Por qué todas las organizaciones de atención médica necesitan expertos en factores humanos y cómo lograrlo

This is a critical moment for health care delivery. Our systems are increasingly stretched, and our staff suffer from the strain. Accidental harm is still prevalent despite the progress that has been made. Patient complexity is increasing, while our financial and other resources are becoming scarcer. Emerging care delivery models and technologies offer incredible opportunities, yet they present new risks to patients and the workforce if their design and integration is not thoughtfully conducted.

Human factors is a discipline that seeks to optimize the relationship between technology, the environment, systems, and humans. In health care, it is an essential component for mitigating risks to both patients and the workforce. It offers clear opportunities for addressing myriad problems. Yet, the history of human factors and its adoption by health care has been complicated and underleveraged. The time has come to build, validate, and integrate human factors knowledge and competencies into health care and the design of safe systems.

The Origins of the Human Factors in Health Care Certification

To begin to address this need, IHI has developed the Certified Professional in Human Factors in Health Care (CPHFM^TM) credential. Health care professionals who earn the credential will be able to demonstrate a high level of proficiency in applying the core standards of human factors, systems thinking, and design to health care improvement.

A group of practicing, qualified, and highly experienced human factors professionals, convened by IHI, defined the skills and competencies needed for a health care human factors practitioner. This informed the development of the first psychometrically sound certification exam exclusively focused on human factors in health care. 

Three key domains emerged and became the focus of the certification:

• Assess and Analyze – Evaluating and understanding human-system interactions to identify potential risks
• Design – Designing and implementing systems and processes that enhance safety and efficiency
• Improve and Monitor – Continuously refining and overseeing systems to ensure ongoing safety and sustainable effectiveness.   

The CPHFM certification reflects the maturation of the practical application of human factors in clinical work, merging the complexities of health care delivery with the expertise of systems analysis, design and implementation. As a consequence, the certification has profoundly positive implications for both professions.

The Benefits of Human Factors Expertise in Health Care

For qualified individuals, the CPHFM certification aims to validate their foundational knowledge of human factors approaches beyond teamwork, checklists, or errors, opening the door to broad considerations of human factors engineering. In doing so, it provides a different way to understand and approach not just clinical safety, but the entirety of health care work.

For human factors professionals, the certification provides a legitimization and supports the value of their specialized work and expertise, and an opportunity to bridge the professional gap between clinical and human factors work. Rather than replace human factors professionals with clinicians, or see the growing demand remain unmet at the expense of our patients and staff, the certification will encourage better understanding that will facilitate more widespread collaboration.

For health care organizations, colleagues who earn the CPHFM credential offer knowledge and expertise that can be leveraged to optimize the structures, systems, culture, and realities of work that is necessary for safety to be realized. Certification enables organizations to carefully vet and select applicants for hiring and promotions to support competency-driven workforce planning.

Preparing for the CPHFM credential opens a pathway for deeper learning and appreciation of human factors engineering to rethink safety and build skills and readiness to sit for the CPHFM examination. The CPHFM credential also brings clinicians into supportive professional circles, including participation in the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Across health care, those who receive certifications report professional pride and satisfaction, and many experience new career opportunities to apply their knowledge and skills in key efforts that advance health care safety.

Health care’s primary obligation is to do no harm. The building and validating of competencies in human factors is an important contribution to improving health care safety and caring for our community. The spread of human factors expertise offers a range of untapped ways to address health care’s challenges, and clear opportunities to benefit our patients and our dedicated and skilled health care workers. It is time to move away from a focus on reacting to error toward the design of systems where patients and those who care for them are free from harm.

Ken Catchpole, PhD, CErgHF, is SmartState Endowed Chair in Clinical Practice and Human Factors at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Patricia McGaffigan, MS, RN, CPPS, is an IHI Senior Advisor for Safety and President, Certification Board for Professionals in Patient Safety.  

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You might also be interested in:  

• Part One: To Err is Human – But to Design for Safety is Essential: Why Human Factors Matters in Health Care
• Certified Professional in Human Factors in Health Care
• IHI Patient Safety Congress