Beyond Policy: Leveraging Human Factors to Sustain Infection Prevention Best Practice

Session Description: Human Factors Engineering (HFE) is a multidisciplinary science that helps us understand how people interact with their work environments and how to optimize human performance in any system. This integrative approach acknowledges the critical role that system design plays in shaping human behavior and optimizing performance, which is particularly important in complex healthcare settings. Infection prevention (IP) operations and improvement efforts often rely heavily on education and training, as well as on adherence to rules and policies, to drive outcomes. While they have a place, education, training and policy interventions are generally considered less effective and sustainable than those that consider the design of the system such as automation, simplification, and appropriate standardization.

To understand the complexities and barriers frontline healthcare personnel face in implementing infection prevention program operations, and to be able to identify the most effective interventions, Infection Preventionists will benefit from understanding basic principles and tools of HFE and how to integrate them in their daily practice. In this workshop, we will introduce attendees to the core elements and functions of HFE, and then focus on the use of tools that human factors engineers use that infection preventionists can adopt to strengthen and sustain program interventions. Through engaging in various hands-on exercises, participants will learn how to use these tools to assess current processes and systems, inform program interventions, and advance the IP profession.