Deciding 'what to teach' health professionals: a human-centred systems engineering perspective

Area of Science:

• Medical Education Research
• Improvement Science
• Human-Centered Systems Engineering (HCSE)

Background:

• Medical education research is increasingly viewed as an improvement science for complex social interventions.
• This requires contextually grounded descriptions of healthcare practice to ensure successful interventions.
• Human-Centered Systems Engineering (HCSE) offers theoretical perspectives and analytical techniques to achieve this alignment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the application of Human-Centered Systems Engineering (HCSE) principles in medical education research.
• To align learning objectives and performance assessment with the demands of actual healthcare work.
• To enhance the design and implementation of educational interventions in healthcare settings.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing theoretical perspectives and analytical techniques from Human-Centered Systems Engineering (HCSE).
• Examining healthcare practice through the lens of systems theories that explain person-environment interactions.
• Focusing on practical problem-solving through intervention design, a key aspect of HCSE.

Main Results:

• HCSE provides a multidisciplinary approach to improve the safety, efficiency, and productivity of socio-technical systems in healthcare.
• Systems theories within HCSE elucidate how environmental factors influence goal-directed behavior in healthcare professionals.
• Applicable HCSE research techniques can be familiar to medical education researchers.

Conclusions:

• Learning objectives and assessments derived from HCSE focus on aligning individuals with environmental conditions for effective goal-directed behavior.
• Educational interventions designed using HCSE principles can achieve sustained positive impact across diverse contexts.
• Theories of person-environment interaction facilitate principled adaptations of interventions to specific local circumstances.