Discover Healthcare Systems
People are at the heart of systems. This includes the staff, who help to deliver the system, plus users and customers. All the skills, abilities and conditions of these people can impact how safe, comfortable and productive they are in the system.
In the UK, the National Health Service employs over 1.5 million people, and an average of 45,000 people visit major hospital A&E departments each day. The healthcare system includes physical buildings like hospitals, GP surgeries, and pharmacies, the wide range of staff who work at these facilities, and the patients who access them. It includes the medication available; the booking systems for appointments; and the safety and paperwork procedures in place.
Human factors helps the system, and the people in it, work effectively. It navigates our needs, concerns and preferences as both employees and patients, from preventing administering incorrect medication when we are tired or stressed, to how we feel about having surgery or receiving treatment. Explore how it all works.
Patient-centred care
Across the NHS, there are approximately 1.7 million interactions with patients each day. Beyond staff, patients play a key part in the human-system interactions of the NHS, and there is growing focus on providing empathetic, patient-centred care.
This is Going to Hurt
Adam Kay’s book, This Is Going To Hurt, explores the pressures of working in the NHS, following a team of junior doctors on a busy obstetrics and gynaecology ward. It highlights emotional strain, lack of support, and often unnoticed achievements of staff.
Who is really to blame?
Over 100 serious incidents are reported across the NHS each day. Blame is often placed on individuals, and staff can face disciplinary action, meaning exploring why errors happen is discouraged.
Colour Coding
When patients undergo surgical procedures, they are given anaesthetics which are colour coded by drug type. Loaded syringes have colour coded labels but mistakes can occur if syringes get swapped during administration.
