Summary
Objective: To summarize significant contributions to the research on human factors and organizational
issues in medical informatics.
Methods: An extensive search using PubMed/Medline and Web of Science® was conducted to identify
the scientific contributions, published in 2014, to human factors and organizational
issues in medical informatics, with a focus on health information technology (HIT)
usability. The selection process comprised three steps: (i) 15 candidate best papers
were selected by the two section editors, (ii) external reviewers from a pool of international
experts reviewed each candidate best paper, and (iii) the final selection of three
best papers was made by the editorial board of the IMIA Yearbook.
Results: Noteworthy papers published in 2014 describe an efficient, easy to implement, and
useful process for detecting and mitigating human factors and ergonomics (HFE) issues
of HIT. They contribute to promote the HFE approach with interventions based on rigorous
and well-conducted methods when designing and implementing HIT.
Conclusion: The application of HFE in the design and implementation of HIT remains
limited, and the impact of incorporating HFE principles on patient safety is understudied.
Future works should be conducted to advance this field of research, so that the safety
and quality of patient care are not compromised by the increasing adoption of HIT.
Keywords
Human factors - health information technology - patient safety
