HFES releases preliminary program for symposium on human factors & ergonomics in health care

The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society has just released the preliminary program for the 2013 International Symposium on Human Factors & Ergonomics in Health Care: Advancing the Cause, to be held March 10-13, 2013, in Baltimore MD USA. Hosted by The National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare, MedStar Institute for Innovation, the event aims to go beyond the basic human factors/ergonomics (HF/E) tenets highlighted in the 2012 symposium (which drew more than 400 attendees) by providing actionable methods and best practices that will enable participants to advance their HF/E outcomes in their respective work settings.

Ross Ungerleider MD, MBA, kicks off the symposium with the opening plenary address "The Seven Practices of Highly Resonant Operating Room Teams." Ungerleider is Professor and Chief, Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and Director, Pediatric Heart Program at Brenner Children's Hospital - Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

Closing plenary speaker Kellie Taylor, PharmD, MPH, will present "FDA's Perspective on Preventing Medication Errors: The Role of Human Factors." Taylor is Deputy Director, Division of Medication Error Prevention and Analysis at the Office of Medication Error Prevention and Risk Management, Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology.

HF/E and professionals in related fields will present the latest research, best practices, and case histories along four major tracks. Examples are shown here; see the online preliminary program for lots more:

Patient and Health-Care Provider Safety

• Pascale Carayon, Center for Quality and Productivity Improvement, University of Wisconsin-Madison, "Reengineering Health Care Through a Human Factors Systems Approach"
• Health-Care Information Technology
• Jacob Reider, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, "Health IT Usability: The Federal Perspective" Medical Device Design
• Example lecture: Sara Waxberg, Human Factors / Industrial Design, Baxter Healthcare, "Selling HF to the HF Challenged: The Business Case for Human Factors in Industry" NEW! Operating Room Arena
• Patricia Seifert, Inova Heart and Vascular Institute, "Implementing Change in an Uneven OR Playing Field"