MIKE SULLIVAN, managing director of GOJO Industries – Europe, discusses the benefits of integrating human factors in healthcare and how hand hygiene fits into the bigger picture.
Human factors encompass everything that can influence individuals and their behaviour. The aim of integrating human factors into healthcare is to ensure that high quality care is delivered and that every patient has a positive experience, while healthcare professionals, on whom the quality of care depends, are fully supported.
Clinical performance can be enhanced by having a better understanding of the behaviour of individuals, their interactions with each other and within the environment. Acknowledging human limitations, under a culture of openness, and understanding why mistakes are made, while tackling poor designs and procedures, are key to improving patient safety.
The NHS has started to include human factors approaches by adopting patient safety and quality improvement science and, in November 2013, the National Quality Board released a Concordat which aims to provide leadership to embed human factor principles and practices into the healthcare system.
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