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Human Factors in Critical Care (MEDI90110)

Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)

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Overview

Availability
April
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Every day in healthcare, experts are making split second life-or-death decisions. These are often made when the information they have is scarce or incomplete. Health professionals react rapidly to emergency circumstances performing complex procedures from memory.

Human Factors is the science of redesigning the environment, the equipment, the training and processes to ensure every decision is well-informed and every action is performed accurately.

Human Factors Engineering principles can help guide us in designing the work to be safer and more efficient. For example, redesigning how emergencies are managed to ensure the correct decisions and actions are taken, even when stress levels are high.

It’s about optimizing the role of the human within the system and designing with health professionals and patients in mind.

This subject will provide the student with an introduction to the science of Human Factors/Ergonomics (HF/E) as applied to critical care medicine and clinical care. It will discuss the scope of HF/E, key concepts and tools in Human Factors research and engineering and emerging views of safety science.

Students will apply HF/E principles to their own context and consider how traditional methods of safety can be extended with new techniques.

Topics covered will include:

  • Safety II and resilience engineering in improving health care delivery.
  • The role of translational simulation in testing and refining processes in health.
  • Factors affecting risk perception.
  • How clinical decision-making can be affected by environmental and organisational considerations.

Teaching/learning formats include:

  • Online modules
  • Discussion boards
  • Required readings
  • Case studies
  • Written assignments
  • 1-day intensive, face-to-face workshop including simulation activities, guest speakers which will be delivered on campus and online for students unable to attend campus.
  • The informal exchange of insights and experiences among participants is a key aspect of learning.

Intended learning outcomes

On completion of this subject, students should be able to:

  • Identify and describe the scope of human factors/ergonomics and apply it to their work setting
  • Analyse the components of a work task and determine how it might be modified using human factors techniques
  • Perform an evaluation of an environmental or organisational aspect of their work that affects human performance
  • Appraise the effects of team processes on performance and give examples of how these could be improved
  • Recognise how linear models of incident analysis fail to capture complexity of how work is performed
  • Construct a translational simulation to address a potential incident

Generic skills

  • The capacity for information seeking, retrieval and evaluation
  • Critical thinking and analytical skills
  • An openness to new ideas
  • The ability to communicate scientific knowledge through oral, written and web-based media

Last updated: 19 April 2024

Eligibility and requirements

Prerequisites

None

Corequisites

None

Non-allowed subjects

None

Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)

The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.

Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home

Last updated: 19 April 2024

Assessment

DescriptionTimingPercentage

2x quizzes or short answer questions

  • 500 words (each)
Mid -term and End of Term20%

Case Study

  • 1000 words
Mid-term20%

Participation in discussion board

  • 500 words
Throughout the teaching period10%

Participation in workshop group activities

Hurdle requirement: Students must participate in workshop group activities in order to pass the subject		During face-to-face-workshop in Week 6-810%

Written Assignment

  • 2500 words
Hurdle requirement: Paper must be passed in order for students to pass the subject.		4 Weeks after the end of teaching40%

Last updated: 19 April 2024

Dates & times

  • April
    CoordinatorStuart Marshall
    Mode of deliveryOn Campus (Parkville)
    Contact hoursAll learning is conducted online, with a face-to-face workshop, (Saturday 1 June 2024).
    Total time commitment162 hours
    Pre teaching start date22 April 2024
    Pre teaching requirementsDuring the pre-teaching period, students should read through the information in Week 0 which provides information about the structure of the subject, subject readings and resources, assessments, and the teaching staff.
    Teaching period29 April 2024 to 23 June 2024
    Last self-enrol date23 April 2024
    Census date17 May 2024
    Last date to withdraw without fail21 June 2024
    Assessment period ends21 July 2024

    April contact information

    Email: continuing-education@unimelb.edu.au

    Phone: + 61 3 8344 0149

    Contact hours: https://unimelb.edu.au/professional-development/contact-us

What do these dates mean

Visit this webpage to find out about these key dates, including how they impact on:

  • Your tuition fees, academic transcript and statements.
  • And for Commonwealth Supported students, your:
    - Student Learning Entitlement. This applies to all students enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP).

    Subjects withdrawn after the census date (including up to the ‘last day to withdraw without fail’) count toward the Student Learning Entitlement.

Additional delivery details

Compulsory workshop (Saturday 1 June 2024) which will be delivered on campus.

Last updated: 19 April 2024

Further information

  • Texts

    Prescribed texts

    There are no specifically prescribed or recommended texts for this subject.

  • Available through the Community Access Program

    About the Community Access Program (CAP)

    This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.

    Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.

    Additional information for this subject

    In order to be considered for Community Access Program entry, applicants must have completed:

    a. A medical degree or,

    b. An undergraduate degree in any discipline and at least three years of documented relevant work experience in a health management, paramedicine, nursing or equivalent role.

    Applicants would require course coordinator approval prior to enrolment in the CAP subjects.

Last updated: 19 April 2024