The co-design process of a decision support tool for airway management

The aim of this study is to design a decision support tool for challenging airway management events in anaesthesia. Major complications in airway management occur infrequently, but have a high risk of causing patient harm. Airway management takes place in complex sociotechnical environments that require anaesthesia teams to make decisions ‘on the fly’, often under time pressure and uncertainty. Contemporary decision support tools for airway management are too complex and do not involve anaesthesia team members in the design process. This study reports a co-design process to design an airway equipment trolley in conjunction with anaesthetists and anaesthetic nurses. It is part of a decision-centred design research program and is based on previously performed cognitive task analysis methods such as observations, Critical Decision Method interviews and focus groups. The present paper will discuss the co-design process including the elicitation of design requirements, the prototype development and the evaluation using case scenarios.