Human Factors In Healthcare

The influx of information technology has been widespread and the possibilities of advancement are limitless. With the complex structure of the healthcare industry, it is necessary that the technology will be leveraged to support quality standards, management processes and performance improvement efforts.

The last discussion for the course on health information technology was a supplement from the previous course in Healthcare Information Management. Dr. Miller has emphasized how health informatics is an integrative discipline that arises from computational, informational, cognitive, organizational and other sciences and how it is utilized as a crucial tool to manage healthcare systems especially towards patient safety and quality of care.

I came across a presentation given by Dr. Nana Khunlertkit, a Senior Human Factors Lead from Johns Hopkins Armstrong institute, the take away from the video was to not leave the reliance to technology instead integrate human factors concepts to improve quality and safety of patient care. I believe that there should be more awareness to human factors and ergonomics and this should be highlighted in support to the adoption of HIT in healthcare systems. Yes, human makes errors, but there is still varied non-technological approaches to identify and mitigate system problems that cause human errors and patient safety hazards in health care. Technology is in place not to redesign humans instead it should be integrated so that humans are able to navigate the systems in a more efficient and safe manner. I am looking forward to the shifts that this discipline will bring about on how healthcare is provided and delivered few years down the

J., & Adler-milstein, J. (2017). Health Information Exchange in Us Hospitals: The Current Landscape and a Path to Improved Information Sharing. Journal of hospital medicine, 12(3), 193-198.

Gabriel, M. H., Jones, E. B., Samy, L., & King, J. (2014). Progress and challenges: Implementation and use of health information technology among critical-access hospitals. Health Affairs, 33(7), 1262-70. Retrieved from http://resource.adu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.resource.adu.edu/docview/1545346457?accountid=35793

Khunlertkit, N. (n.d.). Nana Khunlertkit: Human Factors Gateway to HITs Safe Use. Retrieved April 21, 2017, from