About

Professor Abigail R. Wooldridge is the Principle Investigator at the Human Factors in Sociotechnical Systems (HFSS) Laboratory at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, The Grainger College of Engineering. Her research focuses on improving quality and safety in maternal care through systems approaches, utilizing simulation to evaluate and enhance team cognition during handoffs. Her work also involves monitoring the health of hospital staff using wearable sensors to assess nursing stress, supporting interdisciplinary teams, and responding to societal crises through innovative technological solutions such as mobileSHIELD. Dr. Wooldridge's contributions aim to advance understanding and application of human factors principles in complex sociotechnical environments to improve healthcare outcomes and operational safety.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Medical emergency
• Medicine
• Nursing
• Engineering
• Psychology
• Knowledge management
• Intensive care medicine
• Risk analysis (engineering)
• Psychiatry
• Anesthesia
• Emergency medicine
• Simulation
• Process management

Selected publications

• A Macroergonomic Analysis to Identify Improvements to Postpartum Hemorrhage Anticipation, Identification, and Management

  International Journal for Quality in Health Care · 2025-07-24 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  BACKGROUND: Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) remains a leading cause of maternal mortality despite the development of interventions to optimize the diagnosis and management. In this study, we used models and methods from macroergonomics to understand why PPH remains a leading cause of maternal mortality. Specifically, we used the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) model to explore how the work system during the anticipation, identification, and management of PPH can be redesigned to improve patient safety. METHODS: We performed 26 observations of direct patient care, totaling 37 h and 36 min, to understand the care processes during the anticipation, identification, and management of PPH. We used the SEIPS-based process modeling method to visualize the care processes. Additionally, we conducted interviews and focus groups with 29 clinicians to understand the positive and negative factors that impact patient safety. We analyzed the interview and focus group transcripts using thematic content analysis to identify the positive and negative factors. RESULTS: We developed a SEIPS-based process map of the anticipation, identification, and management care processes during a cesarean-section delivery and a vaginal delivery. Additionally, we identified 753 factors that positively or negatively impact the quality of care during the anticipation, identification, and management of PPH. We categorized these factors into 13 dimensions-role ambiguity, anticipation, physical environment, staffing, resources/equipment, tools and technology, communication, coordination, cooperation, tacit knowledge, time pressure, leadership, and training. CONCLUSION: Our findings resulted in four system design considerations to improve patient safety: assigning the coordination of clinicians and resources as a job function, integrating point-of-care tools, improving the lighting in the patient rooms, and redesigning the PPH risk assessment tool to support the anticipation, identification, and management of PPH.

  PublisherDOI

• Enhancing Margin Precision: A Work System Approach to Lumpectomies and Mastectomies

  Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting · 2025-09-01 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author

  Achieving negative surgical margins is critical for patient outcomes in breast-conserving surgery (BCS), however positive margins require reoperation in 20% to 40% of cases currently. This study explores design criteria and current barriers and facilitators to margin definition and assessment as part of designing an intraoperative tool for margin assessment during BCS. We conducted observations of nine surgeries by four surgeons at a quaternary medical center. We analyzed the data using the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) model to identify barriers and facilitators to margin assessment. We identified 38 barriers and 62 facilitators, which we inductively categorized into dimensions. The dimensions included teamwork, information display design, intraoperative tool use, and tissue characteristics. Teamwork was the most frequently observed dimension, followed by information display design and intraoperative tool use. This study provides insights to support the design of workflow-adaptive solutions and improve margin accuracy and surgical performance in breast oncology procedures.

