Picture this: It’s 10am on a rainy Tuesday. Sharon, a district nurse, is halfway through her fourth home visit. One hand wrestles a broken umbrella, the other clutches a buzzing phone. Her kit bag is overflowing. The pill packet looks identical to the last one. The kitchen is cramped, the lights are dim, and the family dog won’t stop barking. All the while, she reassures an anxious relative that, yes, the right medication has been prescribed.

Stressed? Absolutely. Mistakes waiting to happen? Possibly.

Looking at this from a human factors' perspective, it’s not about blaming Sharon if human errors are made. It’s about understanding how the situation could lead to errors, recognising the pressure she’s under, and designing safeguards to catch problems before the storm even starts.

So, what are human factors anyway?

Human factors are the science of how people interact with their tools, tasks, and surroundings. Put simply: sometimes things go brilliantly, and sometimes they go spectacularly wrong.

Ergonomics and human factors

Human factors are broader than ergonomics (and we aren't just talking about fancy desk chairs, trust us). Ergonomic principles consider the physical interaction between people, products, and environments. Think posture, reach, grip, or screen readability. Human factors principles involve everything to do with human interaction, how people think, feel and how this influences behaviour, not just how they interact physically.

Human factors in healthcare

In healthcare, human factors are the hidden forces shaping how care is delivered. They influence things like:

Fatigue and workload – because yes, night shifts and never-ending patient lists do take a toll

Communication and teamwork – a rushed handover or quick ‘brain download’ can mean a missed diagnosis

Equipment and environment – confusing pill packaging, chaotic wards, or poorly designed tools

Decision-making under pressure – ever tried solving a complex puzzle while ten people shout?

Human factors don’t just explain why errors happen; they also show us how to prevent them in the first place.

Why human factors in healthcare matter

Because healthcare is messy. Unlike a brick factory, where identical blocks roll off the line, every patient is different. They bring their own health histories, anxieties, and quirks.

Now add over-stretched staff, high stakes, and the emotional intensity of lives literally in their hands, and you’ve got one of the most challenging workplaces imaginable.

Human factors research helps us to make sense of the messiness. Without it, we wouldn’t have the innovations and improvements that make equipment and devices safer, easier to use, and more effective for everyone – from patients to caregivers and clinicians.

Human factors research in healthcare can focus on:

Reducing medical errors

Spotting potential hazards – think of Sharon and her near-identical pill packets

Designing medical devices and systems to be intuitive

And this is just the start.

Sound obvious? Maybe. But the devil is in the detail. Studying human factors means digging deep into how people really interact with their environment, so we can design solutions that actually work.

Human factors research in healthcare: A real-world example

Take one of our clients, for example. We worked together on a study with people who currently have, or have previously had, a neurostimulator implant.

A patient programmer is a small, hand-held device that lets patients adjust their implanted deep brain stimulation (DBS) or spinal cord stimulation (SCS) system. Within safe limits set by their clinician, patients can use it to fine-tune their own therapy.

In this study, participants were asked to try out a patient programmer designed for people with DBS implants. They were given a series of hands-on tasks to complete using the device and then asked to share their feedback.

The programmer wasn’t connected to an implant during the sessions, so it didn’t affect anyone’s therapy. The goal? Usability: Could patients operate it easily? Adjust stimulation smoothly? Read the screen clearly?

Thanks to these sessions, our client gained rich insights to make the device more intuitive, user-friendly, and effective, helping patients manage their therapy more safely and smoothly.

Pretty cool, right?

Enabling excellence

Human factors research isn’t just preventing human errors. It’s about enabling excellence. A device that makes a patient’s daily therapy easier? Human factors. A district nurse who administers the right medicine despite chaos? Human factors again.

So, next time you hear “human factors”, don’t shrug it off as jargon. Think of:

Sharon, juggling a buzzing phone, broken umbrella, cramped kitchen, dim lights, and a barking dog – and still getting the meds right

Our client, improving a medical device through human factors research, changing patients’ quality of life

Yourself, trying to do your best work when the system feels stacked against you

Healthcare human factors research is about understanding the messy reality and designing for humans as they actually are, not as we wish they were.