Human Factors, Workplace Performance and their Relationship to Quality and Safety in Healthcare - Research Paper Example

Literature Review: Human Factors, Workplace Performance and their Relationship to Quality and Safety in Healthcare Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Literature Review: Human Factors, Workplace Performance and their Relationship to Quality and Safety in Healthcare Thesis Statement This research paper discusses the influence of human factors and attributes on the work performance of healthcare teams that reciprocally affect the quality of patient care across the healthcare settings. The paper also recommends the evidence-based conventions and approaches warranted in the context of effectively developing a potential safety culture for patients in the context of improving the healthcare outcomes. Patient Safety and Quality in Healthcare The secondary research article by (Carayon & Wood, 2010) warrants the requirement of the appropriate environment and equipments by healthcare professionals in the context of surpassing the errors in administering the clinical interventions to the patient population. The acquisition of knowledge of the healthcare system and handling of patients is of paramount importance in relation to reducing the predisposition of the treated patients towards experiencing adverse events and fatalities during the course of medical interventions. The nursing professionals and members of healthcare teams need to investigate the authenticity of laboratory findings and must clinically correlate the clinical history with the evaluated findings prior to arriving on any conclusion regarding the care and therapy of the patients requiring treatment across the clinical settings. The absence of execution of these safety measures adversely affects the quality of patient care while compromising with their health and wellness across the community environment. The research paper proposes the requirement of modifying the human environment, software, team organization and work design in the context of improving the physical, cognitive, social and behavioural performance of the healthcare professionals for elevating the healthcare quality and level of patient safety across the clinical settings. However, the restructuring of system design and training of the healthcare teams in accomplishing this objective highly required in the context of reducing the delay and errors in the administration of treatment interventions to the patient population. However, the research article does not recommend a highly structured approach in relation to the human factors modification for enhancing the healthcare outcomes. Influence of Human Factors on Workplace Performance in Relation to Patient Safety Evidence-based literature describes the influence of human abilities, behavioural pattern, characteristics, temperament and limitations on the configuration of healthcare tasks, tools, equipments and assignments in the context of promoting patient safety across the healthcare settings (Henriksen, Dayton, Keyes, Carayon, & Hughes, 2008). The organizational, socioeconomic and management attributes profoundly influence the pattern of human factors that reciprocally affects the performance of healthcare staff while administering the assistive interventions to the clinical subjects. The attributes related to the inappropriate instructions by physicians, inadequate communication, utilization of non-standard procedures, ignorance, non-realization of responsibility and non-serious approaches by management are some of the significant human factors extending detrimental effects on the workplace performance and safety of the treated patients across the hospital environment. The findings documented in (Carayon, Gurses, & Hughes, 2008) describe the influence of the circumstantial workload and its influence on the work capacity of nurse professionals in the context of the configuration of the healthcare system designed to execute that particular workload across the healthcare setting. The disrupted work environment leads to the disfigured communication patterns between the nurse professionals and sustained deficit in the supply of drugs and medical equipments that adversely affects the behaviour of nurses leading to the deterioration in the quality of healthcare services and reduction in the pattern of patient safety across the hospital environment. The cross sectional research analysis by (Holden, et al., 2011) advocates the significance of human factors engineering model of nursing in terms of evaluating the quality of healthcare services and eventual patient outcomes under the influence of workload patterns experienced by the nurse professionals across the emergency care setting. The human factor model advocates the attributes related to the inappropriate staffing ratio and job requirements and resources in terms of their influence on the performance of nursing professionals across the healthcare environment that reciprocally affects the pattern of patient safety and quality of healthcare interventions. Relationship between Healthcare Management, Safety and Quality The findings in (Powell-Cope, Nelson, Patterson, & Hughes, 2008) advocate the influence of inappropriate technology design interface and implementation and maintenance plan on the healthcare management of the patient population. The absence of the principles related to human factors while implementing the healthcare strategies adversely influence the quality of medical interventions and safety of treated patients across the healthcare environment. The absence of electronic healthcare records and electronic data management systems for the utilization of physicians and nurses leads to the treatment delay, medication errors and mishandling of patients across the healthcare setting. Furthermore, the poor physical environment across the inpatient wards elevates the risk of patient falls and subsequent injuries that exhibit the potential of