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Human factors (HF) is the interaction between workers, equipment, and the environment. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of HF in intensive care units across the globe. This paper expands on the core concepts of HF and proposes the additional key concepts of agility, serendipity, innovation, and learning. Adoption of these HF concepts by leadership and staff can improve patient safety in intensive care units in future pandemics and other crisis situations.

Using a case of mislabeled lab specimens as an example, this article highlights the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the delivery of healthcare services and the role of human factors in identifying and preventing medical errors.

This commentary discusses changes in critical care practice as a response to COVID-19, and the potential for iatrogenic harm to children when diverting from evidence-based medicine during the pandemic crisis.

Using a social and behavioral sciences perspective, the authors present insights for aligning behavior with recommendations from experts for managing the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact. Topics include threat perception, leadership, individual and collective interests, science communication, social context, and stress and coping.

Presenteeism among healthcare workers can lead to burnout and healthcare-associated infections, but prior research has found that significant numbers of healthcare workers continue to work despite having influenza-like illness. This study surveyed 249 healthcare workers and 284 non-healthcare workers from 49 countries about their behaviors when experiencing influenza-like illness between October 2018 and January 2019. Overall, 59% of workers would continue to work when experiencing influenza-like illness, and the majority of healthcare workers (89.2-99.2%) and non-healthcare workers (80-96.5%) would continue to work with mild symptoms, such as a mild cough, fatigue or sinus cold.  Fewer non-healthcare workers (16.2%) than healthcare workers (26.9%) would continue working with fever alone.