Tosha Wetterneck, MD MS, Richard Holden, PhD, John Beasley, MD, and myself wrote a technical chapter for the World Health Organization. Link to technical chapter.

Its part of the World Health Organization’s technical series on safer primary care, and has a particular focus on human factors. This report highlights the crucial role that human factors play in ensuring patient safety, improving the quality of care, and optimizing the overall efficiency of primary care systems. By understanding the interaction between humans, systems, and technologies, healthcare organizations can implement more effective strategies to reduce errors, enhance communication, and ultimately improve patient outcomes.

This monograph describes what “human factors” are and what relevance this approach has for improving safety in primary care. This section defines human factors. The next sections outline some of the key human factors’ issues in primary care and the final sections explore potential practical solutions for safer primary care.

Full Text

Download technical chapter.