Welch D L
Biomed Instrum Technol. 1998 Jan-Feb;32(1):77-82.
The last issue of BI&T explored the nature and role of human factors engineering (HFE) in health care. That column examined how the "root cause" of an accident is often simply labeled "human error" and how human error can be a convenient way to explain away a system-wide problem. HFE is highly effective in designing and operating systems that consider human strengths and weaknesses and do not "set up" users to commit errors. Still, people will continue to commit errors, no matter how hard we try. Yet we can design systems that, if not "fail-safe", are at least "fault tolerant." In these systems errors are more difficult to commit and are more easily detected, corrected, and mitigated. Human factors engineering can be of value to the health care industry in at least three highly critical areas: Developing new systems to enhance safety, efficiency, and usability; Evaluating whether to purchase particular equipment and how to effectively integrate it into hospital systems; and Investigating accidents. This article will review the HFE analysis and design activities undertaken in developing a new system. The article in the next issue of BI&T will explore HFE developmental and usability and evaluation activities.
《生物医学与技术》的上一期探讨了人因工程学（HFE）在医疗保健中的性质和作用。该专栏研究了事故的“根本原因”通常如何被简单地贴上“人为错误”的标签，以及人为错误如何成为解释系统性问题的便捷方式。人因工程学在设计和操作系统方面非常有效，这些系统会考虑人类的优势和弱点，不会“诱使”用户犯错。然而，无论我们多么努力，人们仍会继续犯错。不过，我们可以设计出即使不是“故障安全”，至少也是“容错”的系统。在这些系统中，错误更难发生，并且更容易被检测、纠正和缓解。人因工程学在至少三个极其关键的领域对医疗保健行业具有价值：开发新系统以提高安全性、效率和可用性；评估是否购买特定设备以及如何将其有效地集成到医院系统中；以及调查事故。本文将回顾在开发新系统过程中进行的人因工程学分析和设计活动。《生物医学与技术》下一期的文章将探讨人因工程学的开发、可用性和评估活动。
