Denise M. Korniewicz
Wilkes University, USA
Biography:
Abstract:
Problem: Critical care providers wrestle with the application and guidelines associated with the reduction of medical errors. The use of emerging technologies require the critical care provider to have the knowledge, skills and competencies to provide safe patient care. When planning for the implementation of new critical care technologies, the training should include the nature of the task, performance of the task and the healthcare provider. Purpose: Apply a human factors framework related to patient safety in critical care nursing practice: 1) nature of the task and the environment; 2) Performance of the task and 3) healthcare provider. Methods: A comprehensive review of literature was completed using the following databases: COCHRANE Systematic Reviews, CINAHL Complete, and EBSCO using the following key words: patient safety, human factors and critical care nursing. To determine the three components associated with human factors framework, the terms clinical tasks, clinical task performance and healthcare provider was used. Findings: A total of 4675 evidence based scientific journal articles were reviewed using the major categories of: patient safety, human factors and critical care nursing. Of those, 186 met one or two of the criteria for the human factors component, while 25 of the articles reviewed met all three criteria: 1) nature of the task and the environment; 2) Performance of the task and 3) healthcare provider. Conclusions/Significance: It is apparent that human factors and patient safety criteria are not adopted and applied consistently in critical care environments. However, it is evident that healthcare providers are more aware of the need to develop guidelines consistent with the utilization of the human factors framework. Recommendations: Critical care healthcare providers need to recognize that their commitment to patient safety needs to include an understanding of human factors since more and more technology is being used in the critical care environment.