Caring for patients safely depends on many factors – the skills of healthcare professionals, having evidence-based care pathways, the clinical skills of staff, checks and decision-making. Human Factors in healthcare is essential in designing safe systems, managing risks to patients and keeping them free from avoidable harm.
Caring for patients safely depends on many factors – the skills of healthcare professionals, having evidence-based care pathways, the clinical skills of staff, checks and decision-making. Human Factors in healthcare is essential in designing safe systems, managing risks to patients and keeping them free from avoidable harm.
Human factors in healthcare is key to building safe systems for patients and staff. Human factors professionals can help to build safety through:
Designing safe pathways and other systems – taking into account the way that humans work with each other, the equipment they use and the environment they work in – building a true understanding of how work is done. Human factors professionals focus on how risk can be predicted and managed, how to help staff to understand how systems affect error – and why blaming staff destroys learning. We use validated tools and techniques to embed safety in systems, and we can also help develop good communication and other non-technical skills.
In general, safety initiatives in healthcare have been reactive: something goes wrong for a patient, and we respond with an investigation. This is of course essential and human factors in healthcare should be a part of any patient safety learning response.
But perhaps the most significant contribution of human factors has been to promote proactive approaches to patient safety – preventing harm before it occurs.
Incorporating human factors into healthcare is key to building safe systems for patients and staff. Human factors professionals can help to build safety through:
Designing safe pathways and other systems – taking into account the way that humans work with each other, the equipment they use and the environment they work in – building a true understanding of how work is done. Human factors professionals focus on how risk can be predicted and managed, how to help staff to understand how systems affect error – and why blaming staff destroys learning. We use validated tools and techniques to embed safety in systems, and we can also help develop good communication and other non-technical skills.
In general, safety initiatives in healthcare have been reactive: something goes wrong for a patient, and we respond with an investigation. This is of course essential and human factors should be a part of any patient safety learning response. But perhaps the most significant contribution of human factors has been to promote proactive approaches to patient safety – preventing harm before it occurs.
Human Reliability has been a key contributor and advisor to healthcare organisations working on patient safety since 2005, with expertise in designing safer clinic systems, proactive risk management, incident analysis, safety culture assessment and development, clinical education in human factors, and patient safety training for all staff.
SHERPA (Systematic Human Error Reduction in Process Analysis) is a complete software platform that makes it easy to identify and support critical tasks, spot potential failures and de-risk them. Sherpa and its underpinning methodology was extensively used in a major national patient safety initiative, where it resulted in a systematic and significant reduction in risk in critical patient pathways.
Even in the very best healthcare systems, things may go wrong. When a patient is harmed or placed at unacceptable risk, an incident investigation or patient safety learning response can help unpick the events. We can support investigations, bringing in a systematic human factors perspective and making sure that our responses prevent further harm and take a balanced approach to human performance.
Our team at Human Reliability has been closely involved in the NHS Patient Safety Syllabus and the NHS Patient Safety Curriculum training programme. Senior Associate Consultant Dr Stephen Cross was the lead author for both the syllabus and the curriculum guidance, as well as NHS patient safety training modules hosted by NHS England. We can support NHS organisations in rolling out, applying and monitoring patient safety training at all levels, and offer a mentoring service for senior professionals in the field.
Humans are a source of safety. Developing a safety culture is an essential task for senior managers. Stay ahead of the field by learning the latest Human and Organisational Performance (HOP) strategies. What does Human Factors mean for you and your teams? How can you best understand and manage human performance? Wherever your team is on their journey we can support you, whether it be an introduction, embedding it in practice, or reflecting on innovations in the area.
We were asked to reduce the opportunity for human error. We conducted a Systematic Human Error Reduction in Process Analysis (SHERPA) analysis on a task within the organisation to see what value the methodology could bring. Preparing a trolley for the Autoclave was chosen as it was highly manual and suffered from frequent deviations, some of which could be costly.
