The HIMSS 2017 conference is “the year's largest and most important healthcare IT conference in the United States” and brings together executives, clinicians, IT professionals, and more for a week of networking, knowledge-sharing, and forward-thinking.

As 1 of 1,200 exhibitors and 4 of over 40,000 attendees, we explored opportunities for collaboration with everyone from software developers to military personnel. Our ability to support design efforts at any stage of the product development process caught the eye of hundreds who visited our booth. Whether it’s initial field research to reinforce design direction, scalable heuristic evaluations to assess a software prototype’s viability, or usability testing for FDA validation, well-designed research leads to well-designed products.

One of the major misconceptions about our work that we had the opportunity to debunk through conversations at HIMSS is that a human factors consultation is only beneficial at the beginning of a process. As conversations unfolded, many company representatives expressed regret that they hadn’t sought a consultation earlier in their process. Although we understand the hindsight of wishing costly, non-viable design detours had been avoided, it is never too late to understand how to improve a user’s experience!

During conference sessions, we learned more about the future of cybersecurity in medical device validation. We explored the value of understanding the patient experience throughout the healthcare journey. We heard from medical directors on how to improve the communication of data between EMS and emergency rooms to facilitate more effective systems.

We are excited to be a part of the future of healthcare IT because, as noted by the final keynote speaker Kevin O’Leary, “the potential for this [healthcare] sector is unbelievable.”