How to … Establish a Human Factors Clinical Fellowship

The importance of human factors (HF) is well recognised in healthcare, but clinicians are rarely given dedicated time to study HF and understand how to use it practically in the workplace. Clinical fellowships such as education or simulation fellowships, are commonly undertaken by resident doctors for personal and career development, but HF fellowships remain uncommon. Recognising the need for improved HF education and patient safety, a neonatal intensive care unit in the United Kingdom founded an HF fellowship programme in 2017. These fellowships place an HF fellow on the front-line of clinical work, where they are well positioned to analyse HF within the workplace and effect sustainable safety improvements to benefit patients, staff and the hospital. Educational advantages for the fellow are wide-ranging, including learning about HF concepts and how to apply them, as well as developing leadership, management, communication and research skills. This article outlines how this unique and flexible HF fellowship was established. We suggest that such a programme is easy to initiate, provided there is a suitable funding and a supervisor with HF expertise to guide the resident. HF fellowships can be employed in any speciality, and we recommend that more HF fellowships should be established in postgraduate medical training worldwide.