Abstract
One of the priorities at our large Operating Theatres Department is to support awareness and basic education of the multi-disciplinary teams in clinical Human Factors, to help build competence and capacity in healthcare towards a resilient system. From May 2019 until February 2020, our Human Factors Champions embarked on a project called Observation of Non-technical Skills and Teamwork in the operating theatres (ONSeT), to monitor and evaluate the benefits of local Human Factors education. In September 2020, six months after the COVID-19 pandemic hit the UK and caused a major disruption of surgical services, we decided to investigate the usefulness of the project and the impact of COVID-19 in the operating theatres, looking through the eyes of the Human Factors Champions. Results pointed to a consensus about ONSeT having helped during the pandemic, with regards to how teams worked and in enabling team leaders to be more responsive. Human Factors Champions found that feedback on performance was received in a non-threatening way and observation of performance became ‘second nature’. As organisations need to develop critical thinking, we think that the ONSeT project has helped us build some capacity for this, from the front-line onwards.
Highlights
BackgroundMore than 32,000 operations are performed each year at our large university teaching hospital, in the East of England
One of the department's priorities is to support awareness and basic education of the multi-disciplinary teams in clinical Human Factors. This is rooted in the department's overall patient safety strategy, as well as in the acknowledgement that Human Factors needs to be incorporated in the way we action improvement, by using a people-centred systems approach (the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors (CIEHF) and Health Education England (HEE) 2019)
Aim and method In September 2020, and in the context of resuming surgical work after the first peak of the pandemic, we decided to investigate: (1) whether the experience with the project helped during the pandemic in theatres, and (2) what could be said about the impact of COVID-19 far in the operating theatres, looking through the eyes of the Human Factors Champions
Summary
More than 32,000 operations are performed each year at our large university teaching hospital, in the East of England. One of the department's priorities is to support awareness and basic education of the multi-disciplinary teams in clinical Human Factors. Without access to a nationwide, focused and consistent approach (CIEHF & HEE 2019), our department has developed a project aimed at raising Human Factors awareness and provide basic multi-disciplinary Human Factors education in the operating theatres. This has been proposed as a fundamental step in building up Human Factors competence and capacity in healthcare towards a resilient system (CIEHF & HEE 2019). From March 2020, ONSeT data collection and regular meetings were interrupted due to the disruption of surgery, and of the department, by the COVID-19 pandemic
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
