A Practical Approach

In the next few articles and activities, you’ll learn from WingFactors – an organisation that brings learning from the aviation industry to healthcare. The WingFactors team comprises experienced airline pilots with qualifications in aviation Human Factors training. Over the past two years, WingFactors has supported the practical elements of training across multiple NHS Trusts, predominantly through in situ simulation, where the merits of an inter-professional approach quickly became apparent and led to the formation of the award-winning education programme, WingFactors.

What Is Crisis Resource Management Or Human Factors?

• Transfer medicine is a high-stakes area prone to crises; often healthcare practitioners must treat critically ill patients whilst facing limited resources, uncertainty in diagnosis and a chaotic work environment.

Crisis resource management (CRM) refers to a set of principles that deal with the interpersonal and cognitive skills and behaviours that are needed for efficient and optimal teamwork in a crisis situation.

• The terms CRM, non-technical skills and human factors are often interchangeable and refer to the cognitive, social and personal skills that complement technical skills to contribute to safe and efficient performance. For simplicity, we will refer to these skills as human factors.

Human Factors – making it easy to do the right thing and difficult to do the wrong thing

• Many patient safety incidents are related to a lack of attention to human factors, so in this course we will be highlighting their importance and offering training throughout the MOOC.
• You are invited to think about how aviation and healthcare compare when it comes to human factors in patient transfers – what are the similarities and differences? We hope that by the end of each module, you’ll be able to relate some human factors ‘top tips’ into your next transfer.

Image © David Kolb

“Sully Says…”

Image Property of Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger © 2021

• In late 2020, Captain Alex Jolly of WingFactors reached out to ‘Miracle on the Hudson’ hero Captain Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger to highlight the work being done as part of our NHS ‘Pilot Sim’ programme. Incredibly, Captain Sully immediately wrote back, praising the ongoing “critically important work being done” and wished WingFactors well in their endeavours to improve patient safety.
• Additionally, Captain Sully generously offered to take part in a short Q&A with Captain Alex on topics such as the human factors during the fateful US1549 flight and how this could help healthcare professionals.
• We are delighted to announce that, for the first time, WingFactors will be bringing you Captain ‘Sully’ Sullenberger’s insights via our ‘Sully Says’ articles. Look out for his thought-provoking perspectives throughout the MOOC!