2009/01/01 by Alessandro D’Addessi, Luca Bongiovanni, Andrea Volpe +3 · 29 citations
Engineering · Health Professions · Medicine · Psychology · #Cardiac, Anesthesia and Surgical Outcomes #Computer science #Engineering #Epistemology #Field (mathematics) #Human error #Interpersonal communication #Mechanical engineering #Medical Malpractice and Liability Issues #Medicine #Mile #Patient Safety and Medication Errors #Psychology #Quality (philosophy) #Risk analysis (engineering) #Set (abstract data type) #Social psychology #Work (physics)
paper · pdf · doi:10.1159/000241662
published in Urologia Internationalis 83(3), 249-257 (Karger Publishers)
crossref issued 2009/01/01 · crossref published 2009/01/01 · crossref published-print 2009/01/01 · openalex publication_date 2009/01/01 · crossref published-online 2009/10/13 · crossref created 2009/10/14 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · crossref deposited 2025/04/23 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15 · crossref indexed 2026/07/30
Human factors is a definition that includes the science of understanding the properties of human capability, the application of this understanding to the design and development of systems and services, the art of ensuring their successful applications to a program. The field of human factors traces its origins to the Second World War, but Three Mile Island has been the best example of how groups of people react and make decisions under stress: this nuclear accident was exacerbated by wrong decisions made because the operators were overwhelmed with irrelevant, misleading or incorrect information. Errors and their nature are the same in all human activities. The predisposition for error is so intrinsic to human nature that scientifically it is best considered as inherently biologic. The causes of error in medical care may not be easily generalized. Surgery differs in important ways: most errors occur in the operating room and are technical in nature. Commonly, surgical error has been thought of as the consequence of lack of skill or ability, and is the result of thoughtless actions. Moreover the 'operating theatre' has a unique set of team dynamics: professionals from multiple disciplines are required to work in a closely coordinated fashion. This complex environment provides multiple opportunities for unclear communication, clashing motivations, errors arising not from technical incompetence but from poor interpersonal skills. Surgeons have to work closely with human factors specialists in future studies. By improving processes already in place in many operating rooms, safety will be enhanced and quality increased.