Human Factors Applications to Health Care Systems

1989 ◽  
Vol 33 (17) ◽  
pp. 1167-1167
Author(s):  
Susan Meadows
Keyword(s):  
Human Factors ◽  
Medical Device ◽  
Medical Devices ◽  
Human Error ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Instructional Materials ◽  
Design Standards ◽  
Demonstration Program ◽  
Care Systems

This demonstration program shows how human factors design and evaluation principles can be applied to the area of medical device and healthcare systems. The objective is to provide examples of evaluations and new designs for healthcare products which reduce human error and improve medical devices and instructional materials. International performance and design standards incorporating human factors principles are gaining more attention because of the efforts of the European medical device industry to standardize products.

scholarly journals Medical device safety: Investigating contributions of human factors

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathrin Lange
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Events ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Medical Device ◽  
Medical Devices ◽  
Human Error ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Serious Adverse Events ◽  
True Value ◽  
Federal Institute ◽  
Medical Device Safety

The core tasks of the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte [BfArM]) with respect to medical device safety include evaluating risks arising from the use or application of medical devices (based on incident reports), assessing and coordinating the counter-measures to be taken (i.e. corrective actions), and authorizing clinical trials of medical devices and evaluating the corresponding serious adverse events. Additionally, the BfArM also conducts research on medical device safety, specifically on the possibilities and challenges of data-driven approaches to detect and evaluate risk and on the contribution of human factors to device safety – i.e. factors that may have an impact on how users interact with a device. The present talk focuses on this latter issue. The significance of addressing human factors relating to the use of medical devices results from the contribution of human error to adverse events. For instance, an involvement of human error could be identified in a good 10% of the reports of suspected device-related incidents evaluated by the BfArM between 2005 and 2014. For several reasons, it may be assumed that the true value of device-related incidents involving human error is even larger and that the potential for human error is likely to increase in the future. To effectively reduce the risk for human error – or block its negative outcome - it is imperative to not only identify human error as a significant cause of adverse events, but rather understand the causation of the error, including the conditions under which errors are likely to occur. This requires the analysis of the perceptual, cognitive (e.g. attention, working memory, long term memory), motor or motivational processes involved and the identification of relevant factors at the various levels of the socio-technical system. In our research, we currently pursue two selected human factors issues, selected based on the incident-data collected at the BfArM and on the current literature: Insufficient device knowledge and the multi-faceted issue of device alarms, the latter including both the users’ interactions with alarming devices and their perceptual, cognitive, or motor responses to the devices’ alarms.

scholarly journals Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care Systems: Identifying Roles and Strategies for Success

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 729-732
Author(s):  
Siddarth Ponnala ◽  
A. Joy Rivera ◽  
Edmond Ramly ◽  
Ken Catchpole ◽  
Shanqing Yin
Keyword(s):  
Human Factors ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Human Factors And Ergonomics ◽  
The Status ◽  
Care Systems

Healthcare systems have begun to recognize the value of Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) and have started to create dedicated roles within their organizational structure for HFE practitioners and researchers to work with safety and quality groups to enhance safety, productivity, and overall system efficiencies. This panel brings together HFE personnel from different organizations, who will share their experiences working with clinical partners, in healthcare systems. Specifically, the panelists will lead an interactive discussion with audience members on strategies for changing the safety culture required to achieve the status of a high reliability organization (HRO). The panel will also share methods for demonstrating return on investment for HFE and techniques for successful implementation to continue the long-term integration of HFE into safety and quality improvement projects within healthcare organizations.

Organizational Bridges from Research to Practice: Cases in Medical Practice

1996 ◽  
Vol 40 (11) ◽  
pp. 530-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barrett S. Caldwell ◽  
John Gosbee ◽  
Harold S. Kaplan ◽  
Bruce R. Thomadsen
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Medical Practice ◽  
Human Error ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Medical Community ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Key Aspects

Human performance and human error in medicine have emerged as critical health care issues affecting the entire practice of medical treatment and health care delivery. Human factors professionals, particularly members of the HFES, can make major contributions to health care systems, but there is a lack of transition between problem domains. Since the human factors profession has been built on the study and improvement of high-risk systems, the current state of medical practice is clearly an opportune environment in which to operate. This panel will address several practical “ironies” of the current challenges to build improved bridges between key aspects of HFES expertise and the needs of the medical community.

