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My research theme centers on how information tools and technologies shape real work—especially in safety-critical settings—and how we can design better systems that support cognitive work, coordination, and decision making.Beginning with field studies of emergency departments transitioning from manual whiteboards to electronic patient tracking systems, I showed that digitization often reproduces the form of familiar tools while unintentionally stripping away key functions—such as shared sensemaking, team communication, and “workflow visibility.” Building on this foundation, I developed and evaluated redesigned health IT using simulation-based methods to study workload and situation awareness under realistic interruptions and high-traffic conditions. This line of work expanded into a broader information-oriented model of cognitive work: tracing how information is created, transformed, shared, and consumed across complex systems (e.g., discharge processes and EHR documentation), and revealing persistent gaps between what documentation creators record and what downstream clinicians need. Across projects, the goal is consistent: generate evidence and design principles for information systems that make work safer, more coordinated, and more resilient—by supporting the work process, not just the end products. I highlight some of the recent and relevant projects in this research theme.
Relevant Projects
Assuring Medication Safety in K-12 Schools: Implementing and Evaluating the Electronic School Medication Administration Record (eSMAR) System, In collaboration with Dr. Amany Farag, University of Iowa. Role: Co-investigator. Students: Prajina Edayath.
Goals: The main goal of this project is to iteratively develop, evaluate, and implement a technology assisted medication administration system to help school nurses and unlicensed assistive personnel to administer medications in schools safely and effectively.
FW-HTF-P: Office Work in the AI Age, National Science Foundation, Role: PI. Students: Valerie Boksa (Janni).
Goals: The major goals of this project are to understand how AI will change the content and nature of office work.
Usability and Accessibility of COVID-19 Public Health Webpages, In collaboration with Dr. Arunkumar Pennathur, Dr. Momenipour, Dr. Murillo and Mr. Brandon Murphy. Students: Brandon Murphy
Goals: In this project, our goal was to understand whether state public health agencies were usable and accessible for seeking information about COVID-19.
Development of electronic referral templates to improve communication during transfers to pediatric ICU, In collaboration with Dr. Christina Cifra Role: Collaborator
Goals: This project focuses on communication during interfacility transfers.
Usability of Smart Infusion Pumps, In collaboration with Laura Cullen. Students: Amelia Klarich, Chris Reichlen, Thomas Noonan and Barbara St. Marie.
Goals: In the human factors in healthcare course I taught multiple times at the University of Iowa and once at UTEP was designed for students to work on real-world healthcare problems in safety and quality improvement. As part of my human factors in healthcare course in Spring 2018, students evaluated a smart pump for usability issues and collected observational and usability data.
Technology, Cognitive Work and Patient Safety: An Information-Oriented Model, Role: PI
Goals: My project focuses on understanding how, why and what information people create, use and share in a system to facilitate goal achievement and work performance, and how designers can effectively use that knowledge about people’s interaction with information for designing information systems.
Transition from Manual Artifacts to Electronic Systems and Design of Information Systems to Support Worker Needs
In my early work during my doctoral studies, I attempted to understand the changes in transitioning from simple manual tools such as whiteboards to electronic technologies like patient tracking systems. In addition to contributing to knowledge on how technology transitions impact healthcare work systems, when I was at the University at Buffalo, we endeavored to develop usable technology systems for healthcare and tested the systems with feedback from health care providers.Â
Goals: The main goal of this project is to iteratively develop, evaluate, and implement a technology assisted medication administration system to help school nurses and unlicensed assistive personnel to administer medications in schools safely and effectively.
FW-HTF-P: Office Work in the AI Age, National Science Foundation, Role: PI. Students: Valerie Boksa (Janni).
Goals: The major goals of this project are to understand how AI will change the content and nature of office work.
Usability and Accessibility of COVID-19 Public Health Webpages, In collaboration with Dr. Arunkumar Pennathur, Dr. Momenipour, Dr. Murillo and Mr. Brandon Murphy. Students: Brandon Murphy
Goals: In this project, our goal was to understand whether state public health agencies were usable and accessible for seeking information about COVID-19.
Development of electronic referral templates to improve communication during transfers to pediatric ICU, In collaboration with Dr. Christina Cifra Role: Collaborator
Goals: This project focuses on communication during interfacility transfers.
Usability of Smart Infusion Pumps, In collaboration with Laura Cullen. Students: Amelia Klarich, Chris Reichlen, Thomas Noonan and Barbara St. Marie.
Goals: In the human factors in healthcare course I taught multiple times at the University of Iowa and once at UTEP was designed for students to work on real-world healthcare problems in safety and quality improvement. As part of my human factors in healthcare course in Spring 2018, students evaluated a smart pump for usability issues and collected observational and usability data.
Technology, Cognitive Work and Patient Safety: An Information-Oriented Model, Role: PI
Goals: My project focuses on understanding how, why and what information people create, use and share in a system to facilitate goal achievement and work performance, and how designers can effectively use that knowledge about people’s interaction with information for designing information systems.
Transition from Manual Artifacts to Electronic Systems and Design of Information Systems to Support Worker Needs
In my early work during my doctoral studies, I attempted to understand the changes in transitioning from simple manual tools such as whiteboards to electronic technologies like patient tracking systems. In addition to contributing to knowledge on how technology transitions impact healthcare work systems, when I was at the University at Buffalo, we endeavored to develop usable technology systems for healthcare and tested the systems with feedback from health care providers.Â