What flight school can teach us about effective user training in human factors

Each year, the International Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care brings together experts, researchers, and practitioners to share ideas shaping the field. Fathom's Human Factors team is in New York this week—listening, learning, and bringing back what they hear to our work with medical device clients.

But Fathom’s presence isn’t limited to listening and learning: Senior Consultant Emily Alexander not only helped select presentations for this year’s lineup, she’ll also be sharing some work of her own.  

Last year, she produced a poster presentation using a Price is Right game to optimize root cause analysis. This year, her focus is user training for human factors summative studies. Her analogy this time? Flight school.

"The practice of human factors has deep roots in the aviation industry," Emily notes. After years of watching clients struggle to build effective training, she noticed a pattern — one with real consequences for users, studies, and commercialization alike. "Often, teams are focused on training for what will be evaluated in the study itself rather than preparing users for real life. This inspired the analogy of training a pilot not only to pass their pilot's license exam but to actually fly a plane."

This framing helped Emily develop a practical set of tips that can help human factors professionals design better training from the ground up. Everything from who should conduct the training, to its format, to deciding when to make a change to the plan.  

"I wouldn't want to fly with a pilot who only trained to pass the licensing exam," Emily says. "And the same goes for users of medical devices. Training should reflect real life — not just what's feasible or convenient for the study."

Want to learn more? Explore Emily's full presentation, and follow Fathom on LinkedIn for more Human Factors and Ergonomics updates from the 2026 Symposium.

‍