Human Factors in the Wild Delivering Safety in the Pediatric World (Discussion Panel)

Abstract

The pediatric healthcare environment is arguably more complex than the general, adult, healthcare settings (e.g., weight based dosing, caring for patients who cannot advocate for themselves, etc.). These complexities and the ever-changing dynamics of the pediatric patient population and their families increase risk of healthcare professionals committing errors that may result in patient harm. Moreover, due to their physiologic state, when pediatric patients incur such errors their impact is exacerbated due to the fact that children are often less capable of recovering from such events. Human Factors Engineering can help promote a culture of safety and high reliability by using proven techniques to understand human fallibility and help prevent or mitigate human error in healthcare. This panel invites six diverse healthcare HF practitioners from different organizations to share their experiences, contributions, and the impacts they have made to improve pediatric patient safety. Our panel will provide a unique lens on the application of HF approaches, and what sensitive factors toned to be considered to successfully enhance pediatric patient safety.