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Session Information

2008 Annual Meeting

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Improving Safety for Patients Receiving Radiotherapy: A Human Factors Engineering Approach

Track : PAN

Program Code: PAN09

Date: Monday, September 22, 2008

Time: 3:45 PM to 5:15 PM EST

Duration: 3320 Minutes

Location: 107

SPEAKER(S):

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Eric Ford, The Johns Hopkins Hospital

Eric E. Klein, Washington University St. Louis

Lawrence Marks, Radiation Oncologist, University of North Carolina

Melanie Wright, Assistant Professor, Duke University Medical Center

Dr. Melanie Wright is Assistant Professor in Anesthesiology and Director of Research at the Human Simulation and Patient Safety Center at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Wright has over fifteen years experience in engineering and research in the areas of human performance, usability analysis, and human-machine system design. Dr. Wright has research interests in cognitive ergonomics in dynamic safety critical environments such as aviation, driving, medicine, and air traffic control. At the Duke Human Simulation and Patient Safety Center, she has been researching issues associated with the reduction of error in health care since 2003. Areas of interest include the effects of technology on team coordination and the integration and use of multi-modal displays to improve human performance. Dr. Wright is currently active in research related to: (1) information management in the perioperative environment and (2) the training and assessment of team coordination skills in dynamic environments. Selected Publications: 1. Taekman JM, Hobbs G, Barber L, Phillips-Bute, BG, Wright, M, Newman, MD, Stafford-Smith, M. Preliminary report on the use of high-fidelity simulation in the training of study coordinators conducting a clinical research protocol. Anesth Analg. 2004;99(2):521-527. 2. Wright MC, Taekman JM, Endsley MR. Objective measures of situation awareness in a simulated medical environment. Qual Saf Health Care. 2004;13 (Suppl 1):i65-i71. 3. Wright MC, Kaber DB. Effects of automation of information processing functions on teamwork. Hum Factors. 2005;47(1):50-66. 4. Wright MC, Taekman JM, Barber L, Hobbs G, Newman MF, Stafford-Smith M. The use of high-fidelity patient simulation as an evaluative tool in the development of clinical research protocols and procedures. Contemp Clin Trials. 2005; 26:646-659. 5. Kaber DB, Wright MC, Prinzel LJ, Clamann MP. Adaptive automation of human-machine system information processing functions. Hum Factors. 2005; 47(4):730-741. 6. Kaber DB, Wright MC, and Sheik-Nainer M. Investigation of multi-modal interface features for adaptive automation of a human robot system. Int J Human Comput Stud. 2005; 65(1):527-540. 7. Taekman JM, Wright MC, Time of Death? (invited manuscript), AHRQ WebMM. Available at: http://webmm.ahrq.gov/. September 2005. 8. Wright MC, Phillips-Bute B, Mark JB, Stafford-Smith M, Grichnik KP, Andregg BC, Taekman JM. Time of day effects on the incidence of anesthetic adverse events. Qual Saf Health Care, 2006; 15(4) 258-263. 9. Taekman, JM, Hobbs, GW, Wright, MC. Intraoperative apnea: Medication error with disclosure. Simulation in Health Care, 2007; 2(1): 39-42. 10. Marks LB, Light KL, Hubbs JL, Georgas DL, Jones EL, Wright MC, Willett CG, Yin FF. The Impact of Advanced Technologies on Treatment Deviations in Radiation Treatment Delivery. Int J Radiation Oncology, Biol, and Phys, 2007; 69(5):1579-1586. 11. Wright MC, Petrusa ER, Griffin KL, Phillips-Bute BG, Hobbs GW, Taekman JM. Assessing teamwork in medical education and practice: Relating behavioral teamwork ratings and clinical performance. Medical Teacher (In press).

LEARNER OUTCOMES:

Describe techniques/approaches that can be applied in radiation oncology clinic to minimize treatment delivery errors.
Describe the underlying principles of human factors engineering and recognize benefits of applying human factors design principles and analysis methods in the radiation oncology clinic.
Discuss the types and causes of errors in radiation oncology clinic.