This research used human factors methods to investigate the relationship between no fault found (NFF) incident frequency and device usability. NFF reporting occurs when a medical device sent for repair is found to be operating normally. NFF incidents are one of the most recurrent failure modes, and therefore have considerable impact on cost, dependability and safety. An analysis of medical equipment maintenance data was conducted and six devices with a high NFF reporting frequency were identified. Semi-structured interviews and heuristics evaluations revealed that usability issues likely caused many of the NFF incidents. Other factors suspected to contribute to increased NFF reporting include accessory issues, intermittent faults and environmental issues. Finally, in order to validate the results, usability testing was conducted on three of the devices. 23 usability-related design flaws were identified. Therefore devices containing latent usability-related design flaws can be identified through analysis of medical equipment maintenance data.

This research used human factors methods to investigate the relationship between no fault found (NFF) incident frequency and device usability. NFF reporting occurs when a medical device sent for repair is found to be operating normally. NFF incidents are one of the most recurrent failure modes, and therefore have considerable impact on cost, dependability and safety. An analysis of medical equipment maintenance data was conducted and six devices with a high NFF reporting frequency were identified. Semi-structured interviews and heuristics evaluations revealed that usability issues likely caused many of the NFF incidents. Other factors suspected to contribute to increased NFF reporting include accessory issues, intermittent faults and environmental issues. Finally, in order to validate the results, usability testing was conducted on three of the devices. 23 usability-related design flaws were identified. Therefore devices containing latent usability-related design flaws can be identified through analysis of medical equipment maintenance data.