Biography
After an internship in family medicine, Dr. Loeb completed his residency in anesthesiology at the University of Virginia. In 1986 he began a research fellowship in Dr. Dwayne Westenskow's bioengineering laboratory at the University of Utah. During his fellowship he collaborated in the development of the Utah Anesthesia Workstation, a prototype anesthesia system with integrated smart alarms, feedback control, and a graphical user interface. Working his way west, Dr. Loeb joined the University of California, Davis as an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology in 1987. In 1991, he became the Director of Ambulatory Surgery and in 1994 was promoted to Associate Professor. Dr. Loeb's research has focussed on anesthesia instrumentation, specifically on the user interface. He has adapted classical human factors methodology to study operating room ergonomics. To date, his most notable contribution has been a series of studies of anesthesia vigilance during real surgical cases. Dr. Loeb has been funded twice by the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation. He is currently working on an auditory display of physiologic data. Using this display, clinicians can continuously monitor their patient's vital signs without having to look at a monitor screen. In September of 1996, Dr. Loeb joined the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Arizona. He was attracted by the thriving residency program and the opportunities for collaborative research.
Degrees
- M.D.
- University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
- B.S.
- University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Work Experience
- University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, Arizona (1996 - Ongoing)
Awards
- Best Doctors in America
- Best Doctors, Inc, Fall 2015
Licensure & Certification
- Certification, American Board of Anesthesiology (1988)
- License, Utah Stae Medical Board (1986)
- License, Arizona State Medical Board (1996)
- License, California State Medical Board (2015)
- Certification, National Board of Medical Examiners (1984)
Interests
No activities entered.
Courses
No activities entered.
Scholarly Contributions
Journals/Publications
- Deschamps, M., Sanderson, P., Hinckfuss, K., Browning, C., Loeb, R. G., Liley, H., & Liu, D. (2016). Improving the detectability of oxygen saturation level targets for preterm neonates: A laboratory test of tremolo and beacon sonifications. Applied ergonomics, 56, 160-9.More infoRecent guidelines recommend oxygen saturation (SpO2) levels of 90%-95% for preterm neonates on supplemental oxygen but it is difficult to discern such levels with current pulse oximetry sonifications. We tested (1) whether adding levels of tremolo to a conventional log-linear pulse oximetry sonification would improve identification of SpO2 ranges, and (2) whether adding a beacon reference tone to conventional pulse oximetry confuses listeners about the direction of change. Participants using the Tremolo (94%) or Beacon (81%) sonifications identified SpO2 range significantly more accurately than participants using the LogLinear sonification (52%). The Beacon sonification did not confuse participants about direction of change. The Tremolo sonification may have advantages over the Beacon sonification for monitoring SpO2 of preterm neonates, but both must be further tested with clinicians in clinically representative scenarios, and with different levels of ambient noise and distractions.
- Hinckfuss, K., Sanderson, P., Loeb, R., Liley, H., & Liu, D. (2016). Novel Pulse Oximetry Sonifications for Neonatal Oxygen Saturation Monitoring: A Laboratory Study. Human factors, 58(2), 344-59.More infoWe aimed to test whether the use of novel pulse oximetry sounds (sonifications) better informs listeners when a neonate's oxygen saturation (SpO2) deviates from the recommended range.
- Loeb, R. G., Brecknell, B., & Sanderson, P. M. (2016). The Sounds of Desaturation: A Survey of Commercial Pulse Oximeter Sonifications. Anesthesia and analgesia, 122(5), 1395-403.More infoThe pulse oximeter has been a standard of care medical monitor for >25 years. Most manufacturers include a variable-pitch pulse tone in their pulse oximeters. Research has shown that the acoustic properties of variable-pitch tones are not standardized. In this study, we surveyed the properties of pulse tones from 21 pulse oximeters, consisting of 1 to 4 instruments of 11 different models and 8 brands. Our goals were to fully document the sounds over saturation values 0% to 100%, test whether tones become quieter at low saturation values, and create a public repository of pulse oximeter recordings for future use.
- Paterson, E., Sanderson, P. M., Paterson, N. A., Liu, D., & Loeb, R. G. (2016). The effectiveness of pulse oximetry sonification enhanced with tremolo and brightness for distinguishing clinically important SpO2 ranges: A laboratory study. Anaesthesia.
- Paterson, E., Sanderson, P. M., Paterson, N. A., Liu, D., & Loeb, R. G. (2016). The effectiveness of pulse oximetry sonification enhanced with tremolo and brightness for distinguishing clinically important oxygen saturation ranges: a laboratory study. Anaesthesia, 71(5), 565-72.More infoOur study examined the effectiveness of pulse oximetry sonification enhanced with acoustic tremolo and brightness to help listeners differentiate clinically relevant oxygen saturation ranges. In a series of trials lasting 30 s each, 76 undergraduate participants identified final oxygen saturation range (
- Loeb, R. G., & Dekker, S. W. (2015). Postanesthesia Care Handovers: Context and Controversy Around Communication and Consistency. Anesthesia and Analgesia, 121(4), 854-6.
Proceedings Publications
- Hinckfuss, K., Sanderson, P., Liu, D., Browning, C., Loeb, R. G., & Liley, H. (2015, August). Novel Pulse Oximetry Sonification for Monitoring Preterm Neonates on Oxygen Support. In 19th Triennial Congress of the International Ergonomics Association.
- Pascale, M., Sanderson, P., Liu, D., Mohamed, I., Stigter, N., & Loeb, R. G. (2015, October). Peripheral Detection for Abrupt Onset Stimuli presented via Head-Worn Display. In The Human and Ergonomics Society Annual Meetin.
Presentations
- Loeb, R. G. (2015, January). Respitory Monitoring and Integrated Displays. Society for Technology in Anesthesia. Phoenix, AZ.
- Loeb, R. G. (2015, October). Benefits and Hazards of PCLC-Anesthesiology Perspective. FDA Public Workshop - Physiological Closed-Loop Controlled Devices. Silver Springs, MD.
- Loeb, R. G. (2015, October). Draeger Apollo Anesthesia Workstation. American Society of Anesthesiologists Annual Meeting. San Diego, CA.
