Human factors and patient safety essay

d. Human factors (ergonomics) in health focus on improving the efficiency, creativity, job satisfaction and the productivity with the ultimate aim being to improve the quality of the health care services provided and minimizing errors in care. Human factors principle in health focusses on improving human performance through a better understanding of their behaviours, the interaction between individuals and their environment within the health care delivery system. This principle which integrates human behaviour, their interactions and the environment is essential in the identification, management of patient safety risks and in the analysis of patient care situations to identify flaws and establish corrective measures (NHS, 2019). Ergonomics in health are, however, not only aimed at improving the patient outcome measures such as reduction in medication errors but are also designed to enhance and improve the human wellbeing such as through enhanced job satisfaction.

Leadership practices and styles differ from one practice to another. Leadership that encourages ownership of responsibilities provides the healthcare providers with effective reporting systems that do not victimize providers and that which support open communications are likely to influence the practice resulting in higher quality of care, reduce errors and better patient outcomes. Human factors are essential contributors to the patient safety in care. The way that individuals interact with the systems and their environment is dynamic and may change to adapt to the situation. To effectively ensure operational effectiveness and control of human factors in health, quality improvement is a continuous process that has to be undertaken by organizations to control human factors while maintaining quality. d. The model provides a framework on which guides through the quality improvement process.

The MOI is composed of three steps which include, the establishment of the aims for improvement. The aims of improvement in MOI are specific as to what is to be addressed and identify the changes that the process aims to address (IHI, n. d). Organization culture is one of the key factors that determine the success of quality improvement. Organization culture influences the way individuals relate to each other, their systems and healthcare environment (Wardhani, Utarini, van Dijk, Post & Groothoff, 2009). Organizations that promote teamwork, open communication and embrace change are flexible and promote positive ergonomics hence has a high probability for success in quality improvement compared to bureaucratic environments (Wardhani, Utarini, van Dijk, Post & Groothoff, 2009). Organization structure also contributes to effectiveness, structures with decentralized accountability with staff empowerment to decision making enhance quality improvement in healthcare.

Such organizational structures are effective since they promote the human factors involved in quality improvement in care. The establishment of a balance between the work systems and the human factors provide eased interaction between the healthcare providers and the work system as well as their environment hence improvement in patient safety. In practice, human factors are interrelated and understanding of the human fallibility has been an important aspect that links the existing work systems to patient safety. Organizations that promote a safe practice environment for their staff allowing them to report incidences of failure reduces the risk of repeated human failure learning from mistakes to better develop their systems. In Australia for example, open disclosure has been adopted as a means of promoting accountability in healthcare when an incident occurs during the patient care process (Iedema et al.

Although the policy such as that of open disclosure is adopted, the extent to which the disclosure is practised varies hence having a significant impact on the quality of care and consequently the patient's safety in care (Iedema et al. , Rivera-Rodriguez, A. , Hundt, A. , Hoonakker, P. , Holden, R. , & Gurses, A. nsw. gov. au/quality-improvement/improvement-academy/quality-improvement-tools/model-for-improvement-and-pdsa-cycles Iedema, R. , Allen, S. , Britton, K. Retrieved from http://www. ihi. org/resources/Pages/HowtoImprove/ScienceofImprovementHowtoImprove. aspx Landy, F. , & Conte, J. , Ronellenfitsch, U. , & Scott, S. et al. What is a clinical pathway? Refinement of an operational definition to identify clinical pathway studies for a Cochrane systematic review. BMC Medicine, 14(1). Blame and Accountability 1: Understanding Blame and Blame Pathologies.  Australasian Psychiatry, 19(2), 113-118. doi: 10. 562296 Wetterneck, T. , Kelly, M.