Roundtable discussion: Human factors in telemedicine

Successful telehealth applications depend on a number of things, many of which are related to human factors. The science of human factors, however, covers a broad spectrum of interests, applications, and methods. Those conducting human factors research come from extremely varied backgrounds including but not limited to psychology, engineering, hardware and software design, sociology, education, and informatics. For telehealth this variety presents both a wealth of experience and information but also some confusion as to exactly what human factors research encompasses and how it can be of benefit. This roundtable brought together a group of human factors researchers from the American Telemedicine Association's (ATA) Human Factors Special Interest Group, moderated by Elizabeth Krupinski, Ph.D., president of the ATA, to discuss the breadth and importance of human factors research in telehealth. It is clear that all dimensions of human factors could not be explored in the context of a 1one-hour roundtable discussion, but the goal is to give readers a better sense of what human factors is and how it it can be utilized to improve and understand the telehealth experience and enterprise.