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Human Factors in Trauma Care

Why the Human Factor Is Always a Factor

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Textbook of Acute Trauma Care

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Abstract

Trauma resuscitation usually goes well. However, it is fraught with potential error and adversity, due to stress, time-pressure and high-stakes. What’s more, the “the human factor is always a factor”. Therefore, this chapter practically outlines how human-animals perform and how this can save (or imperil) patient lives and strengthen (or jeopardise) medical teams. We outline the interplay between individuals, teams, tasks and environment. We discuss the ergonomics of how humans identify threats, communicate, make decisions, and coordinate action in potentially feverish trauma bays. On the individual level, we need to manage and leverage stress, optimize cognitive readiness, and manage bias. Teams have to complete myriad tasks swiftly, safely and concurrently, and therefore can benefit from checklists and mnemonics. However, overreliance on aide-memoires can also make us “dumb and inflexible”. We outline how to be “smarter” and more dextrous by using pre-briefs, shared mental models, and leveraging the best of leadership AND followership. We outline how crisis communication (i.e verbal dexterity) is at least as important as nimble hands (i.e. manual dexterity), and far more than just what a leader barks at subordinates. We discuss resource utilization (and how we help or hinder ourselves) and the importance of the physical environment. Last, though definitely not least, we discuss how the system needs to support rather than handicap its ‘frontliners’. This means committing to continuous proactive culture of patient safety and team resilience. It means acknowledging that healthcare is run by humans, for humans, and that we can all do better.

The authors composed, revised and approved this manuscript. The work is original. There are no conflicts or relevant disclosures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Critical Care Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain, Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

    Peter G. Brindley

  2. Dosseter Ethics Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

    Peter G. Brindley

  3. Department of Critical Care Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

    Jocelyn M. Slemko

Authors
  1. Peter G. Brindley
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  2. Jocelyn M. Slemko
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Correspondence to Peter G. Brindley .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Tactical Medical Wing, Royal Air Force, Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, UK

    Peter Lax

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Brindley, P.G., Slemko, J.M. (2022). Human Factors in Trauma Care. In: Lax, P. (eds) Textbook of Acute Trauma Care . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83628-3_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83628-3_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-83627-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-83628-3

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