Whether one is aiming for efficiency gains, safety improvements, a better patient experience, or better clinical outcomes, employing a human centered design approach acknowledges that the building blocks of any healthcare system are its people; patients, physicians, nurses, technicians, administrators, and others. It embraces the variability and complexity of humans, as individuals and en masse. It exposes and defines the tolerance bands that will allow people to operate effectively in situ rather than in a standard operating procedure or process flow diagram. Without a fundamental understanding of these critical variables, any system design is destined for challenges, and at worst, failure.

In healthcare systems—process or product—a human centered design approach prioritizes usability and practical adoption for optimal outcome. Introducing change in complex systems is rarely easy. Stakeholders need to be participants in the co-development process if they are to be active champions of the implementation. Top down recommendations are often too general to be useful or too specific to account for the unique attributes of systems. And approaches that are derivatives of manufacturing practices, while they may have some adaptable elements, often become unwieldy, cold, and impractical when applied to the nexus of highly-trained professionals and unique patient presentations that characterize most provider environments.

As the healthcare industry is forced to deal with its significant challenges in the coming decade, the fact that it is predominantly an industry of people will spawn widespread adoption and adaptation of human factors design expertise. The leaders have already begun.