Human factors and leadership with Clare Fitchett

In this session I am speaking with Clare Fitchett as we explore the fundamentals of human factors and the interplay of leadership. In the conversation we examine what human factors mean to Clare and how they affect her practice. We also look at leadership and how Clare perceives leadership can affect human factors for the better. We finally examine the concept and strategies of human factors mitigation and how we can offset the patent safety issues that human factors brings with it.  Clare graduated as a paramedic in 2011 having undertaken her student paramedic training with South Central Ambulance Service. She commenced her Specialist Paramedic (Critical Care) training in 2018 with Thames Valley Air Ambulance (TVAA) and holds the Diploma in Immediate Medical care (DipIMC) from the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh and is completing an MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice. Clare also volunteers as an Expedition Medic with the British Exploring Society and is also a faculty member of World Extreme Medicine. She currently works for Hampshire and the Ilse of Wight Air Ambulance. In the conversation we explore: Overview of HF- why it is important to Clare and holistically How leadership can affect HF - the interplay between human factors and leadership Seminal leadership points that are useful/attributes of a good leader How we support more junior clinicians to lead in critical care circumstances Peer review and/or shared mental models Some of the mistakes and misconceptions that people make when relying on their own memory versus checklists Aspects of Clare's leadership that has changed over time Managing stressful environmental human factors on scene Some of the great leaders Clare has learnt the most from in regard to human factors mitigation Examples cases; seminal cases from Clare’s experience - 2 cases, one which went well and one which was challenging and valuable learning. Please find some valuable empirical research that underpins Clare's perspectives: Interventions to improve team effectiveness within health care: a systematic review of the past decade https://human-resources-health.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12960-019-0411-3 A standardised approach to pre-hospital RSI in the UK; utility, governance and content of current pre-induction checklists https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1757-7241-23-S2-A16  My thanks to Clare for an insightful and engaging interview