scholarly journals Medical device safety: Investigating contributions of human factors

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathrin Lange
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Events ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Medical Device ◽  
Medical Devices ◽  
Human Error ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Serious Adverse Events ◽  
True Value ◽  
Federal Institute ◽  
Medical Device Safety

The core tasks of the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte [BfArM]) with respect to medical device safety include evaluating risks arising from the use or application of medical devices (based on incident reports), assessing and coordinating the counter-measures to be taken (i.e. corrective actions), and authorizing clinical trials of medical devices and evaluating the corresponding serious adverse events. Additionally, the BfArM also conducts research on medical device safety, specifically on the possibilities and challenges of data-driven approaches to detect and evaluate risk and on the contribution of human factors to device safety – i.e. factors that may have an impact on how users interact with a device. The present talk focuses on this latter issue. The significance of addressing human factors relating to the use of medical devices results from the contribution of human error to adverse events. For instance, an involvement of human error could be identified in a good 10% of the reports of suspected device-related incidents evaluated by the BfArM between 2005 and 2014. For several reasons, it may be assumed that the true value of device-related incidents involving human error is even larger and that the potential for human error is likely to increase in the future. To effectively reduce the risk for human error – or block its negative outcome - it is imperative to not only identify human error as a significant cause of adverse events, but rather understand the causation of the error, including the conditions under which errors are likely to occur. This requires the analysis of the perceptual, cognitive (e.g. attention, working memory, long term memory), motor or motivational processes involved and the identification of relevant factors at the various levels of the socio-technical system. In our research, we currently pursue two selected human factors issues, selected based on the incident-data collected at the BfArM and on the current literature: Insufficient device knowledge and the multi-faceted issue of device alarms, the latter including both the users’ interactions with alarming devices and their perceptual, cognitive, or motor responses to the devices’ alarms.

Reducing and Mitigating Human Error in Medicine

2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 254-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Morrow ◽  
Robert North ◽  
Christopher D. Wickens
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Adverse Events ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Medical Device ◽  
Human Error ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Medication Use ◽  
Human Factors Engineering ◽  
Work Practices ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks

Although precise definitions and models of human error in medicine remain elusive, there is little doubt that adverse events, sometimes involving human error, threaten patient safety and can be addressed by human factors approaches to error. In this chapter, we combine an information-processing framework that identifies perceptual, cognitive, and behavioral requirements of operators involved in health care activities with a system-based perspective that helps define when these needs are met by the health care context. We focus on errors and adverse events related to four broad areas of medical activities: medical device use, medication use, team collaboration, and diagnostic/decision support. For each area, we review evidence for specific error types, operator and system factors that contribute to these errors, and possible mitigating strategies related to design and training interventions that enable health care systems to better meet operators' perceptual, cognitive, and behavioral needs. This review reveals progress in identifying sources of human error and developing mitigating strategies in the areas of medical device and medication use, in part because of tools from human factors engineering that identify user needs and how to design environments to support them. Much less is known about how error emerges from work practices in complex settings, such as collaboration among team members. There is a need for theoretical frameworks to analyze error in the context of routine work practices. Such frameworks will bridge cognitive analyses of individual operators and tasks and more comprehensive theories of organizations, to guide interventions that target medical error at multiple levels.

scholarly journals Quality and Efficiency of Health Care Systems During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Assessment of G20 Unified Procurement Systems for Medical Equipment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdulmalek Aljafari
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Medical Device ◽  
Medical Devices ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Country level comparative studies on the performance and experiences of medical device procurement systems, in terms of both quality and efficiency, particularly during COVID-19 are lacking. Objective To evaluate the impact on healthcare cost and efficiency of four national models of medical device procurement. Further, to propose procurement system "best practices" using the response to COVID-19 as a reference. Methods A review of qualitative data drawn from public and private sources was conducted, as well as various studies related to national procurement systems in four G20 countries, to (1) identify differences, strengths and weaknesses; (2) evaluate how each system responded to the COVID-19 crisis; and, (3) identify best practices for policy-makers. Results While some governments have centralized the procurement of medical devices, developing a national scheme for tendering and purchase, other countries have deployed a decentralized approach where regions or even individual hospitals are responsible for all or some aspects of procurement. This dichotomy has led to a variety of efficiency and quality of service outcomes, with models implementing national uniformity achieving greater cost-savings. Furthermore centralized systems of procurement performed better during times of health crisis. It remains unclear whether these short-term savings lead to long-term efficiencies achieved through improved patient outcomes as data is lacking. Conclusion The available data indicates that countries that have adopted a centralized approach to the procurement of medical devices tend to have an advantage during times of crisis, as well as in the normal provision of healthcare services.

