Elizabeth Klein

Elizabeth Klein, Chief Nursing Information Officer. In my four decades of being a registered nurse I have experienced multiple clinical environments and various roles in surgical, medical and emergency care. For the past 7 years I have worked in a corporate nursing team, initially as Head of Nursing for Patient Safety & Clinical Quality and more recently as a Chief Nursing Information Officer (CNIO), working collaboratively with colleagues in both clinical and digital teams to support digital transformation. The changes I have seen in health care provision over my career are vast but by far the most exciting are those that involve introducing digital technology to support care. Having said that, for health care professionals poorly designed technology is worse than no technology, therefore my interest is only piqued by good design and usability. Understanding the basic principles of good design comes from having an awareness of Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFES) and this learning has been some of the most interesting and beneficial of my career. I would urge anybody considering introducing any change into a clinical environment, especially a digital or technological one, to consult experts in the field of Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFES) and to increase their own knowledge in this field first.