HFE at the frontiers of COVID-19. Human factors/ergonomics to support the communication for safer care in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic

Italy was the first country after China to be affected by COVID-19. The wave of the emergency found our country unprepared to cope with the surge of patients going to first aid departments to seek assistance in the almost complete paralysis of community health. Human factors and ergonomics (HFE) can effectively contribute to, and improve the effectiveness of, a pandemic response working on several key areas: training, adapting workflows and processes, restructuring teams and tasks, effective mechanisms and tools for communication, engaging patients and families and learning from failures and successes. In Italy, HFE expertise has been able to provide our healthcare systems with some easy-to-realize solutions (particularly dedicated to improving communication, team work and situational awareness) in order to cope with the need for rapid adaptations to new and unknown scenarios: ensuring information and communication continuity in the different levels of the healthcare system; identifying hazard opportunity through risk management tool; providing training through simulation; organizing regular briefing and debriefing; enhancing the reporting and learning system as an informal way of communicating adverse events and supporting information campaign and education initiatives for the public.