Using Human Factors to “Balance” Your Operating Room

As one of the most complex health care environments, the operating room is fraught with weaknesses and practices in need of process improvements. To make the operating room a safer environment for patients, a systems perspective is necessary. To provide a basis for readers, fundamentals of human factors, ergonomics, and systems thinking are discussed. Various strategies and resources are provided to assist readers with the design of a safer operating room. This information is presented in consideration of the varying availability of resources within institutions, allowing for allocation of efforts where possible to balance the operating room as a system.