Search the hub
Showing results for tags 'Human factors'.
Found 549 results
-
EventuntilThe Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (CIEHF) recently published a White Paper on ‘Learning from Adverse Events’. Based on nine principles, the paper presents the basis of what the Institute considers Human Factors good practice in investigating and learning from adverse events. The emphasis on learning, rather than liability, has a number of important implications, not least in the nature of the evidence needed to support decisions and actions. This Q Community webinar will explain the background to the paper and introduce each of the nine principles. The following discussion will consider the extent to which current practice in healthcare compares with CIEHF best practice. Further information Register
-
Event
Human factors in your work and your team
Patient Safety Learning posted an event in Community Calendar
This virtual masterclass, facilitated by Mr Perbinder Grewal, will guide you in how to use Human Factors in your workplace. All medical and non-medical staff should attend. Leadership in the NHS is the responsibility of all staff. Understanding human factors will allow healthcare to enhance performance, culture and organisation. It can be used to assess why things go wrong and how to implement change to prevent it from happening again or mitigate the risks. Further information and registration or email: kerry@hc-uk.org.uk hub members can receive a 10% discount. Email: info@pslhub.org -
EventuntilUsing a human-centred design approach when creating work procedures ensures that the needs, wants, preferences, capabilities and limitations of the people using the documents are the primary focus throughout every stage of their development, testing, implementation and review. This webinar will provide health and social care teams with advice and guidance on how to create work procedures with and for the people who will be using them to ensure that they are easy to use and help reduce related stress of risks Further information and registeration
-
Event
A practical guide to Human Factors in healthcare
Sam posted an event in Community Calendar
Aimed at clinicians and managers, this national virtual conference will provide a practical guide to human factors in healthcare, and how a human factors approach can improve patient care, quality, process and safety. You will have the opportunity to network with colleagues who are working to embed a human factors approach, self-assess and reflect on your own practice and gain CPD accreditation points contributing to professional development and revalidation evidence. For further information and to book or email: nicki@hc-uk.org.uk HC-UK are offering a number of free places to hub members on a first come, first served basis. Please email info@pslhub.org for a code. Follow the conversation on Twitter #HumanFactors -
Event
Aiming for zero patient safety incidents or errors
Sam posted an event in Community Calendar
This virtual masterclass, facilitated by Mr Perbinder Grewal, will focus on patient safety and how to setup a proactive safety culture. It will look at what patient safety is and how to setup and improve the safety culture. It will look at Human Factors and how to mitigate some of the common errors. Can we have a system with zero patient safety incidents or errors? Further information and book your place or email kate@hc-uk.org.uk hub members receive 10% discount. Email info@pslhub.org for code -
Event
ASiT Christmas Human Factors Webinar
Sam posted an event in Community Calendar
He's making a list, he's checking it twice... Santa Claus definitely understands the importance of human factors - how else could he be so efficient in just 24 hours..? Join the Association of Surgeons in Training on 22nd December for a festive human factors webinar, featuring Prof Peter Brennan and Critical Factors. (Read Peter's recent blog for the BMJ's Christmas feature.) Free to attend, and open to the whole healthcare team. Register -
Content ArticleSafety at design is giving due consideration to safety at the conceptual stage of your design. We mostly do not look at this and what we end up completing the design of a product with high ergonomics risks to the end users. What should we consider and how should we go about this? These and many more are will looked at in this presentation from Ehi Iden, chief executive of Occupational Health and Safety Managers.
-
Content ArticleContinuing the 'Why investigate' series, in this blog, Martin Langham looks at collecting data, introduces the idea of measurement, and asks what published science is there for testing it ‘beyond reasonable doubt’.
-
Content ArticleAn increasing number of healthcare artificial intelligence (AI) applications are in development or already in use, but the safety impact of using AI in healthcare is largely unknown. This qualitative study in the journal Safety Science aimed to explore how different stakeholders (patients, hospital staff, technology developers and regulators) think about safety and the safety assurance of healthcare AI. Through a series of interviews, the authors assessed stakeholder perceptions of an AI-based infusion pump in the intensive care unit. Participants expressed perceptions about: the potential impact of healthcare AI requirements for human-AI interaction safety assurance practices and regulatory frameworks for AI and the gaps that exist how incidents involving AI should be managed. The authors concluded that there is currently a technology-centric focus on AI safety, and a wider systems approach is needed. They also identified a need for greater awareness of existing standards and best practice among technology developers.
