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Urgent need for human factors lessons

As theatre teams strive to tackle the backlog, cognitive, social and personal resource skills will have a vital role to play in helping to deliver safe, efficient care, in challenging circumstances. Kate Woodhead RGN DMS discusses the importance of understanding human factors and the need to develop key skills to support effective teamworking.

What we are striving for in healthcare are safe, efficient and timely activities for patients and staff – particularly in the postCOVID era, where there is so much catching up to do. There are never ending challenges to providing this, not least the complex care needs of an increasingly elderly population and a staffing crisis, as vacancies mount and burnout means many more are leaving the professions. Responding to these challenges requires the focus of everyone involved in the recovery from COVID-19, in order to tackle the backlog of care and surgery. 

It is understood that around 6.48 million people are waiting for treatment and that demand has recently ‘skyrocketed’.1 It has also been reported, recently, that ambulance pick-up times have lengthened considerably and waits for triage in emergency departments are long. We have heard, and felt, that there are more than one hundred thousand vacancies among the professions, increasing the stress experienced by those left behind. This is perhaps the greatest set of challenges that the NHS has ever faced.

Surgical stresses

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Upcoming Events

Central Sterilising Club - Annual Scientific Meeting 2024

Crowne Plaza at Gerrard’s Cross
15th April 2024 – 16th April 2024

DECON UK 2024

National Conference Centre, Birmingham
17th April 2024

Infection Prevention & Control

National Conference Centre, Birmingham
23rd - 24th April 2024

Theatres & Decontamination Conference 2024

Coventry Building Society Arena
16th May 2024

The AfPP Roadshow - Birmingham

Millennium Point, Birmingham
18th May 2024

The AfPP Roadshow - Exeter

University of Exeter
22nd June 2024

Access the latest issue of Clinical Services Journal on your mobile device together with an archive of back issues.

Download the FREE Clinical Services Journal app from your device's App store

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