What are Human Factors and Ergonomics?

This is the second of four co-written papers for the Advancing Practice series. In our first paper weexplored patient safety in maternity and midwifery care. Here, we discuss ‘Human Factors and Ergonomics’ within healthcare, maternity, and midwifery.  The reflection points throughout this Advancing Practice piece are adapted from the NHS Education for Scotland’s “Safety Culture Discussion Cards.1 In this paper, we hope to support Midwives’ understanding of the current maternity safety landscape via a Human Factors perspective.