-
Content Article
Safe care for people with diabetes in hospital (January 2020)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Diabetes
This article in the journal Clinical Medicine looks at the safety of people with diabetes when they are admitted to hospital as an inpatient. Having diabetes in hospital is associated with increased harm. Although the National Diabetes Inpatient Audit has shown that inpatient care for people with diabetes has slowly improved over the last few years, there are still challenges in terms of providing appropriate staffing and education. Progress is still needed to ensure the safety of people with diabetes in hospital. The authors look at some of the key areas of concern for people with diabetes in hospital, including increased risk of hypoglycaemia, hyperglycaemia (including diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and hyperosmolar hyperglycaemia state), medication errors, hospital acquired foot ulcers, increased length of stay and overall increase in death. -
Content ArticleOne of the reasons why patient safety may be put at risk during healthcare interventions is a lack of staff adherence to patient safety guidelines. There could be a relationship between staff’s adherence to patient safety guidelines and their perceived level of reward for their work and/or motivation. This study from Asmoro et al. examined the relationship between reward and adherence to patient safety guidelines, and between motivation and adherence to patient safety guidelines, among nurses working in emergency departments (EDs) in Indonesia. They found that ensuring ED nurses are motivated for their work by offering rewards – such as a decent salary, a supportive workplace environment and career progression opportunities – is important to enhance their adherence to patient safety guidelines.
-
Content ArticleSeveral accidents have shown that crew members’ failure to speak up can have devastating consequences. Despite decades of crew resource management (CRM) training, this problem persists and still poses a risk to flight safety. This study aimed to understand why crew members choose silence over speaking up. The authors explored past speaking up behaviour and the reasons for silence in 1,751 crew members, who reported to have remained silent in half of all speaking up episodes they had experienced. Reasons for silence mainly concerned fear of damaging relationships, fear of punishment and operational pressures. The study identified significant group differences in the frequencies and reasons for silence and recommends interventions to specifically and effectively foster speaking up.
-
Content ArticleThis white paper from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) describes a framework to guide health care organisations in their efforts to provide safe, equitable, person-centred telemedicine. The framework includes six elements to consider: access, privacy, diagnostic accuracy, communication, psychological and emotional safety, and human factors and system design.
-
Content ArticleThis webinar by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices is aimed at healthcare providers and patient safety specialists. The conversation covers lessons learned in the aftermath of a fatal medication error and looks at common, yet often unresolved, system vulnerabilities. It also examines key strategies and priorities needed to advance an organisation's safety journey.
-
Content ArticleAdverse events in surgery are a relevant cause of costs, disability, or death, and their incidence is a key quality indicator that plays an important role in the future of health care. In neurosurgery, little is known about the frequency of adverse events and the contribution of human error. The aim of this study from Meyer et al. was to determine the incidence, nature and severity of adverse events in neurosurgery, and to investigate the contribution of human error. They found that adverse events occur frequently in neurosurgery. These data can serve as benchmarks when discussing quality-based accreditation and reimbursement in upcoming health care reforms. The high frequency of human performance deficiencies contributing to adverse events shows that there is potential to further eliminate avoidable patient harm.
-
Content ArticleThis Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (CIEHF) webinar explores near misses in three different sectors and how controls can, or cannot, be developed to prevent future events.
-
Content ArticleHuman error is as old as humankind itself and widely recognised as a significant cause of mistakes. Much of the research in this area has originated from high-risk organisations (HROs), including commercial aviation, where even simple mistakes can be catastrophic. A failure to understand and recognise how Human Factors (HF), especially those that affect performance and team working, can contribute or lead to serious medical error is still widespread across healthcare. Sadly, this commonly occurs in the operating theatre, one of the most dangerous places in hospital. While attitudes and acceptance of pre-surgery briefings has improved using the World Health Service (WHO) Surgical Checklist, this does not address other 'personal' factors that can lead to error, including stress, fatigue, emotional status, hunger and situational awareness. Following initial work around HF perception amongst operating theatre teams, Peter Brennan's (student at the University of Portsmouth) research has lead to significant delivery changes to the high stakes Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) examination, taken by up tp 6,500 junior doctors per year. After recognising boredom and fatigue in examiners, further published studies found an improvement in examiner morale with no significant changes in exam reliability or overall candidate outcome. These changes have improved patient safety at a National level. Other high stakes National Events have been evaluated where repetitive assessment occurs during long days, providing reassurance to organisers and the General Medical Council. 28 HF-related publications have been included in this work, including several reviews of important personal factors that affect performance and how these can be optimised at work.
