Taking ergonomics to the bedside--a multi-disciplinary approach to designing safer healthcare.

A multi-disciplinary approach to designing safer healthcare was utilised to investigate risks in the bed-space in elective surgical wards. The Designing Out Medical Error (DOME) project brought together clinicians, designers, psychologists, human factors and business expertise to develop solutions for the highest risk healthcare processes. System mapping and risk assessment techniques identified nearly 200 potential failure modes in hand hygiene, isolation of infection, vital signs monitoring, medication delivery and handover of information.

A systematic proactive risk assessment of hazards in surgical wards: a quantitative study.

Objective: To identify and prioritize hazards in surgical wards and recommend interventions.

Background: Retrospective and prospective studies report the frequency and severity of surgical adverse events, but not in sufficient detail to allow interventions to be recommended in surgical wards.

Methods: Seventy hours of observations were used to record all activities occurring in surgical wards, and from these activities health care processes were derived.