Human Factors in Healthcare: Designing Safe Systems

Janet Anderson is Professor of Human Factors in the Department of Anaesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at Monash University, an honorary professor at the University of Stavanger, Norway. She has held academic positions at University of Surrey (2004-2008), King’s College London (2008-2020), and City, University of London (2020-2021). She is a long-standing member of the UK Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors and was the leader of the Healthcare Special Interest Group in 2013-16. The aim of her research is to improve the quality and safety of care using Human Factors theories and frameworks. She is an expert in resilient healthcare systems, organisations and teams and has pioneered the development of theories, methods and guidance in this area.

Garry Mann is a Human Factors Research Assistant at the Department of Anaesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at Monash University, and member of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (US). He graduated from the University of Queensland (2019) and University of Technology, Sydney (2012) and has a strong interest in cognitive psychology and decision making. His Honours thesis investigated the ability of non-clinicians to comprehend novel speech-based alarm sounds while performing simultaneous linguistic or spatial tasks. His current work focuses on quality and safety improvement for healthcare workers and patients, with an emphasis on perioperative care. Garry previously worked as an analytical chemist, specialising in radiochemistry and has a keen interest in forensic science.

Raphaela Schnittker currently works at Safer Care Victoria (Victoria, Australia) as a Human Factors Specialist. She is also an Adjunct Lecturer at the Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine at Monash University. Raphaela holds a PhD in Human Factors from Monash University as well as a Masters degree in Human Factors Psychology and a Bachelors degree in Psychology from the University of Twente (Enschede, the Netherlands). Raphaela has worked in applying Human Factors science to healthcare settings for the last ten years, both in Academia and government.