Overcoming COVID-19: What can human factors and ergonomics offer? (30 March 2020)

Summary

 In this commentary published in the Journal of Patient Safety and Risk Management, Gurses et al. describe how human factors and ergonomics (HFE) can contribute to the COVID-19 pandemic response. Specifically, the authors provide an example of how HFE methodologies informed workflow redesigns implemented as part of COVID-19 pandemic preparations in an academic paediatric ambulatory clinic.

They identify key mechanisms and areas where HFE can contribute to and improve the effectiveness of a pandemic response: Just-in-time (JIT) training development, adapting workflows and processes, restructuring teams and tasks, developing effective mechanisms and tools for communication, engaging patient and families to follow the recommended practices (e.g., social distancing, revised hospital visitation policies), identifying and mitigating barriers to implementation of plans, and learning from failures and successes to improve both the current and future pandemic responses.