Author(s)

Michael R. Privitera

Medical Faculty and Clinician Wellness Program, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA.

Human factors in the delivery of service are considered in many occupations of high impact on others such as airline industry and nuclear power industry, but not sufficiently in healthcare delivery. A common administrative framework of healthcare involves focus upon costs, quality and patient satisfaction (The Triple Aim). Many industries which support healthcare and healthcare administrators do not have firsthand knowledge of the complexities in delivering care. As a result, the experience and human factors of providing care are often overlooked at high level decision-making unless incorporated into the healthcare delivery framework, proposed as the fourth aim of The Quadruple Aim framework. Research is pointing to consequent negative effects on quality, safety, joy, meaning and sustainability of healthcare practice. High acute occupational stress and chronic occupational stress can cause direct and indirect effects on safety and quality of care. The biological, psychological and social consequences of burnout from excessive acute and chronic occupational stress are more of a threat to healthcare than commonly acknowledged. Patient safety, quality of care and clinician well-being are inextricably linked. This report will describe the process of transition from The Triple Aim to The Quadruple Aim administrative framework of healthcare delivery at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Developing the fourth aim of improving the experience of providing care, had high acceptability and aligned with other health system goals of optimization of safety, quality, and performance by applying a human factors/ergonomic (HFE) framework that considers human capabilities and human limitations. The goal of HFE is to fit the healthcare system to the human instead of the human to the healthcare system. Concepts include removal of extraneous cognitive load, using clinician neural resource (brain power) optimally for highest order decision making in patient care. An integrative model of patient safety and clinician wellbeing is a product of this effort.

Burnout, Human factors, Ergonomics, Safety, Clinician Wellbeing, Quadruple Aim, Integrative Model

R. Privitera, M. (2018) Addressing Human Factors in Burnout and the Delivery of Healthcare: Quality & Safety Imperative of the Quadruple Aim. Health, 10, 629-644. doi: 10.4236/health.2018.105049.