1. Northern Ireland Simulation and Human Factors Network
Annual Autumn Conference - 20th October 2017
Riddel Hall, QUB
“Theory into practice: Using simulation and Human Factors training to improve patient Safety”
This inter-professional conference attracted healthcare professionals from many different disciplines to include nurses, doctors, dentists, pharmacists, resuscitation officers, technicians and clinical academics and was massively over-subscribed reflecting the interest and enthusiasm for simulation based education. The conference was supported by industry sponsorship and provided an opportunity for individuals to present their simulation work in the form of presentations and a poster competition for the opportunity of winning a cash prize at the end.
The Keynote speakers included Mrs Margaret Murphy, a patient safety advocate and the External Lead Advisor of WHO Patients for Patient Safety, who opened the conference with a very inspiring talk about the death of her son as a result of medical error and how this has fuelled her work in seeing adverse incidents as a catalyst for change and opportunity for learning, identifying areas for improvement and preventing recurrence. The morning was chaired by Dr Crina Burlacu, a Consultant Anaesthetist and the Director of Simulation for Training at the College of Anaesthetists in Ireland.
We had a showcase of some excellent examples of simulation based education which is going on in the region from speakers Dr Andrew Topping, a consultant Anaesthetist in the Northern Trust, Sister Majella Dillon from the Royal Victoria hospital Intensive Care Unit, and a combined talk from doctors Richard Corry and Richard Conn on prescribing practices.

2. Northern Ireland Simulation and Human Factors Network
Annual Autumn Conference - 20th October 2017
Riddel Hall, QUB
“Theory into practice: Using simulation and Human Factors training to improve patient Safety”
The talks were followed by a series of parallel workshops which included “how to design simulation Scenarios”, “Using Human factors Map to navigate medication errors” and “Wrong sided errors in healthcare”.
After lunch we had another series of parallel workshops including “inter-professional Undergraduate Education”, “Multi-disciplinary training involving the School of Drama” and “How do you run an in-situ simulation programme”.
The day was finished off by a talk on Human factors and metacognition by Mr Ian Walsh a Clinical Academic at Queen’s University Belfast and Academic Lead for Patient Safety and Acute Clinical Care at the Belfast Trust.
We have obtained excellent verbal feedback from all of those who have attended the conference and are awaiting the written feedback as well. The level of enthusiasm which was generated has pushed us to organizing the next conference in Autumn 2018 with an increased availability in those who can attend due to popular demand.
For regular updates on simulation based education and events and to view the Conference video please visit our website:
Please also keep a look out for future advertisements of our next conference.
If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact the NISHFN secretary via at:
Edited in November 2017 by Dr Lorraine Bouzan, ADEPT Simulation Fellow 2017/18, ST4 Emergency Medicine