Human Factors Engineering: Status, Interventions, Future Directions in Pediatrics

Purpose of Review Human Factors Engineering (HFE) has had much success in research initiatives to identify socio-technical system barriers to improve patient and employee safety and healthcare quality. However, there have only been a few applications of HFE, in which research is translated into practice, and has been implemented in an organization. This paper presents a systematic review of HFE interventions that have been implemented to improve healthcare quality and patient safety, specific to the pediatric population. This paper also discusses the current status of HFE in healthcare and how the science of HFE can be further applied to improve safety in healthcare delivery processes. Recent Findings In the last few years, HFE has been applied in many different areas in healthcare. These areas include EHR design, imaging, medication management, patient experience, and care transitions. The interventions include a combination of cognitive, physical, and macroergonomics principles to improve healthcare delivery for pediatric populations. Summary This systematic review identifies 28 peer-reviewed articles that have applied HFE in design, development, and implementation of an intervention to improve safety and/or quality for the pediatric population. The articles employ quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods to assess the effectiveness, acceptability, and sustainability of the intervention.