System Safety in Healthcare: Software, Technology and Humans — A Safe Team Sport?

Dev Raheja; Maria Escano

doi:10.56094/jss.v51i1.166

Authors

Dev Raheja
Maria C. Escano, M.D.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56094/jss.v51i1.166

Keywords:

medical technology, training, hazard analysis, software, adverse patient events

Abstract

The medical industry is faced with new devices and technology on a regular basis. The multiple goals of these devices and technologies vary, depending on the user’s angle. Ultimately, they hopefully provide the best care for patients in the most efficient way possible, while containing costs and maintaining patient safety. Recent studies have found that rapid implementation of new medical technology — surgical devices, electronic health records, monitoring systems and other tools — can lead to adverse patient events when implementation is not thoughtfully and carefully integrated into the workflow. This integration requires not only a thorough understanding of how the new tools work, but also of how they can be safely integrated into the system — including an analysis of human factors, such as in environments where people interact with these devices repetitively or in high-pressure situations.

Author Biographies

Dev Raheja

Mr. Dev Raheja has been a System Safety and System Reliability Engineering consultant for over 25 years. His range of consulting encompasses transportation systems, electric power systems, high tech industry, aerospace, defense systems, medical systems, and consumer products. He has conducted training in several countries including Sweden, Australia, Japan, UK, Turkey, Germany, Poland, Singapore, Brazil, South Africa, and Canada. He has done training and consulting work with NASA, U.S. Army, GM, Boeing, Eaton, Nissan Aerospace, Litton, General Dynamics, ITT, BAE Systems, Lockheed-Martin, Harley-Davidson, and United Technologies.

Prior to consulting, Mr. Raheja worked at General Electric, Cooper Industries, and at Booz-Allen & Hamilton. He is the author of several books including Assurance Technologies Principles and Practices (Second Edition, Wiley 2006), and Design for Reliability (Wiley, 2012). A Fellow of the System Safety Society, he has a received Scientific Achievement Award and the Educator-of the-Year Award from the society.

Mr. Raheja serves on the Patient and Families Advisory Council at Johns Hopkins Hospital as a patient safety advocate. He is Associate Editor for Healthcare Safety for The Journal of System Safety and an Associate Professor at University of Maryland where he teaches the “Design For Reliability” course which includes design for safety and trustworthiness.

Maria C. Escano, M.D.

Dr. Maria C. Escano completed her medical degree at University of Miami School of Medicine. She received her post-graduate training at Columbia University/New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City and St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. She completed her advanced trauma surgery fellowship at R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland.

She has been a regular contributor to scholarly journals for many years and has presented across the country on various topics advocating systems and patient safety initiatives. Dr. Escano is also an extensive traveler, having forged friendships across six continents.