Principles for the conduct of human factors/ergonomics in healthcare: a scoping study of the published evidence

A total of 13 intervention studies met the inclusion criteria, suggesting that adherence to core HFE principles is rare. All included studies self-identified as HFE intervention studies. All interventions had a clearly defined scope and most targeted at least four system elements, that is, person, tools, technology, task, process, organisation, environment. The 'people' element was the one most commonly targeted. A wide range of organisational level and patient outcomes were measured, but no employee safety or well-being outcomes were measured in the included studies. In all cases, the intervention team included healthcare providers working with HFE/systems engineering/improvement experts, who often led the project.