Infant Journal
for neonatal and paediatric healthcare professionals

The impact of cognitive ergonomics in everyday clinical decision making and frontline tasks

Performing healthcare tasks relies on cognitive function involving mental processes such as perception, attention, memory, learning, information processing and decision making. However, the conditions of the healthcare environment can make it challenging for a human to perform cognitively demanding work tasks. This article considers the impact of cognitive ergonomics on everyday clinical tasks and decision making and asks, is it time to employ human factor ergonomic experts within clinical and governance teams?

Claudia Chetcuti Ganado
Consultant in Neonatal Medicine, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Luton and Dunstable Hospital
claudia.chetcutiganado@ldh.nhs.uk

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Keywords
ergonomics; human factors; patient safety; simulation; errors
Key points
  1. Healthcare professionals constantly process multiple sensory stimuli, making quick life-or-death decisions, often in a state of fatigue.
  2. Human factor ergonomic experts could decrease the harmful consequences of potential sources of error in day-to-day clinical work and patient safety.