{"id":5386,"date":"2023-07-17T13:46:13","date_gmt":"2023-07-17T13:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eu.bd.com\/iv-news\/?p=5386"},"modified":"2025-06-04T14:24:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T12:24:19","slug":"how-human-factors-in-healthcare-contribute-to-avoidable-harm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eu.bd.com\/iv-news\/events-training\/how-human-factors-in-healthcare-contribute-to-avoidable-harm\/","title":{"rendered":"How human factors in healthcare contribute to avoidable harm"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHow do we design and operate a system which has relatively inconsistent human beings at its core?\u201d1<\/sup><\/p>\n

Dr Tim Kane, Co-Director and Founder of Practical Patient Safety Solutions (PPSS) and Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Portsmouth NHS Trust, UK, dove into the complexity of this question in his presentation at the BD Multidisciplinary Advanced Course on Vascular Access (MACOVA) 2022.<\/p>\n

Human factors in healthcare play a major role in the quality of treatment patients receive, and Dr Kane reinforced this by presenting 12 cases where patients died due to preventable errors.1 <\/sup><\/p>\n

So, how do we standardise a system populated by individuals that perform, according to Dr Kane, inconsistently and unreliably?1<\/sup><\/p>\n

The reality of preventable patient harm<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), more than 10% of patients are harmed during care.2<\/sup> Moreover, 12% of preventable patient harm causes permanent disability or death.3<\/sup><\/p>\n

From 1st April 2018 to 31st March 2019, the UK National Health Service reported 496 \u201cnever\u201d events, defined as incidents that “should not occur if healthcare providers have implemented existing national guidance or safety recommendations.”4<\/sup><\/p>\n

More recently, from 1st April 2022 to 28th February 2023, 356 \u201cnever\u201d events were reported.5<\/sup><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are the consequences of this?\u201d asked Dr Kane.1<\/sup> \u201cWell, it’s really widespread.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patients and their families are the primary victims, but staff, the reputation of healthcare providers and institutional finances all suffer alongside them.1<\/sup><\/p>\n

Concerning the latter, 15% of all hospital expenditure and activity in OECD countries can be attributed to treating safety failures.6<\/sup><\/p>\n

Human factors in healthcare: Designing errors out of the equation<\/strong><\/p>\n

They key to preventing harm to patients and avoidable errors is understanding the psychology<\/em> of error, said Dr Kane, and this is the central idea behind human factors science.1<\/sup><\/p>\n

Dr Kane quoted the Charter Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors, who defined the approach as, \u201chelping people to do the right thing and to make it impossible or hard to do the \u2018wrong thing\u2019 by designed out the potential for making mistakes.\u201d1<\/sup><\/p>\n

Human factors in healthcare include not only psychology, but communication, team resource management, human-machine interfaces (liveware-hardware) and human-software interfaces (i.e., procedures, paperwork, labelling).1<\/sup><\/p>\n

It comes down to a systems-based approach, said Dr Kane, and high reliability organisations provide an insightful example of how healthcare institutions should function to prioritise preventing avoidable errors.1<\/sup> A high reliability organisation, Dr Kane characterised:1<\/sup><\/p>\n