-
Content ArticleEvery day we use tools and resources to manage our lives, both personally and professionally. As a healthcare professional, you are committed to providing safe quality healthcare to all individuals. The checklists in this book are designed to help you succeed in that effort. You may be a first-time reader who has not had the opportunity to put these tools to the test, or you could be a returning reader interested in what new checklists you can use. In either instance, if you’re reading this book, then you are searching for tools to help your healthcare organisation navigate the increasing complexities of providing quality health care and maintaining the physical environment where healthcare is delivered.
-
Content ArticleJunior doctors can struggle with decision-making in emergency departments because they worry about “looking silly” in front of senior colleagues, a study has found. A team from the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) looked at missed or delayed diagnosis of conditions in A&E. They specifically examined cases of pulmonary embolism and focused on diagnostic decision-making using applied cognitive task analysis. Interviews with medical staff found a number of factors which were common among expert level doctors. These included being aware of life-threatening conditions and seeking to rule them out, being comfortable in expressing doubt and seeking out peers to challenge their diagnosis. Junior staff on the other hand often tried to fit symptoms to specific conditions and had a fear of making wrong a diagnosis. Some said they were afraid of “looking silly in front of a senior”. The study, presented at an online session at the Ergonomics & Human Factors 2022 conference, suggested looking at how younger staff can be supported in improving their decision-making. HSIB investigator Nick Woodier, who presented the study, said: “Decision-making is a skill, commonly developed in healthcare through experience without formal training or opportunities to practise it.” You can view the presentation from the link below.
-
Content Article
Human factors - Safer surgery checklist (June 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Surgery
This literature review in The Operating Theatre Journal looks at 'How industry has helped healthcare better understand human factors'. The author, Nigel Roberts, Theatre Lead at the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton, looks at this question in relation to teamwork, leadership, situational awareness, communication and culture. -
Content ArticleBenjamin King lived 5-days before parents, Jamie Thomas King and Tamara Podemski, had to pull him off life support. Benjamin's parents share their experience, the value of sharing their story with the media and what changes have happened in UK hospitals since to ensure this won't happen to any other family. The panel discusses the role of human factors and system design and how it can be embraced to ramp up patient safety improvement. Human factors experts across healthcare and aviation will discuss this issue alongside patient advocates who have lost loved ones where the application of principles and methodologies of human factors engineering may have saved their loved ones lives. Hear from the leadership at Christus Muguerza Hospital Sur in Monterrey, Mexico, about their work to become an HRO Champion.
-
Content ArticleStep Change in Safety is a member-led organisation which is working to make the UKCS the safest oil and gas province in the world in which to work. The safety of the workforce always comes first. Through collaboration, sharing knowledge and adopting best practices, workforce safety in the UKCS can be continually improved and Step Change in Safety are at the forefront in delivering that. Take a look at Step Change in Safety's resources and see how they could apply to healthcare.
-
Content Article
This is part of our series of Patient Safety Spotlight interviews, where we talk to people working for patient safety about their role and what motivates them. Mark talks to us about how he came to work in healthcare, the vital role of safety scientists and human factors specialists in improving patient safety, and the challenges involved in integrating new technologies into the health system. -
Content ArticleThis white paper is intended for non-specialists who may have little or no professional background in human factors and ergonomics but who are influential in the way decisions are made about the development and use of technology. The knowledge and guidance it contains is based on both fundamental scientific and applied research, as well as from deep study and learning from adverse events. The paper is based around nine principles that provide an easy-to-follow guide to human factors issues which need to be addressed when developing and implementing highly automated systems.
-
Content ArticleThis practice pointer in The BMJ explains why diagnostic errors occur and provides five strategies that healthcare workers can use to achieve diagnostic excellence. Each of these strategies is explored in detail: Seek diagnostic feedback, which includes tracking patient outcomes and seeking feedback from patients, families and other healthcare workers. "Byte sized" learning, which involves digital learning activities. Consider bias by getting to know patients and treating them as individuals, and through taking a 'diagnostic pause' to consider whether bias is playing into decisions. Make diagnosis a team sport through multidisciplinary huddles that include healthcare workers from different professions. Foster critical thinking by using intentional strategies to foster reflective scepticism and regular review.
