U.S. flag

An official website of the Department of Health and Human Services

SHARE:

FacebookXEmail AHRQPrintShare

Bringing Human Factors into Home Health Care

Institute of Medicine Report and Designer's Guide

Many health care technologies that involve information technology (IT) are moving into the home, for use by caregivers who look after the growing number of older adults with chronic illnesses. With funding from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Institute of Medicine conducted a study of these health IT-related technologies that looks at the imbalances between the demands of the new home technologies and the capabilities of caregiver-users, with recommendations for designs that ensure greater ease and accuracy of use.

A new report and consumer health IT designer's guide published by the National Academies of Science and AHRQ outline the impact of technology, environment, policy and regulation, and human factors on the growing field of home health care.

To read the report, Health Care Comes Home: The Human Factors, online or download the PDF file, visit: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13149.

As a companion to the report, the National Academy of Sciences and AHRQ published a designer's guide to human factors for consumer health IT, Consumer Health Information Technology in the Home: A Guide for Human Factors Design Considerations. This 24-page booklet offers guidance to consumer health IT developers and vendors on issues to consider systems to be used in the home, and provides home health professionals guidance in selecting tools to complement professional home care services.

For the designer's guide, visit: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13205

Page last reviewed December 2017
Page originally created August 2011

Internet Citation: Bringing Human Factors into Home Health Care. Content last reviewed December 2017. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD.
https://www.ahrq.gov/patient-safety/resources/designer-guide/index.html

Click to copy citation