic error are provided.