So You Want to Do Research in the Operating Room? Insights from Experienced and New Professionals

Introduction

Human factors/ergonomics (HF/E) is increasingly recognized as critical to improve patient safety, quality of care and health care professional wellbeing (Carayon et al., 2018; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2019); in particular, much HF/E work has focused on surgery and surgical teams (Hignett et al., 2013). However, conducting research and practicing in health care broadly, and the operating room (OR) specifically, requires specialized knowledge, skills and experience. HF/E professionals trained in other application areas may face challenges in transitioning due to the specialized knowledge required, regulatory considerations, and the complex sociotechnical systems in the OR.

This panel is designed for HF/E students, practitioners and researchers who are interested in expanding their work to include a focus on the OR, procedural suites or modeling these for usability studies. The panel discussion will provide attendees with insights from established HF/E researchers and professionals who study the OR as well as a newcomer to the domain, offering perspectives on career transition challenges, opportunities, and strategies for success. Panelists will discuss their experiences, key lessons learned, tips and tricks, and how they have applied their prior human factors expertise to the OR and working with surgical team members in their research. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of the pathways into the operating room and the skills that translate effectively into this domain.

Panelists

M. Susan Hallbeck, Ph.D., is a Professor of Health Care Systems engineering, a faculty in Health Care Delivery Research and Surgery at Mayo Clinic. She also has research affiliate appointments at Arizona State University and Iowa State University. Her research is focused on surgical ergonomics and implementation of ergonomic interventions in the surgical and procedural settings.

Kristin Chrouser, MD, MPH, is an Associate Professor of Urology at the University of Michigan. Her clinical practice is focused on urological reconstruction. Her research aims to maximize surgical outcomes by optimizing surgeon performance, intraoperative teamwork, surgical ergonomics, and surgeon wellbeing.

Russell Branaghan, Ph.D., is President and Co-founder of Research Collective, a Human Factors Engineering consultancy based in Tempe, Arizona, USA. He is Professor Emeritus and former Department Head of Human Systems Engineering at Arizona State University and Visiting Professor of Human Factors Engineering at Northwestern University. Russ is co-author of the textbook “Humanizing Healthcare – Human Factors for Medical Device Design.”

Abigail R. Wooldridge, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a faculty fellow at OSFHealthCare and Research Affiliate at Mayo Clinic. Her research is focused on designing sociotechnical systems to support health care teams and enhance patient safety across numerous health care settings, including transitions into and out of the OR and surgical oncology procedures.

Chihab Nadri, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He earned his Ph.D. at Virginia Tech in research focusing on automotive user displays, with research interests in auditory displays and affective interfaces for accessibility. Since Fall 2024, he is applying his human factors experience in health care and bringing his expertise in display design and design thinking in clinical settings.

Format

In this panel discussion, the four expert panelists who currently conduct HF/E research in the operating room (i.e., Drs. Hallbeck, Chrouser, Branaghan, Wooldridge) will briefly introduce their work and present their perspectives on the following points:

An HF/E professional new to health care and the OR (i.e., Dr. Nadri) will reflect on his recent experience and the obstacles, opportunities, and surprises he has encountered.

The audience will be able to engage with the panelists and ask questions.

Outcome

This panel will provide attendees with first-hand insight into what it takes to do HF/E research in the OR. By hearing from both experienced professionals and a newcomer to the field, participants will receive a balanced, particularly relevant perspective on what to expect when entering the OR, including lessons learned, key industry expectations, and resources for professional development. The discussion will not only provide actionable takeaways but will also contribute to broader conversations within HFES about how the Society can better support professionals who want to work in the OR.

Conclusion

The insights shared in this panel discussion will aid attendees in gaining a clearer understanding of the pathways into HF/E in the OR as well as unique factors at play in the field, such as effective collaborative strategies with clinicians. To further amplify the impact of this discussion, we plan to synthesize the insights from this panel into a report that will serve as a resource for HFES members, guiding future initiatives aimed at fostering career development in health care human factors.