“Medical error is the 5th or 6th leading cause of death in the US”, is the opening line of human factors professional Ken Catchpole in his presentation to an audience in Santa Monica (see below for the video). His talk is an introduction to human error in healthcare and some of the situations that make [...]
Designing out medical error
20 November 2012 by
One in ten hospital patients in the UK suffers unintended harm as a result of medical error. A key contributing factor is that clinical processes continue to evolve but the design of much ward-based equipment remains largely unchanged. The Designing Out Medical Error (DOME) project aimed to better understand and map healthcare processes on surgical [...]
Pharmaceutical Ergonomics Alliance
22 May 2012 by
The end of March 2012 saw the inaugural meeting of a unique new alliance. For the first time the pharmaceutical industries and the world of ergonomics have come together to improve the performance and wellbeing of this sector. The initiative developed from discussions between the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors and members of some [...]
Developing effective return to work programmes
1 March 2010 by
Work should no longer be seen as toxic; it’s generally good for our health and wellbeing. There is a caveat of course: the benefit seemingly applies to ‘good’ jobs in a modern world. The characteristics defining a good job relate more to the context of the job than the content, incorporating such things as pay [...]
Ergonomics in healthcare
2 February 2010 by
In just a few years, the roles of medical and surgical practitioners have undergone a major transformation, owing to developments in a new generation of advanced technologies such as surgical robotics, virtual reality simulators and e-learning. Although unfortunately the end users, practitioners and specialists, are often ignored during the design and development process, sometimes with [...]
Dignity in distress: managing and moving obese people
1 December 2009 by
Eye-catching headlines such as ‘Six-hour wait as 20 stone woman is trapped in home’ or ‘The very small world of Paul Mason, the world’s heaviest man weighing in at 70 stone’ are becoming increasingly frequent. Emergency services and healthcare staff need to be able to deal with these clients safely and efficiently when they become [...]
Ergonomics and infection outbreaks
1 November 2009 by
For most of us in the UK the last few months have been dominated by Government and media reports about the Swine Flu pandemic. Many people will have thought over the consequences of a mass outbreak, particularly those of us with young children or elderly relatives. Not that long ago the subject of hospital-based infections [...]
