Avoiding a Second Wave of Medical Errors: The Importance of Human Factors in the Context of a Pandemic

• Published in: Aesthetic plastic surgery Vol. 44; no. 5; pp. 1926 - 1928
• Main Authors: Tejos, Rodrigo, Navia, Alfonso, Cuadra, Alvaro, Fernandez-Diaz, Oscar F., Berner, Juan Enrique
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.10.2020
• Subjects: Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology; Coronavirus Infections - prevention & control; COVID-19; Elective Surgical Procedures - statistics & numerical data; Female; Humans; Infection Control - organization & administration; Letter to the Editor; Male; Medical Errors - prevention & control; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Occupational Health; Otorhinolaryngology; Pandemics - prevention & control; Pandemics - statistics & numerical data; Patient Safety; Plastic Surgery; Pneumonia, Viral - epidemiology; Pneumonia, Viral - prevention & control; Risk Assessment; Surgery, Plastic - methods; Surgery, Plastic - statistics & numerical data; COVID-19; Pandemic; Plastic surgery; Human factors
• ISSN: 0364-216X; 1432-5241
• DOI: 10.1007/s00266-020-01868-y

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on the delivery of healthcare services around the globe. This has resulted in important loss of life for our communities, including health professionals that have been exposed to the disease in their workplace. A human factors approach to the recent changes introduced due to the pandemic can help identify how we can minimize the impact of human error in these circumstances. We hereby present a case study illustrating the application of human factors in the difficult times we are going through at present. Level of Evidence V This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .