Global Air Training provides a range of human factors courses specifically designed for healthcare. We have delivered practical human factors training for 22 years gaining worldwide recognition as a centre of excellence in the field. During this time, we have worked with many NHS Trusts and healthcare organisations throughout the UK and overseas.

Despite modern equipment, excellent training and continuing research, healthcare organisations in all regions of the developed world continue to suffer from high levels of patient safety incidents. It is estimated that out of all hospital admissions around 10% suffer unintentional harm and in the USA alone more than 100,000 people may die each year as a result of medical errors.

Providing safe healthcare depends on highly trained individuals with disparate roles and responsibilities acting together in the best interests of the patient. Communication barriers across hierarchies, failure to acknowledge human fallibility, and failures of situational awareness combine to cause poor teamwork, which can lead to adverse events.

The aviation industry has recognised that safety requires crew members to receive specific training in non-technical skills, in addition to technical training. We deliver training for healthcare professionals derived from the Crew Resource Management programmes developed in commercial aviation. Human factors training in healthcare aims to reduce the potential for error by training each team member to recognise the factors which can lead to adverse events and to respond appropriately in acute situations.

Human Factors training in healthcare enhances clinical performance through an understanding of the effects of teamwork, tasks, equipment, workspace, culture and organisation on human behaviour in clinical settings. The training develops a cohesive environment among team members and assists in building a culture in which all personnel feel empowered to speak up if they suspect a problem.

Healthcare staff need to recognise that human error is inevitable and that cooperative and collaborative teams are the greatest asset to achieving safety and high reliability in complex and hazardous work environments. The training equips participants with a set of non-technical skills that complement technical competency and include teamwork, situational awareness, decision making, communication and workload management. An in depth understanding of the human causes of error develops the ability to take a proactive approach to the avoidance, trapping and mitigation of errors.

Human Factors training can assist healthcare staff to:
• Understand why we make errors.
• Understand how ‘systems factors’ can threaten patient safety.
• Improve the safety culture of teams and organisations.
• Enhance teamwork and improve communication.
• Improve the design of healthcare systems.
• Identify ‘what went wrong’ and predict ‘what could go wrong’.
• Appreciate how human factors tools can reduce the likelihood of patient harm.

Global Air Training courses for healthcare
Global Air Training provides healthcare courses both as open training courses at our training centre near Chester and as in-house bespoke courses for healthcare organisations. Courses available include:
Foundation course
The HF Foundation course is 1 day and is suitable for all healthcare staff.
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Managers course
The HF Managers course is 3 days and suitable for all mangers, supervisors, team leaders and all healthcare staff wishing to gain an in-depth understanding of Human Factors in healthcare.
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Trainers course
The Global Air Training Human Factors Trainer programme has been continually developed over 20 years and is widely recognised in safety critical industries worldwide. This course is designed for those involved in the delivery of HF training programmes in healthcare. The course is 5 days in duration, it covers a scientifically robust basis of HF training, and studies examples and case studies of human factor related patient safety incidents. The course emphasises the development of facilitation skills which are crucial to effective HF training. The training increases the required knowledge and skills to enable the participant to deliver effective, practical HF training which addresses the specific nature and unique challenges of their organisation’s operations and procedures.
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