there will be accidents and errors leaving everyone wondering why did this happen! Even the most competent and alert individuals can make errors. The classic example being ‘pilot error’ when an aviation accident occurs, even if the pilot alone is not at fault. Indeed, it is from aviation domain did emergence of human error models and mitigation techniques arose.

Whether it is patient’s room or the cockpit, Clinicians or the Pilots have to be immersed in their operational environment to establish a situational understanding. For highly skilled individuals such as Clinicians, skill-based error are very likely – simply put lapses in actions or judgments. High workload in complex environment probably increases the likelihood of (skill-based) error. So do we train Clinicians more to reduce error, penalize them when they commit an (unintentional) error? Going back to aviation example, in the wake of errors, pilots are retrained to mitigate future errors and loopholes are closed. However, there is something else within aviation that reduces probability of errors – the use of automation and technology to complement pilot performance, increase situational awareness, and reduce workload.

Traditionally, healthcare has lagged in technological adoption in manners similar to other safety-critical industries. But newer-generation technologies can empower Clinicians to be situationally aware and respond to patient problems. The crux being, if we can enable Clinicians to be aware of patient state of health, build redundancy to catch errors or help reduce workload, then we are improving Clinician performance and patient safety.