ABSTRACT
The idea that patients and their informal caregivers are in a position to affect and monitor their safety has accrued sufficient research evidence that it is no longer a question, but rather part of the answer. Patient engagement in safety, a patient ergonomics topic, is beginning to and should further benefit from a human factors perspective to characterize the cognitive work of patients ranging from error reporting to self-monitoring for infections. This chapter presents an overview of this topic, positioning the patient as central to the information space via conducting cognitive work associated with (1) possessing and acquiring information based on continuity across the care continuum; (2) seeking information on the internet, social media communities, patient portals, and OpenNotes; (3) applying information to decision-making; and (4) sharing information and participating in exchange through family-centered rounds and hand-offs. Theoretical perspectives of distributed cognition and naturalistic decision-making are applied. Given that much of the information space is patient-held, framing of the patient as a team member yields opportunities to extend human factors teamwork models and approaches to patient–clinician teams. Recommendations for support interventions for patient engagement in safety are proposed in the areas of prevention, detection, self-care management, and others.
