Creative ‘tips’ to integrate human factors/ergonomics principles and methods with patient safety and quality improvement clinical education

The goal of these 12 tips is to enhance the effectiveness of safety and improvement work in frontline healthcare practice by providing a framework for integration of Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) theory and approaches within undergraduate curricula, postgraduate training and healthcare improvement programs. This paper offers both support and challenges to healthcare educators when planning the inclusion of HFE principles within existing curricula. The 12 tips include the systems framework (Tip 1, 3), HFE tools and competency (Tips 2, 7), misunderstandings (Tips 4, 5), and ideas for implementation (Tip 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12). They will support the goal of enhancing the performance of care systems (productivity, safety, efficiency, quality) and the wellbeing of all the people (patient outcomes, staff presenteeism).