Human Factors in the Health Care Setting

Human factors relates to the interaction of humans and technical systems. Human factors engineering analyzes tasks, considering the components in relation to a number of factors focusing particularly on human interactions and the interface between people working within systems. This book will help instructors teach the topic of human factors. This book is a practical guide for health care professionals teaching human factors as a means of improving safety in practices, teams and organisations. By raising awareness of the deeper understanding of the human factors which contribute to error, it looks at ways to prevent, circumvent or minimise these factors. A concise guide to integrating human factors in emergency medicine, The Pocket Guide to Human Factors for Medical Instructors isthe ALSG’s course book for their training for medical instructors. The book adopts a practical approach which is the hallmark of all ALSG publications and courses. Written by well known, well respected members of the Emergency Medicine and Critical Care world this book provides easily assimilated advice, beginning with a recognition of the factors leading to errors being made, followed by practical guidance on how to avoid them. The book is divided into eleven parts:

• Introduction to human factors in medicine
• Human cognition and error
• Situation awareness
• Leadership and team working
• Personality and behaviour
• Communication and awareness
• Decision-making
• Fatigue and stress
• Key elements in communication: briefing and debriefing
• Organisational culture
• Guidelines, checklists and protocols

Human factors relates to the interaction of humans and technical systems. Human factors engineering analyzes tasks, considering the components in relation to a number of factors focusing particularly on human interactions and the interface between people working within systems. This book will help instructors teach the topic of human factors.