  PublisherDOI

• A SEIPS-Based Analysis to Understand Safety Culture During Postpartum Hemorrhage

  Healthcare · 2025-02-26 · 4 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Background/Objectives: Maternal mortality occurs at alarming rates in the United States. In 2018, there were 17 maternal deaths for every 100,000 births—double that of other high-income countries, including France and Canada. Postpartum hemorrhage (i.e., excessive blood loss during delivery or within the 24 h following) is a leading cause of maternal mortality and is a treatable condition if identified and managed in a timely manner. One aspect of work that impacts patient care during postpartum hemorrhage is the safety culture. The safety culture is the beliefs, values, and norms shared by members of the organization that influence their actions and behaviors. In this study, we use the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) model to understand and describe how the sociotechnical system shapes safety culture during postpartum hemorrhage. Methods: We conducted interviews and focus groups with 29 clinicians to describe the work system and the barriers and facilitators during postpartum hemorrhage. Then, we inductively categorized the barriers and facilitators into emergent properties of sociotechnical systems related to safety culture. Results: We identified 45 barriers and 158 facilitators into five emergent properties related to the safety culture (i.e., staffing, communication, organizational management and leadership, organizational processes, and teamwork). The participants identified more positive aspects than negative, suggesting that the safety culture positively influences their actions and behaviors. Conclusions: Our results indicate that safety culture could be improved by redesigning the work system to mitigate barriers related to staffing, communication, organizational management, and teamwork that hinder the safety culture.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Did We Get It All? An Exploratory Study of Goals, Information Needs, and System Requirements for Cancer Surgeons Assessing Breast Tumor Margins

  Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting · 2025-09-01 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  A positive margin following tumor resection (i.e., surgical removal of a cancerous tumor) indicates that cancer may remain in the body and can require a re-operation. This study is part of a larger project designing a technology to support the intraoperative evaluation of margins. This study explores the goals, decisions, information needs, and system requirements of a surgeon performing breast cancer surgery. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 breast surgeons to understand how they currently perform resections and then performed a qualitative thematic analysis. We identified three main goals and 13 subgoals. The three main goals are: treating cancer, meeting patient needs, and meeting institutional needs. Surgeons made multiple decisions to accomplish each sub goal and required multiple information elements to make these decisions. Our results will inform the design of the new technology and a sociotechnical systems-based analysis to ensure the technology fits in surgeon workflow.

  PublisherDOI

• Physical Criteria and Challenges in the Design of an Intraoperative Handheld Probe for Margin Assessment in Breast Conserving Surgery

  Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting · 2025-07-13 · 2 citations

  article

  Breast-conserving surgery (BCS) is a standard treatment for breast cancer, but achieving clear negative margins to avoid re-excision remains a challenge. Current intraoperative margin assessment techniques, such as frozen section analysis and imprint cytology, are limited by resource demands and workflow integration challenges. This study explores the physical design considerations for a handheld intraoperative imaging probe to assess tumor cavity margins during BCS. Data were collected through 9 surgical observations, 11 semi-structured interviews with breast surgeons, and interdisciplinary team meetings. Inductive thematic analysis identified key design priorities, including ergonomic handling, flexible probe tips, consistent tissue contact, and compatibility with both direct and tunneled access. Surgeons emphasized the need for quick scanning times and binary margin outputs, with interest in supplementary real-time imaging. These findings offer foundational insights for the iterative development of a clinically viable margin assessment tool aimed at reducing re-excisions and improving surgical outcomes in breast cancer care.

  PublisherDOI

• The Influence of Past Experience with Wristbands and Use Exposure on Perceived Usability of Wearable Wrist Worn Sensors by Nurses

  Springer series in design and innovation · 2025-01-01

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Transition from paediatric healthcare to adult healthcare for young people with epilepsy in the UK: A scoping review

  Seizure · 2025-08-22 · 1 citations

  review
  PublisherDOI

• So You Want to Do Research in the Operating Room? Insights from Experienced and New Professionals

  Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting · 2025-09-01

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Human factors/ergonomics (HF/E) is increasingly recognized as critical to improve patient safety, quality of care and health care professional wellbeing; in particular, much HF/E work has focused on surgery and surgical teams. However, conducting research and practicing in health care broadly, and the operating room (OR) specifically, requires specialized knowledge, skills and experience. HF/E professionals trained in other application areas may face challenges in transitioning due to the specialized knowledge required, regulatory considerations, and complex sociotechnical systems in the OR. This panel is designed for HF/E students, practitioners and researchers who are interested in expanding their work to the OR, procedural suites or modeling these for usability studies. The panel will provide attendees with insights from established HF/E researchers and professionals who study the OR as well as a newcomer to the domain, offering perspectives on career transition challenges, opportunities, and strategies for success.

