Abstract
This paper describes the ways in which human factors methods can help to enhance the work of established clinical engineering teams by placing a new emphasis on error reduction and patient safety. This approach in many ways represents a natural evolution for departments that are looking to enhance their usefulness and relevance to healthcare. Several examples are given of points at which the introduction of human factors methods can reveal issues related to the safe use of medical devices that are not easily accessible by other means. Adoption and implementation of these methods offers the potential for clinical engineering departments to enhance their role of helping to ensure optimal patient safety.
Highlights
For clinical engineering teams, managing risks associated with medical devices is at the core of their work
In 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in the United States issued a landmark report titled: To Err is Human: Building a Safer Healthcare System,[1] which provided a harsh wakeup call to the healthcare community with an extrapolated estimate that at least 44,000 to 98,000 deaths were occurring each year in the US healthcare system as a result of generally preventable medical errors
One of the results of this information was to place new emphasis on patient safety, and organizations began to search for methods that would allow them to study their current levels of safety, capture errors, and make improvements that would have a lasting effect on patient safety outcomes
Summary
For clinical engineering teams, managing risks associated with medical devices is at the core of their work. Clinical engineers and technologists are well-placed to champion the application of human factors methods in healthcare, at least regarding the role that medical devices play in errors.
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