Tasks
There are a myriad of tasks involved in the provision of healthcare. These range from direct practical tasks such as taking blood or performing a surgical procedure to communication elements such as taking consent or consoling a relative. Other background tasks include cleaning and sterilization procedures or IT maintenance. Each contributes to overall safe care.
In addition to the tasks themselves, the SEIPS model encourages consideration of how these tasks are performed, how they are aligned to specific roles, and with what level of autonomy and safety controls. Additionally, we need to consider human performance limitations (workload, stress, fatigue, attention, and distraction) that can introduce vulnerabilities to task performance.
Activity and Resources |
Training and DevelopmentThrough training courses, the College influences task performance in the workplace. Courses are designed to instil safe, competent performance across all aspects of practice; from assessing an unwell patient, to safe introduction of laparoscopic ports, and free flap transfer. RCSEd has developed the ICONS course to provide much-needed training to healthcare professionals in obtaining appropriate informed consent for procedures. The Shine Ward Round Tool Kit was developed by the College to help reduce errors and improve safety on surgical wards. The Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care has produced manuals on immediate care and provided guidance for Police Officers in specialist frontline roles. The Faculty has also produced consensus statements on the management of pre-hospital conditions such as burns, traumatic cardiac arrest and obstetric emergencies. The Faculty of Remote, Rural and Humanitarian Healthcare has developed guidance on how to support an humanitarian healthcare crisis and, in collaboration with UK-Med, runs an on-line Humanitarian Healthcare Introductory Course. |
Human Performance ImpactsAligned to task performance is the understanding of human performance limitation and particularly the impact of stress, fatigue, hunger, and rudeness. Individual/team strategies to minimise the impact of these elements are explored through the suite of non-technical skill resources and courses. Closely aligned to rudeness in the workplace; bullying has been addressed through national collaborative programmes with dedicated resources free to all accessible via the website. RCSEd continues to collaborate with partners including the Royal College of Anaesthetists, GMC, and government to help address these issues at a systemic level. It is well recognized that patient safety is closely linked to healthcare worker safety. Staff resilience and wellbeing is a major factor in helping to ensure safe patient care and this has been a major recent focus for the College. The Trainees’ Committee have run very successful wellbeing weeks over the last five years. These have raised the awareness of the importance of wellbeing amongst all members of the surgical team and included various activities such as daily webinars, virtual workshops and sessions on cooking, mindfulness, yoga, art and how to make work fun. CPD points for the webinars in the series were provided, underlining the importance that the College places on this subject. |
Learn more about the other areas of the SEIPS model here.