  PublisherDOI

• Facilitators and Barriers to Implementing AI in Routine Medical Imaging: Systematic Review and Qualitative Analysis

  Journal of Medical Internet Research · 2025-07-21 · 6 citations

  reviewOpen accessSenior author

  BACKGROUND: Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly advancing in health care, particularly in medical imaging, offering potential for improved efficiency and reduced workload. However, there is little systematic evidence on process factors for successful AI technology implementation into clinical workflows. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to systematically assess and synthesize the facilitators and barriers to AI implementation reported in studies evaluating AI solutions in routine medical imaging. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review of 6 medical databases. Using a qualitative content analysis, we extracted the reported facilitators and barriers, outcomes, and moderators in the implementation process of AI. Two reviewers analyzed and categorized the data separately. We then used epistemic network analysis to explore their relationships across different stages of AI implementation. RESULTS: Our search yielded 13,756 records. After screening, we included 38 original studies in our final review. We identified 12 key dimensions and 37 subthemes that influence the implementation of AI in health care workflows. Key dimensions included evaluation of AI use and fit into workflow, with frequency depending considerably on the stage of the implementation process. In total, 20 themes were mentioned as both facilitators and barriers to AI implementation. Studies often focused predominantly on performance metrics over the experiences or outcomes of clinicians. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review provides a thorough synthesis of facilitators and barriers to successful AI implementation in medical imaging. Our study highlights the usefulness of AI technologies in clinical care and the fit of their integration into routine clinical workflows. Most studies did not directly report facilitators and barriers to AI implementation, underscoring the importance of comprehensive reporting to foster knowledge sharing. Our findings reveal a predominant focus on technological aspects of AI adoption in clinical work, highlighting the need for holistic, human-centric consideration to fully leverage the potential of AI in health care. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42022303439; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42022303439. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.2196/40485.

  PublisherDOI

• Leveraging Ergonomics and Human Factors (E/HF) for community impact: what have we learned about how to make a difference

  Ergonomics · 2025-01-16 · 9 citations

  articleOpen access

  Ergonomics and Human Factors (E/HF) practitioners are increasingly engaged in projects meant to centre underserved communities and reduce inequities. The subdiscipline of E/HF that has emerged to explore the application of E/HF in this way is called community ergonomics. In this qualitative-descriptive study, we reflect on the progress made in the field of community ergonomics since its original conceptualisation in 1994. We present six E/HF case studies carried out in North America, South America, and Africa in a variety of community contexts to highlight the challenges of conducting community-based work. From those case studies, we synthesise six lessons learned that can be used to guide future community ergonomics projects. Finally, we provide methodological and epistemological recommendations for doing ethical community-based work, calling for E/HF practitioners to consider how their own ideologies are shaping their interactions with the communities they aim to serve.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Pascale Carayon

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  25 shared

• Ayşe P. Gürses

  20 shared

• Peter Hoonakker

  University of Wisconsin Health

  19 shared

• Michelle M. Kelly

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  15 shared

• Bat‐Zion Hose

  MedStar Health

  12 shared

• Joshua Ross

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  12 shared

• Trina Croland

  OSF HealthCare

  12 shared

• Deborah A. Rusy

  University of Wisconsin American Family Children's Hospital

  12 shared

Labs

• Human Factors in Sociotechnical Systems (HFSS) LaboratoryPI

  Not provided

Education

• Doctorate of Philosophy, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

  University of Wisconsin Madison

  2018

• Master of Science, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

  University of Wisconsin Madison

  2013

• Master of engineering, Department of Industrial Engineering

  University of Louisville

  2012

• Bachelor of Science, Department of Industrial Engineering

  University of Louisville

  2011

Awards & honors

• Faculty Affiliate, National Center for Supercomputing Applic…
• Research Affiliate, Mayo Clinic, 2024 - Present
• OSF Faculty Fellow, Order of Saint Francis Healthcare System…
• ISE Faculty Fellow, Department of Industrial and Enterprise…