Examining the Opportunities of Social Networking Adoption in the Health Care Systems

2015 ◽  
pp. 173-189
Author(s):  
Peldon
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Social Network Sites ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
The Third ◽  
Healthcare Profession ◽  
Care Systems

Social Network Sites (SNSs) are known for providing the opportunity to quickly spread information faster than any other mode because of its ease of accessibility and ability to reach wider populations. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the opportunities of adopting Social Networking (SN) in the healthcare systems. Based on the current literature review, using a social network will enhance communication, collaboration, connection, coordination, and knowledge sharing. The healthcare profession of Bhutan undertook the survey for this study. Three new factors were generated from this study, namely 4Cs; it was found that the use of social networking enhances communication, coordination, collaboration, and connection with patients and among healthcare professionals. The second factor, Green and Sustainability, social networking enables the reduction of the carbon footprint, and the third factor is Exchange Knowledge via use of social networking.

scholarly journals Human Factors and Health Information Technology: Current Challenges and Future Directions

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (01) ◽  
pp. 58-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. G. Kannampallil ◽  
V. L. Patel
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Health Information Technology ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Medication Errors ◽  
Biomedical Informatics ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Clinical Workflow ◽  
Federal Mandates ◽  
Care Systems

Summary Objectives: Recent federal mandates and incentives have spurred the rapid growth, development and adoption of health information technology (HIT). While providing significant benefits for better data integration, organization, and availability, recent reports have raised questions regarding their potential to cause medication errors, decreased clinician performance, and lowered efficiency. The goal of this survey article is to (a) examine the theoretical and foundational models of human factors and ergonomics (HFE) that are being advocated for achieving patient safety and quality, and their use in the evaluation of health-care systems; (b) and the potential for macroergonomic HFE approaches within the context of current research in biomedical informatics. Methods: We reviewed literature (2007-2013) on the use of HFE approaches in healthcare settings, from databases such as Pubmed, CINAHL, and Cochran. Results: Based on the review, we discuss the systems-oriented models, their use in the evaluation of HIT, and examples of their use in the evaluation of EHR systems, clinical workflow processes, and medication errors. We also discuss the opportunities for better integrating HFE methods within biomedical informatics research and its potential advantages. Conclusions: The use of HFE methods is still in its infancy - better integration of HFE within the design lifecycle, and quality improvement efforts can further the ability of informatics researchers to address the key concerns regarding the complexity in clinical settings and develop HIT solutions that are designed within the social fabric of the considered setting.

scholarly journals Economic Crises as a Motive for Change in Health Care Systems – A Historical Perspective with Reference to the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-374
Author(s):  
Snježana Kaštelan ◽  
Martina Sopta ◽  
Milena Radonjić ◽  
Uršula Kaštelan ◽  
Boris Kasun
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Economic Crises ◽  
Social Equality ◽  
Social Reforms ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Potential Damage

Economic crises throughout history have often given an impetus for health and social reforms leading to the introduction of general healthcare systems and social equality in a large number of countries. The aim of this paper is to present the major economic crises and their effect on healthcare and social system chronologically. Bismarck’s and Beveridge’s model, the two most prominent healthcare models, which emerged primarily as a response to major economic crises, constitute the basis for the functioning of most health care systems in the world. An overview of historical events and experiences may be valuable in predicting future developments and potential effects of the crisis on healthcare systems and health in general. An analysis of past crises as well as current health and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and their impact on the healthcare system can facilitate the comprehension of the mechanisms of action and consequences of economic recession. It may also help identify guidelines and changes that might reduce the potential damage caused by future crises. The historical examples presented show that a crisis could trigger changes, which, in theiressence, are not necessarily negative. The response of society as a whole determines the direction of these changes, and it is up to society to transform the negative circumstances brought about by the recession into activities that contribute to general well-being and progress.

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