What the department studies
Human Factors studies decision-making and use: how patients understand the options presented to them, which explanations actually work, how design preferences form, and how people handle interchangeable systems in daily life rather than in a clinic.
Why it changes practice
The department's findings tend to arrive as uncomfortable specifics — a term patients consistently misread, a stage of the pathway where information is delivered too late to be useful. Those findings are the reason several consultation and education practices were rewritten.
Methods
Mixed-methods work: structured instruments, interviews, observation of simulated use and review of the questions patients actually ask coordinators. Participation is voluntary and unconnected to any clinical decision.
Reviewed by Department of Human Factors