Excercise

Small Group Teaching exercise:

1. Divide the audience into groups of five people each.
2. Provide each group with paper and pencil.
3. Assign each group the task of writing directions for putting on an overcoat. Give them 5- 10 minutes to finish the instructions.
4. Bring the group back together. Ask for one volunteer to follow the directions that will be read aloud by a member of each group. Provide an overcoat hung on a hanger.
5. One by one (or use one group as the sample), ask each group to read aloud the directions and have the volunteer follow the directions exactly as read.
6. Give a prize (maybe a set of hangers) to the group that is most successful.
7. Debrief: Ask the whole audience why this task was so difficult.
8. Note answers in terms of human factors:
   • Different mental models (does anyone start with taking the coat from the hanger? Does everyone understand each direction to mean the same thing)
   • Design: (Is the space big enough to put on the coat? Is it difficult to work with a flimsy metal hanger? Motor skills: If the person isn’t instructed how to get his arm in the sleeve, does he trip and fall over the coat? Do the directions account for both right-handed and left-handed people?)
   • Human communication (Was it easy to agree on language for the directions? Note how difficult it is to clearly communicate with others. After you all agreed, could the volunteer easily don the coat using your wording?)

How can this small example be used to reduce errors in your own health care setting?