Human factors and ergonomics

The discipline of Human Factors (also known as Ergonomics) takes a systems and design based approach to jointly improving:

1. Human wellbeing of those who use and work in our care services (e.g. patients, service users, families and care staff); and
2. The performance of health and social care organisations.

It is often mis-interpreted as ‘factors to do with humans’ and so is misunderstood in many areas of health and social care. There is, therefore, a significant learning need for many in this area. Knowledge of Human Factors and Ergonomics is crucial to understanding human and organisational performance generally but also in determining why things go wrong (and right) in complex care systems in a way that seeks to support staff rather than assign blame.