Clinical Engineering Incorporating Human Factors Engineering into Risk Management

摘要

The methodology adopted is based on a structure developed to provide quality in the healthcare technological process. It is supported by three actors of the healthcare scenario: infrastructure, healthcare technology (HT) and human resource (HR). Clinical Engineering actions, through Healthcare Technologies Management (HTM) in macro and micro level, are improving the quality of the healthcare services and consequently the patient safety. The risk management and the patient safety have gained widespread attention with reports of unusually high incidents of errors occurring in the administration of therapeutic and diagnostic interventions. In this context, HT is a component that delivers a clinical benefit to the patient. As medical equipments increase in number, the hazards associated with their use become more varied and the clinical environment more complex. The human factor engineering (HFE) is a risk management tool that aims to improve the human performance by designing hardware, software and facilities compatible with the abilities of a particular group of users. Thus, HFE can improve the medical equipment use and is a useful tool to the clinical engineer who, with his multidisci-plinary knowledge, is ideally suited for a leadership role in promoting patient safety. This study shows the importance of HFE concepts in the clinical engineer activities contributing with the risk management.