Listening down, speaking up and whistleblowing in healthcare were among the key issues addressed at the second annual MSc in Human Factors in Patient Safety Academy, hosted by RCSI in September.

The conference, organised by RCSI in collaboration with the Human Factors in Patient Safety Alumni Academy, brought together an inter-professional community of patient safety advocates discuss culture in healthcare. It was chaired by Dr Dara O’Keeffe, Simulation Lead in Postgraduate Surgical Education at RCSI.

Professor Eva Doherty, Director of Human Factors in Patient Safety at RCSI, said: “The theme for the event was the importance of 'listening down' or psychological safety in promoting a just and safe culture in healthcare”

The conference heard from Martin Bromiley OBE, Founder Clinical Human Factors Group, UK. He said that “to see so many health professionals engaged in the science of safety and human factors was both inspiring and heartening”

“We all make mistakes, but we can reduce the danger and mitigate against those threats and errors by developing/supporting systems that make it easy to get it right and hard to get it wrong.It is important to encourage and train people to speak up, but it’s more important to encourage those in leadership positions to listen to their team, to seek ideas before stating a preference, and to thank those who do speak up. For leaders asking open questions and demonstrating understanding is a key to optimising solutions.

“To move forward in safety, we all need to build relationships below, across and above us. The quality of those relationships helps bring people together for a coming purpose of making healthcare safer for everyone.”

Safeguarding

Mr Peter Duffy, Consultant Urologist in the UK provided attendees with an insight into the challenges and outcomes involved with his own whistleblowing case in healthcare. Mr Duffy, said: “I’m really grateful to the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland for their invitation to the Human Factors in Patient Safety conference.

“I’ll continue to do what I can to promote candour and safeguarding in healthcare, whilst providing audiences with the “reality checks” that are necessary in order to be able to speak out safely without compromising their own employment or future prospects.”

The keynotes were followed by a discussion session regarding the Irish context. A number of points were raised in the discussion including the recognition that there is a lot of improvement still required and the concern that there is a mistaken belief that a just, open culture currently exists in Ireland.

Developing patient care

The Human Factors in Patient Safety Academy was established in 2021 and consists of Alumni and current scholars of the RCSI Postgraduate Diploma/MSc in Human Factors in Patient Safety. The Academy supports graduates to enable the development of safer patient care through human factors knowledge and skills.

Led by Professor Oscar Traynor and Dr Eva Doherty, RCSI established a mandatory human factors curriculum to improve the communication and interpersonal skills of surgical trainees and developed a robust process for competence assessment and performance appraisal. RCSI is now internationally recognised as a leading centre for human factors and patient safety in healthcare.