How to Implement a High-Fidelity Prototyping Approach in a Cardiac Surgery Device ?
Résumé
Increasingly often, the surgeon operates remotely. More and more,he/she does neither see nor touch the patient directly but acts with miniaturizedsystems, such as catheters and robotic instruments. This reduces interventiontime and accelerates the patient’s recovery. This paper reports the ergonomiccontribution to the design of a device for the resection of stenosed aortic valvesand the implantation of a new aortic bioprosthesis. In high-risk contexts as incardiac surgery, highfidelity prototypes are necessary to allow clinical trials. Anassociation between engineers and ergonomists becomes essential, because theprototype becomes a key stage of the design process. We suggest a triangulationof methods (heuristic inspection, task analysis and usability testing) to produce ahigh-fidelity prototype reliable for clinical trials. The clinical trials themselvesthen constitute a preliminary step for further improving the device.