Error and Human Factors Analyses

The study of human error in diverse sociotechnical systems may be conducted by examining the human factors that contribute to error. A human error may be broadly defined as failure to take required action, failure to meet a performance standard for that action, or performing the wrong action. In the medical domain, human error may or may not adversely affect the patient. Patient safety is a medical providers' principal concern; thus, much attention has been placed on uncovering errors that have the potential to cause patient injury. Any patient injury (i.e., adverse medical event) that is attributable to human error is described as a preventable adverse event. Two prolific studies conducted in New York, Colorado, and Utah suggested that between 2.9% and 3.7% of hospitalizations ...