IEA 2021 Patient Safety Design Competition

This paper reports on the Patient Safety Research and Application Competition that was held in conjunction with the 2021 International Ergonomics Association Conference. The objectives of this competition were to: (1) Formulate research problem statements and innovative solutions to improve patient safety through the application of human factors/ergonomics (HF/E) to the healthcare system, (2) Showcase how the HF/E approach to this topic can lead to a useful, usable, and satisfying user experience while simultaneously improving outcomes relating to both functional and non-functional requirements, and (3) Provide an effective way of engaging students and early career researchers in IEA activities and initiatives. After reviewing the patient safety topics that motivated the design competition, we then report on the work carried out by the two finalists in the competition, and discuss lessons learned. We propose the continued use of design competitions in the future to motivate and showcase ergonomic problem-solving design by students and early career researchers and practitioners.