The Role of Psychology in Medical Device Training Design
During human factors usability testing, we often want to assess the training protocol to ensure it effectively trains users. However, there's no strict guidance when developing medical device user training, allowing for various methodologies and leaving many decisions for the device manufacturer to navigate.
Experts recommend incorporating psychological principles when teaching new users to safely use a new medical device or operate medical equipment. This helps to ensure users can operate the device or equipment safely and effectively, enhancing risk management, quality assurance, and regulatory compliance.
In this blog, our human factors experts explore how psychology can inform user training for medical devices. Keep reading to get the details on the top 6 psychological principles for effective training design, and why they are important when making a training plan.
6 Psychological Principles for Successful Medical Device Training Design
#1: Motivation
Motivation is the internal drive that energizes and directs behavior.1 Training models that incorporate this principle typically focus on a trainee's motives, desires, and willingness to learn.2
We may not see analogous learning behaviors in simulated test environments. This is likely because paid participants are often not prescribed the device in question and are therefore less motivated to learn how to use it.
Users who feel a device is too simple to warrant training, or that they already understand the device, may also lack the drive to learn.
It is the job of the trainer to ensure programs adequately establish an incentive rather than assume that users want to learn.
#2: Practice
Practice allows trainees to retain new skills learned and transfer the behaviors for later use. Learning can happen all at once, know as massed, or over time with repeated or spaced practice.3
Spaced practices are preferred for device training, to help users retain information and reduce mental fatigue.4
#3: Attention
Attention is our ability to process certain pieces of information while simultaneously ignoring other environmental factors.5 Our ability to pay attention is limited in capacity and duration, so it's important to use methods that effectively manage this resource.6
Multiple types of attention exist. Attention types that require learners to process multiple stimuli, like limited or split attention, are less effective than other forms.7
Sustained attention is a foundational cognitive function that underlies other cognitive domains, such as learning and memory. It peaks during the early 40s and then gradually declines with age.8
#4: Behavioral Modeling
Social learning theory indicates that observing others perform a behavior and its consequences can influence motivation and learning.9
Modeling incorrect behavior, such as improper device use, may help emphasize the difference between correct and incorrect use and demonstrate the outcome.10
#5: Interference
Interference is a phenomenon in which the acquisition, retention, or retrieval of new information is negatively impacted by the presence of previously learned information or experiences.
In a medical device training program, interference can stem from prior use of an older model or a similar device. Interference can occur in both short-term and long-term memory, and it can affect the ability to recall or apply knowledge.11
Proactive interference occurs when previously learned knowledge and skills interfere with learning and remembering new information. The old information acts as a hindrance to the acquisition of new knowledge.11
Integrating or separating multiple sources of information may prevent proactive interference during testing.12
#6: Feedback
Feedback refers to providing trainees with knowledge of their results. Maintaining a robust training record and providing actionable feedback allows learners to make sense of their mistakes and enhances learning.2
Effective feedback helps trainees understand how and why they used a device incorrectly. When delivering feedback, it's important not to be too specific, as it may discourage independent exploration and critical thinking.
How To Develop Effective Medical Device Training
At Battelle, our human factors professionals and Medical Device Solutions product development team are well-versed in using psychology in training design. They've compiled a list of recommendations for developing effective training courses that incorporate a wide range of human behaviors and learning styles, and meet medical device regulations.
- Build participant motivation and encourage learning by establishing why the training program is important.
- Allow users to perform spaced practices during the learning process.
- Select an environment that is conducive to building sustained attention and minimizes multitasking, limited attention, or selective attention.
- Incorporate behavioral modeling into training to provide models of actions to follow or avoid. You can use role-playing, case studies, and examples of both successful and unsuccessful behaviors to guide trainees.
- Incorporate a testing or quizzing element to reduce proactive interference when learning new information.
- Give feedback specific enough to understand their mistakes, but not so specific that it eliminates their need for problem-solving.
As medical device design becomes increasingly complex, the potential risk from human errors also increases. This is why an increasing number of medical device companies are now including training in their risk mitigation strategies.
It is crucial to make medical device training programs as robust as possible to guarantee the safety and well-being of the users.
The Battelle Advantage
Our experts can help you design training programs that meet medical device industry regulatory requirements and truly resonate with the real-world user experience. By leveraging our expertise, you can ensure that your training programs are robust, effective, and tailored to the unique needs of your users.
Let us help you navigate the complexities of training design for medical devices and create programs that truly make a difference.
Featured Experts
Taylor Hall
Human Factors Engineer
Taylor Hall is a Human Factors Engineer with over 9 years of experience in human subjects research. Her capabilities include study design and methodology creation, data collection and analysis, and study execution and reporting. She has a master’s degree in experimental psychology and has experience in cognitive psychology, industrial/organizational psychology, and statistics for behavioral sciences.
Brianne Pragg, Ph.D.
Human Factors Engineer
Brianne Pragg is a Human Factors Engineer with over 11 years of experience in human subjects research, including research design and methodology, data collection and analysis, and study execution. Her PhD is in sociology and demography, and she has experience in statistics for behavioral sciences.
References:
- A categorized list of motivation definitions, with a suggestion for a consensual definition
- Noe, R. A. (2017). Employee Training and Development (7th ed). NY: McGraw-Hill.
- Effects of spaced versus massed training in function learning.
- Effects of massed and distributed practice on the learning and retention of second-language vocabulary
- Components of attention
- Sustained attention, attentional selectivity, and attentional capacity across the lifespan
- Cognitive load theory and the format of instruction
- Sustained attention across the lifespan in a sample of 10,000: Dissociating ability and strategy
- Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
- Effects of alternative modeling strategies on outcomes of interpersonal-skills training
- Critical issues in interference theory
- Testing can counteract proactive interference by integrating competing information
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