Human Factors Engineering research and consulting approaches to improving reliability, quality, and patient safety in healthcare, emergency medicine, and emergency medical services.

Rollin J. (Terry) Fairbanks    [Bio]   [Publications]   [EPh Website]

Research Emphasis:

--Human Factors Engineering Approaches to Patient Safety in Healthcare
--Patient Safety Research in Emergency Medical Services and Emergency Medicine
--Usability Research in Medical Devices and Health Information Technology

Recent Healthcare and Human Factors Presentations

^New!EMS Today 2009, Baltimore: March 26, 2009.  Handouts: Cutting Edge Approaches to Patient Safety [800kb pdf] Adverse Events Case Analyses [600kb pdf]; Other session handouts can be found here.

Researching the use of Emergency Pharmacists in the ED.  AHRQ Annual Conference 2008, Bethesda, MD:  September 8, 2008 [pdf (240kb)]

Links: Medicinal Human Factors Engineering (HFE) and ergonomics in Healthcare

Research Collaborators and Partners:

University of Rochester Emergency Pharmacist Research
University of Rochester Department of Emergency Medicine
Usability Associates
University of Florida Jacksonville Department of Emergency Medicine
University of Buffalo Human Factors Engineering Program
University of Buffalo Healthcare Research
Monroe-Livingston Regional EMS Council
ASHP Research and Education Foundation
Helmet Fire Human Factors Consulting
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Emergency Medicine Patient Safety Foundation

Other Human Factors Engineering Links Related to Healthcare and Emergency Medicine

FDA's CDRH [video] describes integration of HFE into medical device design to reduce use error
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
Red Forest Consulting
Cognitive Technologies Laboratory, University of Chicago
AHRQ PSNet
VA National Center for Patient Safety
University of Wisconsin System Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety
FDA Human Factors Program
Bad Human Factors Designs
Nielsen's Usability Heuristics
Health Information Technology Failures^new!
Usability Toolkit
University of Texas Human Factors Research Project
University of Maryland Human Factors Research Program
Virginia Tech Human Factors Engineering

Recommended Medical Human Factors and Patient Safety Courses

U. Wisconsin Madison: SEIPS Short Course on Human Factors Engineering & Patient Safety (August)
Mayo Clinic "Applying Human Factors in Health Care" (October)
HRET Patient Safety Leadership Fellowship (Annual)
Red Forest Consulting: Innovation & Managing Risk with Medical Devices (October)

Upcoming Human Factors-Related Conferences

3rd Int. Conf. on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics, Miami, July 19-22, 2010 [500kb pdf]^new!
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 52rd Annual Meeting, San Antonio, October 19-23, 2009 [link]
Usability Professionals' Association 2009 International Conference, Portland, June 8-12, 2009 [link]

EMS Patient Safety

Helmet Fire Feedback Loop & Event Reporting System
MEPARS EMS Error Reporting System [www.EMSSafePatient.com]
EMS Provider Crash Safety

Recent Healthcare/Patient Safety/Human Factors Publications [Click here for All Publications]

Fairbanks RJ. Don’t be a Minimizer: Avoiding the Trap of Underestimating Signs and Symptoms. Journal of Emergency Medical Services. March 2009; 34(3):100-102.^new

Szczesiul JM, Fairbanks RJ, Hildebrand JM, Hays DP, Shah, MN. Survey of Physicians Regarding Clinical Pharmacy Services in Academic Emergency Departments. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, Mar 2009; 66:576-9.^new

Fairbanks RJ, Perry SJ, Venturino M, and Zwemer FL. Radiology in the Emergency Department:  Patient Safety Issues with Digital Imaging (Book Chapter). Patient Safety in Emergency Medicine.  Croskerry, Cosby, Schenkel, and Wears, (Eds). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (2009).

Fairbanks RJ and Gellatly AW. Human Factors Engineering and Safe Systems (Book Chapter). Patient Safety in Emergency Medicine.  Croskerry, Cosby, Schenkel, and Wears, (Eds). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (2009).

Fairbanks RJ, Crittenden CN, O’Gara KG, Wilson MA, Pennington EC, Chin NP, Shah MN. EMS Provider Perceptions of the Nature of Adverse Events and Near Misses in Out-of-Hospital Care: An Ethnographic View. Academic Emergency Medicine July 2008; 15(7):633–640.

Fairbanks RJ and Wears RL. Hazards With Medical Devices: the Role of Design (editorial). Annals of Emergency Medicine Nov 2008; 52(5): 519-521.