In an intensive care unit, vast amounts of data converge. Monitors constantly track patients’ conditions, alarms interrupt the workflow, and staff must make the right decisions in a matter of seconds. The challenge is not to collect even more data, but to make the key information visible at the crucial moment.
This is precisely what Annina Gähwiler (ZHdK) is working on at the Digital Health Design Living Lab. Together with partners from research and practice, she is developing digital tools that clearly consolidate data from various devices and support doctors and nursing staff in their day-to-day work.
In conversation with Frank Richter, she explains why design plays a central role in healthcare and why new technologies only create added value if they are tailored to the needs of the people who work with them on a daily basis. The discussion also touches on the role of AI in hospitals. Where can it assist with decision-making? What are its limitations? And why do many professionals deliberately choose not to hand over their experience and judgement to a system?
Annina Gähwiler is a design researcher and research assistant at the Digital Health Design Living Lab. Her research focuses, amongst other things, on the changing relationships between humans and machines, and in particular on how design influences people’s interactions with AI.
Further links
- Digital Health Design Living Lab (DHD LL is funded in the 1st Structure Call.)
- IC-Datim (The project “Design of an Algorithm-supported Toolkit for effective Information Management in Intensive Care” is funded in the 2nd Project Call.)
- AI in emergency medicine (The project “A human-centered approach to the application of AI in Emergency Medicine: A scenario-based evaluation of different levels of AI support” is funded by SNSF.)