Dr. Caroline Cao

Health care is probably the last remaining unsafe critical system. A large proportion of reported medical errors occur in the hospital operating room (OR), a highly complex sociotechnical environment. From the technological point of view, there is a natural progression from traditional open surgery to minimally invasive surgery to robotic surgery. However, technology is being introduced into the OR faster than surgeons can learn to use them. Surgical errors have been attributed to the unfamiliar instrumentation, increased motoric, perceptual and cognitive demands on the surgeons, as well as the lack of adequate training. Effective technology design requires an understanding of the system constraints of minimally invasive surgery, and the complex interaction between humans and technology in the OR. This talk will describe research activities in the Ergonomics in RemoteEnvironments Laboratory at Tufts University, which address some of these human factors issues, such as lack of 3D visual feedback, and reduced tactile and force feedback to the surgeon.

Caroline G. L. Cao received a Ph.D. in mechanical & industrial engineering from the University of Toronto in 2002. She is the director of the Human Factors Program in the School of Engineering; assistant professor of mechanical engineering and of biomedical engineering; and founding director of the Ergonomics in Remote Environments Laboratory at Tufts University. She is the immediate-past chair of the Health CareTechnical Group of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Her research is in the area of human factors of medical systems, including the design and evaluation of enabling technology (e.g., robotics, image guidance, haptics) for minimally invasive surgery, training of surgical skills in training simulators, and decision-making and team communication in the operating room. Dr. Cao is a recipient of the National Science Foundation Career Award.

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