"It might be said human factors and ergonomics (HFE) emerged into a fully recognizable field of research and practice during World War II. Over the past 80 years, there have been identifiable shifts in global foci for HFE work. Initially, these included a concentration on examination of human operators of military systems (complex weapons, command and control centers, the performance of combatants, and so forth). Concentration shifted to transportation systems (aviation, automotive, even spacecraft), followed closely by information and computer systems, computer-user interactions, artificial intelligence, robotics, and others. Now comes a focus on human health care systems, medical diagnosis and treatment, and the design of safe and efficacious health care systems. Marilyn Sue Bogner, an HFES Fellow, issued her clarion cry for human factors practitioners to join in the campaign to help prevent medical error (Bogner, 1994, 2004). The Institute of Medicine (IOM, 2000) solidified the concerns when it published its report To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, suggesting as many as 44,000 to 98,000 people die each year and more than 1 million patients are injured as a result of medical errors in hospitals. That report called for a national agenda to reduce medical errors and improve patient safety through the design of a safer health system. A follow-up IOM report stressed patient safety should be a new standard for quality care, calling for comprehensive national health care information standards (IOM, 2004). Another report, Preventing Medication Errors (IOM, 2007), solidified more safety concerns. Sethumadhavan and Sasanghohar point out that since these and other reports sounded the alarm, recent health care transformations implemented technological advances that not only push the capabilities of care, but significantly increase the complexity of tasks, environments, and human system integration. No one has produced such a comprehensive and wide-reaching coverage of the topic as Design for Health does. In somewhat of a something for everyone approach, the book includes chapters by numerous international authors, providing comprehensive coverage of design issues for medical devices, tools, and health care information technology (e.g.,medication safety, digital health, telehealth, mobile health technology); health care systems (designed for critical care in intensive care units, emergencies, resilient systems, collaborative work, stress, fatigue, workload and cognitive support); considerations for special populations (e.g., older adults); and design for global health and more. Almost all the 17 chapters provide valuable lessons learned case studies as examples of identifying medical safety issues and resolving them. Within the numerous chapters, descriptions of various topics will no doubt prompt discussions on the depth of coverage, the accuracy of statements made, and even produce mild controversy over perspectives espoused. An issue that caught my attention appears in Yuval Bitan’s Chapter 8, Design for Emergencies, wherein he focuses on mass casualty incidents (e.g., a train wreck) in which the first paramedic on the scene must act as incident commander and must follow certain protocols. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security adopts this model in its popular Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training of public volunteers for emergency response. Bitan identifies three pillars in medical emergency settings (environment, human operator, and equipment). He says while we call this user-centered design, it is the equipment and not the user being designed. We cannot control the environment, thus equipment is the only system component we can actually design or influence. It is a thought-provoking chapter, but Bitan seems to give insufficient credence to community preparations and planning for emergencies, and for human operators to be adequately trained and practiced for response. Since 2012, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) has annually held a spring symposium on medical care systems – allowing opportunities to share findings, ideas, establish collaborations in subsequent research, and so on. The symposium proceedings solidify foundation approaches to what is obviously a very complicated/complex focus for HFE work. So important are these shifts, in March 2021, HFES announced the creation of a new HFES open-source journal Human Factors in Healthcare (Elsevier), intending to cover both research and application. No doubt, the new focus on the design of health care systems has been given a kick in the pants due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout 2020 and 2021, we have learned lessons about the emergency use and the adequacy of old and new medical equipment (e.g., use of facial masks, shields, gowns, other personal protective equipment, ventilators, etc.) and infection protection, protective care procedures for hospital patients and staff, developing quarantines, handling of patients in new and different ways, and so forth. This book is a must for anyone involved in design or implementation of health care systems in our country and globally." —Human Factor and Ergonomics Society, 2020,Gerald P. Krueger, reviewer, expert opinion
"Having the capacity to cover topics ranging from medication reconciliation all the way to self-care of the artificial heart is an ambitious goal. I believe this tightly written volume offers a lot to readers tasked with both design and evaluation of health-relevant systems." —Doody
"No doubt, the new focus on the design of health care systems has been given a kick in the pants due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout 2020 and 2021, we have learned lessons about the emergency use and the adequacy of old and new medical equipment (e.g., use of facial masks, shields, gowns, other personal protective equipment, ventilators, etc.) and infection protection, protective care procedures for hospital patients and staff, developing quarantines, handling of patients in new and different ways, and so forth. This book is a must for anyone involved in design or implementation of health care systems in our country and globally." —Gerald P. Krueger, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, October 2021
"This book is the rare example of fundamental academic literature paired with practitioner-oriented advice. Topics cover the spectrum of designing for health, from consideration of devices and systems to the individual needs of patients and healthcare providers. Each chapter contains a case study written by an expert in the field that is engaging and brings the research to life. Sethumadhavan and Sasangohar, with their many years of experience in design for health, have brought together an impressive group of scientists to create a cohesive and approachable book for researchers, designers, human factors practitioners, and healthcare professionals." —Anne Collins McLaughlin, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Psychology, North Carolina State University
"This book illustrates how practitioners and researchers have used the human factors approach to solve problems at different levels of the health care system. The case study format used in the book provides a very unique and inside-perspective on the challenges involved in healthcare and how they were addressed. Each chapter clearly illustrates how the human factors approach can adapt to address different issues, populations, and systems. Ranging from issues encountered from consumer-oriented perspective up to the health care system itself, the book is a valuable and comprehensive resource for anyone interested in creative applications of human factors to complex problems." —Richard Pak, Professor, Clemson University
