Non-technical skills training to enhance patient safety

Background: Patient safety is an increasingly recognised issue in health care. Systems-based and organisational methods of quality improvement, as well as education focusing on key clinical areas, are common, but there are few reports of educational interventions that focus on non-technical skills to address human factor sources of error. A flexible model for non-technical skills training for health care professionals has been designed based on the best available evidence, and with sound theoretical foundations. Context: Educational sessions to improve non-technical skills in health care have been described before. The descriptions lack the details to allow educators to replicate and innovate further. Innovation: A non-technical skills training course that can be delivered as either a half-or fullday intervention has been designed and delivered to a number of mixed groups of undergraduate medical students and doctors in postgraduate training. Participant satisfaction has been high and patient safety attitudes have improved post-intervention.