CONCLUSIONS
A study conducted by an HFE leader, Al Chapanis,
and his colleague in the early 1960s provided information
on medication administration errors and the
system factors that contributed to these errors.70–72
Since then, awareness of the importance of HFE in
medication safety and other patient safety domains
has significantly increased. Patient safety leaders have
called for increasing involvement of HFE in helping
to characterise system factors that contribute to
patient safety and to inform system design interventions.
3 73 74 This paper has described examples of
HFE contributions to specific patient safety problems.
Further research is necessary to document and demonstrate
the value of HFE-based interventions and
their impact on patient safety. Evidence for the effectiveness
of HFE-based interventions should include
data on changes in the work system, changes in the
process and changes in outcomes (including patient
safety and employee outcomes). In general, this evidence
is provided through the use of multiple quantitative
and qualitative methods.