Courses / Healthcare & Medicine

Human Factors in a Healthcare Environment

Learn how the study of human factors can reduce error in healthcare with this course for healthcare professionals.

Human Factors in a Healthcare Environment

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Overview
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Start dates
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  • Duration 3 weeks
  • Weekly study 3 hours
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Discover how understanding human factors can improve patient safety

Human factors is the study of how humans behave and interact with each other and their surroundings. It considers how humans interact in the workplace and how, due to the inevitability of human error, mistakes are likely to occur.

On this course you will look at human factors in a healthcare environment, an area where it is vital to limit mistakes because human error can affect patient safety. You will learn about systems that pre-empt the inevitability of human error and can help improve clinical practice and patient safety as a whole.

What topics will you cover?

  • Why Human error occurs
  • Cognitive Short Topics of Human Factors
  • Human factor case studies
  • Participant reflection and self evaluation to promote awareness of human factors
  • Strategies to improve communication within the workplace
  • Developing a safety culture

When would you like to start?

Most FutureLearn courses run multiple times. Every run of a course has a set start date but you can join it and work through it after it starts. Find out more

  • Available now

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you'll be able to...

  • Develop an awareness of human error and how this can affect clinical performance
  • Describe the different cognitive categories under the umbrella term of human factors
  • Discuss the importance of effective communication within healthcare
  • Develop an effective and open safety culture within everyday practice

Who is the course for?

This course is for healthcare professionals of all levels, but many of the topics discussed are transferable across other industries.

Who will you learn with?

Anthony Jermy

Anthony Jermy

Lecturer in Operating Department Practice at the school of Health Sciences, University of East Anglia.

Interests include clinical simulation, human factors and patient safety.

Veena Rodrigues

Veena Rodrigues

Professor of Public Health & Medical Education, Norwich Medical School;
Lifelong Learner; Supervisor & Mentor; 'early adopter' but advocate of pedagogy before technology.
Twitter: @vcrodrigues_uea

Who developed the course?

UEA (University of East Anglia)

The University of East Anglia is an internationally renowned university providing top quality academic, social and cultural facilities to over 15,000 students from over 100 countries around the globe.

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