Ahead of meeting the team we gathered documentation about the task including relevant procedures and batch record sheets to produce an initial task analysis in the SHERPA Software. We then held a series of workshops with cross functional teams to discuss this task analysis and human performance issues.
We found that staff did not have a clear and coherent view on what the top five issues were. There were obvious error traps in the procedure including photos that were confusing and instructions that were ambiguous. We identified other ways in which the task and procedure could be improved. Given high staff turnover and potential inconsistencies in training the organisation saw value in creating a systematic training aid from the process. The staff involved enjoyed the process. Issues after the workshop were greatly reduced.
We were asked to reduce the opportunity for human error. We conducted a Systematic Human Error Reduction in Process Analysis (SHERPA) analysis on a task within the organisation to see what value the methodology could bring. Preparing a trolley for the Autoclave was chosen as it was highly manual and suffered from frequent deviations, some of which could be costly.
Ahead of meeting the team we gathered documentation about the task including relevant procedures and batch record sheets to produce an initial task analysis in the SHERPA Software. We then held a series of workshops with cross functional teams to discuss this task analysis and human performance issues.
We found that staff did not have a clear and coherent view on what the top five issues were. There were obvious error traps in the procedure including photos that were confusing and instructions that were ambiguous. We identified other ways in which the task and procedure could be improved. Given high staff turnover and potential inconsistencies in training the organisation saw value in creating a systematic training aid from the process. The staff involved enjoyed the process. Issues after the workshop were greatly reduced.
The company has over 40 years of experience and has achieved an international reputation in the area of the management of the human factor in systems. Our clients have included major organisations in the United Kingdom, European Union, USA, South America and the Far East.
In addition to our extensive consultancy experience, Human Reliability are respected internationally for our research activities in the human reliability and human factors disciplines. All of this experience is transferred onto other companies through HRAs other services: training courses, seminars and software tools.
Human Reliability have also contributed extensively to the technical literature in the area. These contributions include a major book: `Guidelines for Preventing Human Error in Process Safety` written for the Center for Chemical Process Safety in the USA, which has become a standard reference source.
The company has over 40 years of experience and has achieved an international reputation in the area of the management of the human factor in systems. Our clients have included major organisations in the United Kingdom, European Union, USA, South America and the Far East.
In addition to our extensive consultancy experience, Human Reliability are respected internationally for our research activities in the human reliability and human factors disciplines. All of this experience is transferred onto other companies through HRAs other services: training courses, seminars and software tools.
Human Reliability have also contributed extensively to the technical literature in the area. These contributions include a major book: `Guidelines for Preventing Human Error in Process Safety` written for the Center for Chemical Process Safety in the USA, which has become a standard reference source.
Human Reliability played a leading role in applying formal safety and human factors techniques to eight, and subsequently 12, large acute NHS Trusts, providing programme design, and technical support on all sites as part of the evaluative methodology.
Human Reliability played a leading role in applying formal safety and human factors techniques to eight, and subsequently 12, large acute NHS Trusts, providing programme design, and technical support on all sites as part of the evaluative methodology.
This video demonstrates the use of the SHERPA methodology and software, which until recently was called the Human Factors Risk Manager. This shows how we can develop a detailed task analysis, how we can predict potential errors in the task, and identify factors influencing the likelihood of those errors.
This video demonstrates the use of the SHERPA methodology and software, which until recently was called the Human Factors Risk Manager. This shows how we can develop a detailed task analysis, how we can predict potential errors in the task, and identify factors influencing the likelihood of those errors.
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This free 30 minute mini-course will introduce you to Human Factors, and how critical task reviews are used to improve the quality and safety of tasks and processes across different industries.
It’s free, informative and you’ll even get a certificate of completion.
This short and engaging handbook provides a great overview of Human Factors Systems Critical Task Analysis (SCTA) and how it helps people across sectors reduce error and improve human performance.
SCTA can help keep people safe and delivers value.
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