Among other products, St. Jude Medical provides implantable pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs). During pacemaker and ICD implantation, and when conducting follow-up examinations, health care providers use external devices called "programmers" to monitor and control the effect an implant is having on the patient's heart and health.

To meet aggressive new sales targets, St. Jude Medical hired Cooper to improve their programmer, called the Cardiac Rhythm Management Device (CRMD). Specifically, St. Jude asked Cooper to help CRMD users make patient follow-up visits more efficient, provide coherent solutions that bridge the branding gap between the pacemaker and ICD interfaces, and improve sales by improving the usability of valuable features.

In order to design any aspect of St. Jude Medical's CRMD, the Cooper team had to first understand the complex medical protocols (a codified set of activities to achieve a goal that may include one or more fixed task sequences) involved with ICDs and pacemaker implants. Once they gained this understanding, they formulated the following solutions:

The Tachy Summary Screen serves as a gravitational center for users as they perform their daily routine with patients. All in one place, there is a snapshot of parameters, diagnostics, measured data, test results, and episodes. As a high-level overview, this screen is a hub for users while they conduct follow-ups, with access points to key areas of the interface and windows into detailed information.

The Brady Threshold Test design provides a single structure that was applied across four other threshold tests. The test was divided into three logical stages (pre-test, during test, post-test), which are closely aligned with the generalized clinical approach for conducting these tests. The intent of the design is to provide caregivers with flexible controls and appropriate feedback at each of the stages, as well as to present results in a clinically meaningful way.

The Visual Style aspect of this engagement involved creating a visual style common to the Brady and Tachy interfaces so that they reflected the St. Jude brand. The key design patterns the team used included

• A high-contrast screen that promotes data clarity, relying on a few carefully chosen colors, such as alert orange, to make things stand out
• Strict layout rules for the spacing of all items on the screen to provide clear access to information and tools
• Information design to rationalize display of data; for example, atrium and ventricle data were divided into twin columns
• Large finger targets for the touch screen
• Placement of action buttons along the bottom and right edge of the screen to prevent the user from inadvertently obscuring critical information when accessing those action buttons.

CRMD users will benefit from clearly displayed information arranged in a manner that supports and parallels their normal workflow. Because CRMD's design itself is aligned with medical protocols, users are less likely to inadvertently violate those protocols. The CRMD better supports patient care protocols, while allowing users a great deal of flexibility in carrying out these protocols.

Although this short engagement did not allow Cooper to address all of the complex screens St. Jude Medical's CRMD uses, the interaction design and visual design framework Cooper supplied will allow St. Jude Medical to further develop their CRMD. St. Jude Medical's product will be straightforward and efficient, and will help prevent mistreatments.