In terms of tasks, the man may be required to monitor his glucose according to a prescribed protocol. The person components of the interactions may also include a nurse at a distant clinic who monitors the medical data of the care recipient via telemonitoring 1 and a nurse and home health aide who visit weekly to check on the general health status of the care recipient, measure his vital signs, and assist with personal care. The man performing the task may have low health literacy, visual problems, and some mild cognitive impairment, and his caregiver may be his wife, who is close to him in age. In this case, we examine the interactions involved when an older man with diabetes uses a glucometer in his home to track his glucose level with the goal of maintaining his serum blood glucose within recommended limits in order to prevent complications.
It is also important to note that systems are dynamic and the attributes of the people, tasks, equipment/technology, and environments change over time.Ī diabetes management example can be used to illustrate the model. These environments also have different characteristics and place varying enablers and barriers on a person’s successful completion of tasks and use of equipment/technology. The multiple environments in which the person(s), tasks, and equipment/technology reside interact with each other and are represented by overlapping circles in the model. The type and magnitude of cognitive, sensory, and physical demands placed on people by these tasks and equipment/technology vary and are directly related to personal capabilities.
Tasks and equipment/technology also have different characteristics.
Interactions are represented by the double arrows in the model. As a result, they vary with respect to their cognitive, perceptual, and physical capabilities with which to interact with tasks and equipment/technology. In this chapter, we discuss some of the tools and methods of humanīring to the home health care experience. This report is designed to call attention to the resulting missed opportunities and the great potential advantages of bringing a human factors approach into the center of planning for high-quality and safe home health care. To date, there has been only limited application of human factors knowledge and methods to health care in the home. The goals of human factors are to optimize human and system efficiency and effectiveness, safety, health, comfort, and quality of life. The focus of human factors is on how people interact with tasks, with equipment/technologies, and with the environment, in order to understand and evaluate these interactions. It is also concerned with the design of training programs and instructional materials that support the performance of tasks or the use of technology/equipment. Human factors is therefore concerned with applying what is known about human behavior, abilities, limitations, and other characteristics to the design of systems, tasks/activities, environments, and equipment/technologies. According to the International Ergonomics Association, “ is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data, and other methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance” (International Ergonomics Association, 2010).
Human factors, with its emphasis on user- or person-centered design, can help to ensure that health care in the home suits the people, the tasks, and the environments involved and that the care provided is safe, effective, and efficient.