ABSTRACT
Increasingly, it is being recognized that health care systems need to be viewed as sociotechnical systems and that ergonomic interventions need to be holistic and systemic. Macroergonomics is the subdiscipline of ergonomics that focuses on this holistic work system analysis and design. Sociotechical systems theory is the recognized theoretical framework supporting macroergonomics. Through a macro ergonomic approach, supported by sociotechnical systems theory, it is believed that 60% to 90% per formance is possible. This is in contrast to the 10% to 20% improvements typically achieved through intervention. It is contended that health care systems could benefit from the larger error reduction/ performance improvement scenario. This chapter begins with some background about sociotechnical systems. It then defines the health care system as a sociotechnical system. I then focus on the major contribution of this chapter, a major method for ana lyzing and designing work system processes, called Macroergonomic Analysis and Design (MEAD).
