JMIR Human Factors

(Re-)designing health care and making health care interventions and technologies usable, safe, and effective

Editor-in-Chief:

Andre Kushniruk, BA, MSc, PhD, FACMI, School of Health Information Science, University of Victoria, Canada


Impact Factor 2.7

JMIR Human Factors (JHF, ISSN 2292-9495, Impact Factor: 2.7; Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Andre Kushniruk) is a multidisciplinary journal with contributions from design experts, medical researchers, engineers, and social scientists.

JMIR Human Factors focuses on understanding how the behaviour and thinking of humans can influence and shape the design of health care interventions and technologies, and how the design can be evaluated and improved to make health care interventions and technologies usable, safe, and effective. This includes usability studies and heuristic evaluations, studies concerning ergonomics and error prevention, design studies for medical devices and healthcare systems/workflows, enhancing teamwork through Human Factors based teamwork training, measuring non-technical skills in staff like leadership, communication, situational awareness and teamwork, and healthcare policies and procedures to reduce errors and increase safety.

JHF aspires to lead health care towards a culture of "usability by design", as well as to a culture of testing, error-prevention and safety, by promoting and publishing reports rigorously evaluating the usability and human factors aspects in health care, as well as encouraging the development and debate on new methods in this emerging field. Possible contributions include usability studies and heuristic evaluations, studies concerning ergonomics and error prevention, design studies for medical devices and healthcare systems/workflows, enhancing teamwork through human factors-based teamwork training, measuring non-technical skills in staff like leadership, communication, situational awareness and teamwork, and healthcare policies and procedures to reduce errors and increase safety. Reviews, viewpoint papers and tutorials are as welcome as original research.

All articles are professionally copyedited and typeset. JMIR Human Factors is indexed in PubMed, PubMed Central, DOAJ, Scopus, PsychINFO, and the Emerging Sources Citation Index (Clarivate). In 2023, JMIR Human Factors received an inaugural Journal Impact Factor™ of 2.7 (Source: Journal Citation Reports™ from Clarivate, 2023).

Recent Articles

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Focus Groups and Qualitative Research with Users

Sick leave and decreased ability to work are the consequences of chronic pain. Interdisciplinary pain rehabilitation programs (IPRPs) aim to improve health-related quality of life and participation in work activities, although implementing rehabilitation strategies at work after IPRPs can be difficult. Employers’ knowledge about pain and the role of rehabilitation needs to be strengthened. The self-management of chronic pain can be improved through eHealth interventions. However, these interventions do not involve communicating with employers to improve work participation. To address this deficiency, a new eHealth intervention, Sustainable Worker Digital Support for Persons with Chronic Pain and Their Employers (SWEPPE), was developed.

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Design and Usability of Clinical Software and EHRs

Dashboards and interactive displays are becoming increasingly prevalent in most health care settings and have the potential to streamline access to information, consolidate disparate data sources and deliver new insights. Our research focuses on intensive care units (ICUs) which are heavily instrumented, critical care environments that generate vast amounts of data and frequently require individualized support for each patient. Consequently, clinicians experience a high cognitive load, which can translate to suboptimal performance. The global COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this problem by generating a large number of additional hospitalizations, which necessitated a new tool that would help manage ICUs’ census. In a previous study, we interviewed clinicians at the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston National Health Service Foundation Trust to capture the requirements for bespoke dashboards that would alleviate this problem.

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Design and Usability of Clinical Software and EHRs

Telehealth can optimize access to specialty care for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Virtual AF care, however, may not fit with the complex needs of patients with AF.

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User-centred Design Case Studies

Expedient access to early intervention (EI) systems has been identified as a priority for children with developmental delays, identified disabilities, and other special health care needs. Despite the mandated availability of EI, it remains challenging for families to navigate referral processes and establish appropriate services. Such challenges disproportionately affect families from traditionally underserved communities. Mobile health apps can improve clinical outcomes, increase accessibility to health services, and promote adherence to health-related interventions. Though promising, the implementation of apps within routine care is in its infancy, with limited research examining the components of what makes an effective app or how to reach families most impacted by inequities in health care delivery.

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Ergonomics

Understanding the communication between physicians and patients can identify areas where they can improve and build stronger relationships. This led to better patient outcomes including increased engagement, enhanced adherence to treatment plan, and a boost in trust.

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Design and Usability of Clinical Software and EHRs

Around the world, over half of the global population experiences noncommunicable diseases, resulting in premature death. Health care providers (HCPs) can deliver medical treatment from a distance by using digital advancements such as telemedicine. However, there is a limited understanding of the difficulties and opportunities of implementing telemedicine solutions in different socioeconomic and cultural environments, including Kuwait.

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Theme Issue (2020): Human Factors of the COVID-19 Outbreak

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated immense health care pressure, forcing critical decisions to be made in a socially alarmed environment. Adverse conditions have led to acute stress reactions, affective pathologies, and psychosomatic reactions among health personnel, which have been exacerbated by the successive waves of the pandemic. The recovery of the entire health system and its professionals has been hindered, making it essential to increase their resilience.

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Theme Issue (2020): Human Factors of the COVID-19 Outbreak

Social networking sites (SNSs) such as Facebook have been central to the global exchange of health-related information throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, but during this time, increased web-based interactions proved to be a source of stress and conflict for many SNS users. Prior research suggests that many users have engaged in significant boundary regulation during this period, using behaviors such as unfriending to refine and reorient their social networks in response to pandemic-related information.

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Focus Groups and Qualitative Research with Users

Many university students have difficulties with sleep; therefore, effective psychological treatments are needed. Most research on psychological treatments to improve sleep has been conducted with middle-aged and older adults, which means it is unclear whether existing psychological treatments are helpful for young adult university students.

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Design and Usability of Clinical Software and EHRs

Electronic health record (EHR) data from multiple providers often exhibit important but convoluted and complex patterns that patients find hard and time-consuming to identify and interpret. However, existing patient-facing applications lack the capability to incorporate automatic pattern detection robustly and toward supporting making sense of the patient’s EHR data. In addition, there is no means to organize EHR data in an efficient way that suits the patient’s needs and makes them more actionable in real-life settings. These shortcomings often result in a skewed and incomplete picture of the patient’s health status, which may lead to suboptimal decision-making and actions that put the patient at risk.

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Design of Processes and Workflows

Studies exploring the workload in health care focus on the doctors’ perspectives. The ecology of the health care environment is critical and different for doctors and patients.

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