Dr. Sun Young Park Receives Healthcare Research Grant

Stamps School of Art & Design Assistant Professor Dr. Sun Young Park is a recipient of a +$612K grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) for her work to address diagnostic errors within the Emergency Departments of American hospitals. A human computer interaction and design researcher, Dr. Park is working in partnership with an investigative team of physicians and engineers from the University of Michigan and Mayo Clinic. Together, the team aims to study diagnostic decision-making processes and identify potential factors that lead to diagnostic errors in emergency care settings. This research will lead to the design, implementation, and evaluation of interventions to help healthcare professionals minimize the root causes of mis-diagnosis. With roughly 7 million cases of diagnostic errors in American Emergency Departments annually, Dr. Park believes that improvements can be made.

“Diagnostic errors can be the result of many factors, including the intense cognitive load on clinicians; time-pressured, unpredictable, and interruptive care environments; complex patient cases; and limitations of the information technology that supports the care-team,” Dr. Park said. ​“I’m looking to gain a thorough understanding of these problems through data-driven and human-centric design research. Ultimately, I believe that human-centered design — fueled by user-system research, development, implementation, and evaluation for impact — is the best way to improve patient safety and care delivery”

Dr. Sun Young Park currently teaches Research Methods, a graduate level course within the MDes in Integrative Design program at Stamps. 

Learn more at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Grants On-Line Database.