Designing for an Emergency: When Every Second Counts

Emergency situations fundamentally change how people interact with medical devices. Fear, adrenaline, tunnel vision, and trembling hands are not edge cases. They are the conditions in which many critical devices must perform. This session examines the gap between how devices are evaluated and how they are actually used under pressure, drawing on real user experiences and the psychological and physiological realities of emergency use.

Key Topics Covered:

• The psychological and physiological impacts of emergency situations on device usability

• Real user experiences with emergency devices, including glucagon pens and EpiPens

• Whether current evaluation protocols adequately simulate the conditions of genuine emergencies

• Design strategies for packaging and interfaces that remain intuitive under cognitive overload