ABSTRACT
There arc many dictionary definitions for "error''. "Error" can be defined as "something done wrong because of neglect", "violation of law or duty'' or "moral defect". An error becomes visible when small factors come together and has negative impact on results (Reason J. 1990). HFE is a term which scientists use to define human role in any particular system. Main task of human factors engineers is to design work environments and equipments in a way to determine and prevent errors by assuming that people will do errors (Gosbee JW, Lin L. 200 l ). HFE is used in the United States and in some other countries. The same concept is mostly referred to in Europe as "ergonomics." Research in this area is only just beginning to be implemented in healthcare services. HFE has been implemented in various organizations that have encountered problems of design that reflect human limitations and competencies. Lack of information, excess of information, umelated information with the task, ineffective presentation of information to the operator that is unclear in how decisions are to be made; unavailable work tlows to the users, inappropriate default settings, difficulty in perceiving errors during data entry and difficulty or slowness in later correcting mistakes arc example of some problems that HFE can be used in eliminating those problems (Engelke C, Olivier D. 2002,Gosbcc JW. 2002, Gosbee JW. 2004). HFE also plays a significant role in improving patient safety processes. The benefits may be surmnarizcd as; reducing usability errors, facilitating easy use of medical equipments, increasing safety of manual actions, ensuring easy reading of control panels and indicators, establishing safe connections between instruments and more effective warning systems. To
review a hcalthcare system in terms of HFE, certain steps may be defined and analyzed through a systematic approach and current systems may be improved. Steps in this plan may be cited as; development of a mission statement, detennining key staff such as management team, staff, specialists, auxiliary users and users, dctcnnining processes, process leaders and participants, defining problems and/or current status through prioritizing, defining roles in choosing equipment, setting goals and comparison data, agreeing on measurement methods and available data, developing strategies to meet the set goals, agreeing on key assessment points and defining evaluation process of design changes (Bogner MS. 1994, Grout JR. 2006, Cook Rl, Woods DD.l994,Cook Rl, Woods DD. 1994).
