Links to human factors resources, references and reading.
Scottish Patient Safety Programme, Healthcare Improvement Scotland
Provides access to programmes, initiatives, resources, news, events.
Clinical Human Factors Group
CHFG National campaign group raising awareness of how human factors can have a signifcant impact on safety, quality and productivity in healthcare. Access to resources, articles, reports, news, events.
Industrial Psychlogy Research Centre, Aberdeen University
Human factors research and access to resources and non-technical skills frameworks for surgeons, anaethetists and scrub practitioners.
Scottish Patient Safety Research Network
Universities of Aberdeen, Dundee and St Andrews Information on publications, tools, events, projects, newsletters.
WHO training resources
WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.
Health and Safety Executive
Human Factors and Ergonomics: key topics, case studies, articles and briefings.
Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors
Information on human factors training courses, resources, articles, news.
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (United States)
Access to educational resources and section on definitions of human factors/ergonomics.
Royal College of Nursing
Human Factors section, with definitions, key topics, resources, references and networks.
The Health Foundation: Patient Safety Resource Centre
The Health Foundation is an independent charity working to improve the quality of healthcare in the UK. They carry out research and in-depth policy analysis on healthcare quality. They have resources on Human Factors.
Implementing human factors in healthcare: How to guide, VOLUME ONE
Implementing human factors in healthcare: How to guide, VOLUME TWO
Taking further steps in human factors: Case studies and implementation tips
Human factors in healthcare: A concordat from the National Quality Board
Getting to grips with the human factor. A resource specifically targeted at boards to raise awareness of human factors and the impact the discipline can have.
UK Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors:
Fact sheet 1
Fact Sheet 2
Fact Sheet 3
Framework for Observing and Rating Anaesthetists' Non-Technical Skills (ANTS)
Condensed guide to the Anaesthetists' non-technical skills system.
University of Aberdeen/Industrial Psychology Research Centre.
NOTSS - Non-technical skills for surgeons
A practical guide to the non-technical skills for surgeons system.
University of Aberdeen/Industrial Psychology Research Centre.
SPLINTS - Scrub Practitioners' List of Intra-operative Non-Technical Skills
Cognitive and social i.e. non-technical skills necessary for safe and effective performance of scrub practitioners (nurses, technicians).
University of Aberdeen/Industrial Psychology Research Centre.
Patient Safety course Curriculum Guide: Multiprofessional Edition
The guide provides a recommended educational framework; teaching resource materials; and includes a module on why applying human factors is important for patient safety (Topic 2).
World Health Organisation.
Human Factors Training in the NHS: a scoping study
Report commissioned by the Safer Care team at the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, identifying human factors training appropriate for different NHS staff groups.
Understanding Human Factors - A Guide for the Railway Industry
Topic content includes What are Human Factors; Human Performance; and a range of related human factors topics.
Rail Safety and Standards Board.
Alvarado, CJ. (2005). The physical environment in Health care. In P. Carayon, P. Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care and Patient Safety. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah. p.287-321.
Amalberti R, Woland L. (1997) Human error in aviation. In Soekha H, ed. Aviation Safety. VSP, Utrecht. p91-108.
Carayon, P. (2007) Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care and Patient Safety. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah.
Carthey, J. & Clarke, J. (2009). The ‘How to Guide’ for Implementing Human Factors in Healthcare. Patient Safety First.
Chisholm CD, Collison EK, Nelson DR et al. (2000). Emergency department workplace interruptions: are emergency physicians "interrupt-driven" and "multitasking"? Academic Emergency Medicine; 7 (11):1239-43.
Dawson, D. and Reid, K. (1997). Fatigue, alcohol and performance impairment. Nature, 388,23.
De Leval, M et al. (2000) Human factors and cardiac surgery: a multicenter study. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 119. p.661-672.
Flynn, R; Winter, J; Sarak, C. and Raduma, M. (2009) Human Factors in Patient Safety: Review of Topics and Tools. World Health Organisation (WHO).
Flin, R., O’Connor, P. & Crichton, M. (2008). Safety at the Sharp End: A Guide to Non-Technical Skills. Farnham: Ashgate.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA). (1996). Do it by Design: An Introduction to Human factors. Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH).
HSE (1999) Reducing Error and Influencing Behaviour. HSG48, London: HSE books.
HSE. (2010) Human factors: Fatigue. http://www.hse.gov.uk/humanfactors/topics/ fatigue.htm
HSE. (2010) Human factors: Workload. http://www.hse.gov.uk/humanfactors/topics/ workload.htm
HSE. (2010) Human factors: Shift Handover. http://www.hse.gov.uk/humanfactors/ topics/ shift-handover.htm
Itoh, K; Anderson, HB; Madsen, MD. (2007). Safety Culture in Health Care. In P. Carayon, P. Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care and Patient Safety. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah. p199-217.
Kirwan, B. and Ainsworth, L. (Eds.) (1992). A guide to task analysis. Taylor and Francis.
Latino, RJ. (2008). The effects of distractions on Human Performance. Briefings on Patient Safety. June 2008.
Leonard, M., Graham, S. & Bonacum, D. (2004) The human factor: the critical importance of effective teamwork and communication in providing safe care. Quality and Safety in Health Care, 13, 85-90.
Murphy, LR. (2005). Job Stress in Health Care Workers. In P. Carayon, P. Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care and Patient Safety. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah. p161-181.
Norman, Donald A. (1988): The Design of Everyday Things. New York, Doubleday.
Norman, Donald A. (1983): Design Rules Based on Analyses of Human Error. In Communications of the ACM, 26 (4) pp. 254-258.
Rasmussen, J. (1982). Human Errors: A taxonomy for describing human malfunction in industrial installations. Journal of Occupational Accidents, 4, 311-335.
Reason, J. (1990). Human Error. New York, NY, Cambridge University Press.
Reason, J. (2000). Human error: models and management. BMJ Mar 2000; 320: 768–770.
Reason J. Beyond the organisational accident: the need for ‘error wisdom’ on the front line. QSHC 2004;13:28–33.
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. (2006). Bening Human, Being Safer: An Education Module on Human Factors in General Practice.
Sternberg, Robert J. (1996): Cognitive Psychology. 2nd. Ed.. Harcourt Brace College Publishers.
Yukl, G. (2008) Leadership in Organizations. (6th ed) New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
West, M. (2004) Effective Teamwork: Practical Lessons from Organizational Research (2nd Ed). Leicester: BPS Blackwell.
BMJ Quality Editorial, The science of human factors: separating fact from fiction.
David Woods, Human Factors Research to Improve Patient Safety.
James Reason, Understanding Adverse Events.
Pat Crosskerry, Importance of Cognitive Errors.
Pascale Carayon, Safety By Design: The SEIPS Model.
John Banja, Normalisation of Deviance in healthcare delivery.
Rebecca Lawson, Contributory Factors Framework to analysing incidents.
Human factors in NHSScotland! Dr Shelly Jeffcott has a background in psychology and human computer interaction and has worked in the field of patient safety for a decade.
Human factors, As Seen on TV: San Jose State University, HFES Student Chapter.
Why Medical Error? Dr Ken Catchpole is a research psychologist and human factors practitioner who seeks to understand and improve human performance in complex systems.
Views on human factors, systems and safety from the perspectives of humanistic thinking, systems thinking and design thinking. By Steve Shorrock, human factors and safety specialist in air traffic control.
University of Aberdeen Human Factors Research Group: a suite of human factors tools developed by Scottish academics and clinicians within NHSScotland.