The role of human factors in the human-centred design of service processes: a focus on the healthcare sector

The term “human factors” refers to all the elements – such as cognitive, physical, and organisational aspects – influencing human behaviour in the workplace. The field of human factors in industrial engineering is concerned with understanding interactions among humans and other elements of a system. It focuses on the design of tools, machines, systems, tasks, jobs and environments for safe, comfortable, and effective human involvement and interaction. Human factors are highly valued in complex systems such as aviation, nuclear power plants management, and manufacturing, and their relevance is also increasing within the service sector as well. This interest stems from the fact that human resources have become predominant in many companies' operations and objectives achievement. Consequently, considering human factors in process design and management has countless advantages. Taking into account human factors during the process design stage avoids the occurrence of problems afterwards. Human-centred process design has been proven to reduce errors and costs and improve quality and productivity. This work aims to make an appraisal of the perception, within the scientific literature, of the role of human factors in human-centred design in the service sector. In particular, the specific case analysed concerns the design of healthcare services, assessing the more relevant factors and possible evolutions of these factors. The choice of the human factors analysis in healthcare service is salient, especially considering that it is one of the services most affected by the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic. © 2022, AIDI - Italian Association of Industrial Operations Professors. All rights reserved.

Agent-based simulation for vaccination networks design and analysis: preliminary gaps

During an epidemic or a pandemic emergency, various approaches are undertaken to contain the infectious disease spread. Some of the most common interventions are lockdowns, social distancing, contact tracing and the use of personal protective equipment. However, whenever available, the most helpful intervention is the administration of vaccinations. Countermeasures need to be taken as quickly as possible in emergencies, but predicting their full consequences and effects is often difficult, mainly because there is no room for trial-and-error approaches. Simulation - in its different implementations - represents a useful approach for modelling and analysing reality and predicting the evolution of a real-world system. Agent-based models could be particularly beneficial as they allow for modelling each individual as a distinct entity, thereby enabling the evaluation of the effects of public policies in the field of interest. This paper reviews the existing literature on agent-based simulation for vaccine distribution and administration. This work highlights areas where agent-based simulation has been most utilised and areas that could be explored further. Specifically, the most significant gaps are the lack of application of agent-based simulations to vaccine distribution networks and the lack of consideration given to resources requirements and costs associated with alternative vaccine administration methods to citizenship. Copyright (C) 2022 The Authors.