Dr Helen Vosper

Biography

Helen is Chartered ergonomist (Human Factors specialist) and is a Senior Lecturer and the lead for patient safety. Helen believes that Human Factors has much to offer healthcare curriculum content, facilitating learner development of practical competencies that can be applied in the workplace to optimise health and care system outcomes, including staff and patient safety. Academic practice can also be viewed as a complex socio-technical system and Human Factors principles can therefore underpin effective curriculum design, optimising outcomes such as student performance, wellbeing and satisfaction. Human Factors is intrinsically a participatory discipline and Helen welcomes collaboration with both staff and students and has an established track record in developing effective student partnerships. She is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Senior Fellow of the Staff and Educational Development Association and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology.

Teaching Responsibilities

MBChB Human Factors for Patient Safety: Strategy in action

Introduction

If you are a prospective medical student, you are probably aware that all healthcare practitioners and students must practise safely. Certainly, our patients would hope that safety is a priority! But a lot lies behind that word 'safe' - have you ever thought about what it means? How do we keep ourselves and our patients safe? These might seem like simple questions, but they are anything but. How to manage patient safety more effectively has been an ongoing debate for the last few decades. If you read around patient safety a bit more, you may see headlines like “avoidable healthcare harm is the third leading cause of death in the US!” How can that be? How do we address this – should we all just try harder and be more careful?

The National Health Service and the healthcare professional regulators have come together and agreed a new way forward. It is now recognised that continuous safety improvement is only possible if it is underpinned by something called Human Factors. Human Factors (also known as ergonomics) is the study of work. If we understand our work systems, we can make improvements that help staff to do their jobs better, enhancing performance, safety and wellbeing. Human Factors underpins safety management in other safety critical sectors, like defence, aviation and energy.

The General Medical Council includes Human Factors competencies in its Outcomes for Graduates, but given that it is so new to healthcare, it’s not easy for universities to get up to speed in this area. At the University of Aberdeen, we have a rich history in patient safety science. The latest development is a unique Human Factors curriculum for patient safety, embedded throughout the MBChB. The NHS expects all staff to have a baseline understanding of Human Factors, but it is recognised that some will need to have advanced education and training so they can be leaders in patient safety. Our curriculum reflects this: we have a core strand for all students, but those with an interest can choose safety options throughout their student-selected components and elective options. ‘Graduates’ of this advanced strand have the option to apply for professional recognition as a Human Factors Technical Specialist (TechCIEHF) from the UK Human Factors professional body. Whichever option you take, this unique programme means that you will be well-prepared for this new safety-oriented workplace. What does learning about Human Factors look like? The following case studies will show you!

Case study 1: Drug therapy... and deprescribing

Case study 2: Active Bystanding and... feeling sleepy!

Case study 3: Year 3 - Human Factors and Patient Safety (ME33HF)

Case study 4: Year 3 - Transition block

Case study 5: Our Human Factors trailblazer - Fraser Gold

Case study 6: Building capacity and capability (Coming soon!)

One of the biggest risks to embedding Human Factors in health and social care is a lack of capacity and capability across the workforce. NHS Education for Scotland is attempting to address this strategically by identifying staff who already have some of the necessary knowledge and skills (such as quality improvers and risk managers). Developing these staff offers the quickest route to developing more Human Factors experts. At the University of Aberdeen, we are reflecting this approach: our diverse intake of medical students includes those who already have such skills. In this case study, you will meet one of these students and hear about his Human Factors journey.

Case study 7: Addressing the hidden curriculum

Human Factors is poorly understood in health and social care and often conflated with non-technical skills. There is not much point us teaching students about Human Factors if their 'safety learning' is negatively affected by what they pick up in the clinical environment (the so-called 'hidden curriculum'). To address this, the Human Factors teaching team offer development sessions for clinical staff. Rohan Jain was one of our wonderful Clinical Teaching Fellows who engaged brilliantly with the programme. In his own words:

"During my year as a Clinical Teaching Fellow, Helen gave me the enthusiasm to learn and teach Human Factors. She was able to direct me to invaluable resources, including e-modules, books, as well as guiding me throughout the year. She invited me to be part of Human Factors talks, with other esteemed Human Factors experts, when sessions were being delivered. She also invited me to teach on her course, which was excellent experience and extremely enjoyable for me.

I have hugely developed my understanding of Human Factors. During my teaching to students, I was able to project clinical emphasis and some realism to the content being delivered. I felt that the students were able to better understand the value and importance this has in the clinical environment on a day-to-day basis. As a result, Human Factors should be embedded within their thoughts when they work, rather than be an afterthought.

With the wealth of knowledge, and kind demeanour that Helen demonstrated, I wanted to ask her to talk to the acute medicine registrars within our department to share and enhance their knowledge. She was brilliant in projecting her knowledge and experience, and it was a session that was thoroughly enjoyed by us all.

Overall, I have developed my understanding and skills in Human Factors, and I hope that students understanding has been enhanced with my involvement. Helen has been the driving force with helping University staff as well as NHS staff learn and be passionate about Human Factors."