Human factors and ergonomics at time of crises: the Italian experience coping with COVID-19

Abstract

Several of the key organizational issues that we have had to face with the emergence of COVID-19 crisis are related to human factors/ergonomics (HFE) and the safety culture. During the crisis the main activities of the healthcare services have been profoundly affected. Patient safety and risk management units have also experienced the need to adapt rapidly. What can we do as HFE experts, now that the scenario has completely changed? We contend that: (a) we can favour and support the heuristics that are applied to manage the load of psycho-cognitive stress. (b) We can observe, collect strategies and develop analytic schemes, thereby creating a memory of the organization for improvement in the future. (c) And we can support in educating and engaging the public. This crisis has forced the community of healthcare experts to broaden their reflections: for the future to come, our communities of experts in the field of risk management HF/E, quality and safety of care and public health should play together an important role from the very beginning, from the time of peace.

Clinical debriefing during the COVID-19 pandemic: hurdles and opportunities for healthcare teams

“…The impact of COVID-19 on human factors is all encompassing, disrupting the way we behave, communicate, learn and reflect [ 1 , 14 ]. Individuals and teams are at the core of healthcare systems and their abilities and limitations are key determinants of overall performance [ 15 ].…”

“…Teamwork alludes to collaborative task completion and team member satisfaction and includes coordination of activities, exchange of information, leadership and followership, identifying capabilities and mutual support. The demands of managing COVID-19 have led to a constant state of flux, including large-scale restructuring of the workforce, resulting in the disruption of team dynamics [ 1 , 14 ].…”

“…Rapidly changing environments and practice pose an extraordinary demand on SA and may give rise to clinical errors. Gaining familiarity with new ways of working will require a concerted interprofessional effort [ 14 ], which may foster a renewed engagement with meaningful CD as an avenue to move forward cohesively [ 12 ]. For instance, the establishment of regular online debriefing has allowed teams to share new pathways, set up innovative information streams and regain a sense of community whilst adhering to social distancing rules, which in turn has reinforced the usefulness of CD.…”

HFE at the frontiers of COVID-19. Human factors/ergonomics to support the communication for safer care in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…We were not ready from different perspectives: from managerial to logistics and equipment. Several of these key organizational issues were related to human factors and ergonomics (HFE) and safety culture [ 1 ]. As Gurses et al .…”

Fighting a common enemy: a catalyst to close intractable safety gaps

“…Safety professionals are now uniquely positioned to contribute to the know-how of how to address organisational change to improve care, reduce variations and overcome long-term inertia. [6][7][8] In this Viewpoint, we present some examples for optimism resulting from unifying against a common enemy and discuss why early transformations in three safety domains should be harvested to create permanent mechanisms to target another common enemypreventable harm-in the next decade. In an effort to address long-standing safety challenges, we posit that harvesting lessons learned from early COVID-19 related transformations could sustainably 'accelerate the curve' of Diffusion of Innovations 9 such that more organisations (so-called 'laggards' and 'late majority' that are delayed in adoption of best practices) will more rapidly adopt useful safety practices and innovations going forward (figure 1).…”