The science of human factors: separating fact from fiction

Abstract

BackgroundInterest in human factors has increased across healthcare communities and institutions as the value of human centred design in healthcare becomes increasingly clear. However, as human factors is becoming more prominent, there is growing evidence of confusion about human factors science, both anecdotally and in scientific literature. Some of the misconceptions about human factors may inadvertently create missed opportunities for healthcare improvement.MethodsThe objective of this article is to describe the scientific discipline of human factors and provide common ground for partnerships between healthcare and human factors communities.ResultsThe primary goal of human factors science is to promote efficiency, safety and effectiveness by improving the design of technologies, processes and work systems. As described in this article, human factors also provides insight on when training is likely (or unlikely) to be effective for improving patient safety. Finally, we outline human factors specialty areas that may be particularly relevant for improving healthcare delivery and provide examples to demonstrate their value.ConclusionsThe human factors concepts presented in this article may foster interdisciplinary collaborations to yield new, sustainable solutions for healthcare quality and patient safety.

Understanding barriers and facilitators to the use of Clinical Information Systems for intensive care units and Anesthesia Record Keeping: A rapid ethnography

“…Other complicating factors associated with training in general included commitment from administration to allow staff to attend training (VAMC 1) or training longer than 4 hours (VAMC 3), especially when adequate staffing levels were a concern for patient care. Inadequate training can often be used as an excuse to hide poor usability [25]. However, an adequate level of training is clearly necessary for complex critical care HIT systems.…”

Human factors in general practice – early thoughts on the educational focus for specialty training and beyond

“…While there is now wide-spread acceptance of the need for HFE thinking and approaches in healthcare to mirror implementation in other high hazardous industries, its development is slow in comparison and unfortunately narrow in scope [24]. As previously stated [1], its introduction to some acute hospital specialties (e.g.…”

“…For example, human-computer interaction may influence how GP trainees (and others), communicate and interact with technology which ultimately influences system performance. Simulation training can consider, for example, scenarios where technology fails and the knowledge and skills of staff are tested to determine if tasks can successfully continue and be completed [24].…”

Why you need to include human factors in clinical and empirical studies ofin vitropoint of care devices? Review and future perspectives

“…Despite this there remains a gap between the medical field and other high-risk industries in the integration of HFE methods into healthcare practice [11,12,21]. This may in part be due to the fact that health professionals, without expertise or support of experts on HFE, are often asked to explore the usefulness of devices and/or to prevent and report device induced adverse events in the field [22].…”

“…HFE is the multidisciplinary science in which human behaviour, capacities and engineering principles are used to explore why errors occur, and how to reduce the likelihood of preventable harm to individuals, with the specific aim to support human performance and safety [12]. Professionals in the medical field are more likely to be focussed on enhancing diagnostic decision making, and on the comparison of POC devices with laboratory testing.…”