CAN ERGONOMICS HELP CARE FOR US IN OUR TWIGHLIGHT YEARS?

摘要

It has been estimated that 5% of all hospital admissions are a result of avoidable harm from medicines (Hepler & Segal, 2003). This is a similar percentage to that of cancer. In particular, many elderly patients are on a number of medicines, potentially increasing the probability of errors. Around half a million older people in England live in care homes. This project employs a multi-disciplinary team, spanning engineering design, medicine, psychology and ergonomics. Data are being collected from 300 residents across 100 care homes. It is the ergonomics component of the project that is reported here. Through user-centred design and analysis of the whole system, it is anticipated that solutions to some of the medication errors will be identified. The methods adopted, along with some preliminary findings, are described and discussed.