The Work and Work Systems of Patients: A New Frontier for Macroergonomics in Health Care

To maintain and improve their health, patients perform many non-paid activities that may be conceptualized as self-care and self-management work. However, within the domain of health care, macroergonomists have almost exclusively focused on analyzing the work and work systems of those employed by the health care system rather than those served by it. This panel will focus on how macroergonomics principles and models originally developed within an institutional context may be adapted for the contexts in which patients are embedded. The discussion will be grounded in specific analyses of patients’ work and work systems within domains such as consumer health information technology design, self-care work performance, transitions of care, and patient safety. During each of these presentations, panelists will focus on lessons related to the conceptual, methodological and practice-related challenges of understanding and affecting patients’ work and work systems that may be applied by other researchers.