A Critical Analysis of FDA Guidance for User Percentile Device Design Criteria Versus Currently Available Human Factors Engineering Data Sources and Industry Best Practices

It has been reported that 83,000 deaths and 1.7 million injuries have been linked to medical devices adverse events over the past decade. There is indication that some aspects of both medical device human factors engineering (HFE) design and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) HFE validation criteria may not provide proper methodologies for selecting and testing patient populations, possibly leading to medical devices that pass FDA HFE validation yet still exhibit significant use errors when utilized in the real world. This paper explores the possible sources of HFE performance problems with medical devices and links potential problems to HFE validation methodologies within the FDA HFE guidance framework. Download the full paper for more information.