Reclaiming the Systems Identity of Human Factors and Ergonomics in Healthcare

This reflective paper examines the identity crisis within Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) in healthcare. Drawing on ideas and discussions during the HEPS 2025 and HFE's adoption from aviation, we argue that healthcare's appropriation of behavioral interventions while neglecting systems approaches has created fundamental misconceptions about the discipline's scope, purpose and value. Our reflections reveal how this partial adoption has constrained HFE's potential impact and suggests pathways toward reclaiming a comprehensive systems identity. • Healthcare adopted HFE behavioral tools while neglecting systems approaches • Non-technical skills training has been conflated with human factors itself • Checklists and training divorced from systems context limit HFE impact • HFE must reclaim its comprehensive systems identity in healthcare • Pathways proposed to reclaim the systems perspective of HFE in healthcare