Human Factors training in healthcare enhances clinical performance through an understanding of the effects of teamwork, tasks, equipment, workspace, culture and organisation on human behaviour in clinical settings. A human factors approach to patient safety differs from traditional safety training in that the focus is less with the technical knowledge and skills required to perform specific tasks, but rather with the cognitive and interpersonal skills needed to effectively manage a team-based, high-risk activity.

"A potentially wide range of organisational staff can benefit from training on patient safety - from clinical to non-clinical, and junior to senior members."

Evaluation of education and training intervention for patient safety
Imperial College 2016.

The training equips participants with a set of non-technical skills that complement technical competency and include teamwork, situation awareness, decision making, communication and workload management. Healthcare staff need to recognise that human error is inevitable and that cooperative and collaborative teams are the greatest asset to achieving safety and high reliability in complex and hazardous work environments. The training provides participants with an in depth understanding of the human causes of error and thereby develops the ability to take a proactive approach to the avoidance, trapping and mitigating of errors.

Dr Phil Adam

Dr Phil Adam, GAT HF Trainer, talks about Human Factors in healthcare.

HF Foundation Course - Typical Program
  • Human error
  • Workload management
  • Teamwork and behaviour
  • Communication
  • Decision making
  • Fatigue Management
  • Situational awareness and vigilance
  • Case studies
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