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My research in human factors in healthcare advances patient and provider safety by studying how real clinical work, technologies, teams, and environments shape risk, performance, and well-being—and by translating those insights into practical system and design interventions. This theme emphasizes workforce sustainability through studies of burnout (telehealth providers and community health workers), identifying organizational and system contributors as well as protective supports. In parallel, I have collaborated on projects addressing injury prevention and safe patient handling, combining national injury trend analyses with evidence-based implementation strategies to develop actionable blueprints that hospitals can adopt to reduce musculoskeletal injuries. I also contribute to infection prevention by examining how PPE design, training, attention, and routine practice influence doffing errors and self-contamination, using human factors and ethnographic methods to inform safer protocols and equipment. Across additional projects in transfers, postpartum care, dementia caregiving, medication management, and operating room safety, the overarching goal is to design safer, more resilient healthcare systems that protect both the people who deliver care and the patients they serve.
Relevant Projects
Burnout in Healthcare.
Students: Carla Irigoyen-Amparan, Gloria Alyssa Chavez-Saenz, Karen Gonzalez, Prajina Edayath, Aditi Kaushal.
Goals: My work in burnout was initiated during COVID-19. Our understanding of telehealth providers during the pandemic through our triage study spurred questions on the well-being of telehealth providers. My MS student at that time, Ms. Valerie Boksa completed her thesis on the topic of burnout among telemedicine providers. More recently at UTEP, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of the healthcare and burnout literature to understand state of the art, and we conducted a study to examine the system factors impacting the burnout and well-being of community health workers.
Patient Handling
Students: Valerie Boksa (Janni)
Goals: In collaboration with University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, we have been working on understanding nursing injury rates, safe patient handling practices and design interventions to address injuries from patient handling.
Understanding systems factors and improving communication during postpartum care, Role: Mentor.
Goals: My PhD student Prajina Edayath is investigating the perceptions and user experiences of moms and providers about post-partum care and identifying barriers and facilitators to communication.
Students: Carla Irigoyen-Amparan, Gloria Alyssa Chavez-Saenz, Karen Gonzalez, Prajina Edayath, Aditi Kaushal.
Goals: My work in burnout was initiated during COVID-19. Our understanding of telehealth providers during the pandemic through our triage study spurred questions on the well-being of telehealth providers. My MS student at that time, Ms. Valerie Boksa completed her thesis on the topic of burnout among telemedicine providers. More recently at UTEP, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of the healthcare and burnout literature to understand state of the art, and we conducted a study to examine the system factors impacting the burnout and well-being of community health workers.
Patient Handling
Students: Valerie Boksa (Janni)
Goals: In collaboration with University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, we have been working on understanding nursing injury rates, safe patient handling practices and design interventions to address injuries from patient handling.
Understanding systems factors and improving communication during postpartum care, Role: Mentor.
Goals: My PhD student Prajina Edayath is investigating the perceptions and user experiences of moms and providers about post-partum care and identifying barriers and facilitators to communication.