Operationalizing the Connection Between Human Factors Engineering and Patient Safety

Abstract

There are clear connections between the output of human factors methods and patient safety in the healthcare domain. While human factors techniques generally serve to enhance safety, there are times when these efforts are less well allied or even in opposition. This paper will describe ways in which we have linked safety to usability and added more explicit considerations of patient safety into existing human factors practices. We hope these efforts will encourage acceptance for human factors recommendations and promote buy-in from stakeholders for conducting usability and patient safety work.