ABSTRACT
Investigating the interaction of humans with the processes and elements of systems of healthcare allows envisioning and designing a future for safety improvement. Evidence, information and knowledge (EI&K) processes will also benefit from this approach. However, this dialog has yet to become a part of patient safety improvement discourse from the perspective of a distinct group of experts engaging in daily EI&K work: the information professional. To lay the foundation, this chapter will provide examples of human factors engineering (HFE) methods that can aid the identification, acquisition, application and transfer of EI&K, and ultimately influence patient safety improvement. In addition, this chapter will focus on the systems characteristics that make clear the value added by medical librarians and informationists (referred to under the general term “librarian”) to the work of patient safety problem-solving.
