Slide Presentation from the AHRQ 2007 Annual Conference

Take Away Messages...

• We know that patient safety problems are the result of the interaction between people, the technology they use, and the system in which they work... So learn how to understand your system (don't focus on technology)
• There is a science devoted to understanding how to design technology to support human performance (physical and cognitive). It's called human factors engineering (HFE)...Learn about it!
• Technology needs to be designed to be a team player... Anything less in unacceptable
• HFE research makes clear that technologies are not solutions; they should be assistive devices!