A renowned European specialist is among a number of influential figures to hail a groundbreaking training course as leading a ‘cultural shift’ within the veterinary industry.
Martin Whiting, European veterinary specialist in animal welfare science, ethics and law, said a unique human factors course based in the British Airways Global Learning Academy at Heathrow Airport, is playing a key part in helping the industry continue to improve patient safety and workplace environments.
The innovative course, which is running again on Friday, December 1, is delivered by Trainetics, a human factors and leadership training consultancy, with delegates able to take control of an Airbus or Boeing commercial jet, courtesy of state-of-the-art flight and cabin simulators airside at Heathrow.
The fully immersive experience is all part of the human factors science involved in veterinary leadership and provides a unique experience to improve situational awareness and decision-making.
Dr Whiting is one of a number of veterinary professionals to hail the pioneering course and said: “Understanding and engaging in human factors is a cultural shift for veterinary teams in way that can both increase patient safety and improve the workplace environment.
“Trainetics has created an incredibly engaging and impactful course to introduce veterinary teams to this important concept and their course provides tools and frameworks to help apply this directly into practice life.
“For those new to human factors, I would thoroughly recommend experiencing the insight they can provide.”
Professor Vicky Lipscomb, RCVS and European specialist in small animal surgery at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) University of London, said the bespoke course could carry significant benefits to the industry.
She said: “The potential impact of this human factors course on the veterinary industry is huge.
“It is something which I believe vets will find incredibly insightful as part of their career progression and it can help us improve how we treat our patients every day.”
Tom Cardy, European and RCVS specialist in veterinary neurology at Linnaeus-owned Cave Veterinary Specialists in Somerset, is part of the Trainetics veterinary team.
He explained: “Human factors is the science that uses many disciplines, such as anatomy, physiology, physics and biomechanics, to understand the interactions between humans and other elements of a system in order to optimise human wellbeing and overall system performance.
“Within the veterinary industry, human factors is still relatively new, however, its true scope within the industry lies in applying systems-thinking methodology to our complex profession to improve the way we do things every day.”
Trainetics has operated in various sectors such as aviation, ergonomics and human healthcare for many years and, as part of spreading its wings into the veterinary sector, has a team of leading industry figures spearheading its offering.
Working alongside Tom and other veterinary figures such as Linnaeus clinical quality lead Bradley Viner and the RVC’s Andrew Fiske-Jackson as part of the Trainetics team, is Professor Holger Volk, an EBVS and RCVS specialist in veterinary neurology.
Prof Volk said: “When I first had the chance to become consciously incompetent in a flight simulator at BA with Trainetics, it was a fantastic opportunity to learn about my own limitations and how to better overcome them.
“As part of these courses, we learn error is ubiquitous and success is built around minimising and dampening out its effects.
“There are other key aspects such as solving problems by modifying the design of the system to better aid people, rather than teaching people to modify their behaviour, and a focus on rigorous, evidence-based solutions to problems.”
Trainetics veterinary courses are based at the British Airways Global Learning Academy at Heathrow and include flight simulation, individual development, workshops and seminars such as situational awareness, decision-making, workload management and optimising organisational performance.
The next veterinary course will be taking place on Friday, December 1.