increasing the clinical complications of the treated patients. The social policies, training interventions, extent of empowerment of healthcare teams and culture followed across the healthcare setting profoundly influence the healthcare and safety of the patient population. However, these research findings fail to delineate the pattern of inefficiency of healthcare teams and corresponding patient outcomes from the sole influence of healthcare environment on the human factors leading to the reduction in the quality of healthcare interventions and safety of the treated patients across the healthcare environment. Healthcare management strategy advocated by (Wolf & Hughes, 2008) attributes to the timely reporting of errors in medical management in the context of streamlining the healthcare system and patient outcomes. The timely reporting of errors to the healthcare teams as well as the patient population might exhibit immediate ramifications among the patient population. However, in the longer run this strategy results in the elevation of trust and coordination between medical professionals and the treated patients. Resultantly, the level of compliance of patients to the treatment regimen increases and the scope of prospective treatment errors by healthcare teams minimizes to a considerable extent across the healthcare settings. Strategies for Managing Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality Evidence-based research literature advocates the requirement of elevating the technical assistance across the hospital setting in the context of improving the pattern of patient safety across the healthcare environment (Henriksen, Dayton, Keyes, Carayon, & Hughes, 2008). Literature also signifies the implications of various safety interventions in the context of enhancing the wellness outcomes of the treated patients. These safety interventions attribute to the configuration of non-erroneous prescriptions, timely reporting of adverse events, organization of awareness sessions, the promotion of teamwork, reporting and feedback dissemination regarding the treatment errors, managerial support and accomplishment of staffing shortage across the healthcare setting. The formulation of emergency department conventions and collaboration between multidisciplinary healthcare teams is highly warranted in the context of safeguarding the health and wellness of patients during the course of treatment interventions. However, the research analysis by (Henriksen, Dayton, Keyes, Carayon, & Hughes, 2008) did not emphasize the requirement of executing regular follow-ups of the wellness patterns of patients across the hospital environment. These follow-up activities are warranted in the context of evaluating the outcomes of patient safety interventions and the scope of their modification for improving the healthcare quality and safety of patients across the clinical setting. Another strategy of elevating the scope of patient safety across the healthcare settings attributes to the configuration of safety reports by the healthcare teams during the course of medical interventions (Kachalia, 2013). These safety reports disclose the details of medication errors and adverse events or traumas experienced by the patients across the hospital environment and prove to be the guiding tools for minimizing the scope of prospective occurence of untoward events across the clinical setting. Furthermore, these reports evidently incorporate transparency in the healthcare interventions and provide an insight to the healthcare professionals in terms of improving the quality of healthcare services across the hospital environment. However, research findings do not enlighten the strategies warranted in the context of appropriate reporting of the requisite information in the safety reports for avoiding the scope of bias in the administration of treatment interventions to the patient population. Influence of Risk Management Culture and Safety on Healthcare An effective risk management culture requires configuration in the context of improving patient safety interventions by the healthcare teams across the hospital environment. The findings discussed in (Weaver, Lubomski, & Wilson, 2013) emphasize interventions attributing the execution of behavioural modifications and promotion of the pattern of leadership instincts among the healthcare professionals. These evidence-based interventions rationally promote the configuration of risk management approaches attributing the configuration of safety protocols, promotion of bedside rounds and reporting of clinical complications of the patients during the course of medical interventions. The dissemination of regular questionnaires to the patients in the context of understanding their level of comfort, and taking feedback regarding the safety conventions assists the healthcare professionals in effectively developing a potential risk management culture in the context of improving the patient safety and quality of healthcare interventions across the hospital setting. Conclusion Human factors attribute to the elements that identify and evaluate the patterns of interaction of healthcare teams with the hospital systems in the context of assessing their impact on patient safety and quality of healthcare outcomes. Identification of human factors assistshealthcare teams in evaluating their performance across the healthcare environment and provides them insight regarding the safety culture and quality of healthcare interventions practiced across the clinical setting. A thorough understanding of human factors highly warranted by the healthcare professionals in the context of administering the medications, recording the treatment information, handling the patients and communicating the protected health information between the authorized members of the healthcare teams for elevating the quality of healthcare approaches and improving the patient safety outcomes across the hospital environment. References Read More