Human Factors in Practice: Strengthening Culture, Performance, and Safety

AfPP’s Human Factors Symposium is an essential learning opportunity for perioperative professionals committed to advancing safer surgery and strengthening theatre culture.

This focused one-day event explores the real human factors challenges affecting perioperative teams today - discussing real stories, real challenges, and real solutions from the heart of perioperative practice. Through powerful case studies and relatable day‑to‑day examples, you’ll uncover what truly drives safer surgery - from leadership behaviours and role boundaries to staffing pressures, robotics, and the hidden toll of burnout.

You’ll walk away with practical, ready‑to‑use learning that strengthens communication, reduces risk, and builds a more supportive, high‑performing theatre environment. 5 CPD hours awarded for attendance.

Disclaimer: All timings, topics, sessions, and speakers may change at any time. Photography and filming will occur throughout the event, and by attending you consent to the use of your image for post‑event marketing unless you inform event staff on arrival.

Info: This session examines how leadership and followership operate as complementary behaviours that shape psychological safety and performance in perioperative teams. It highlights how staff can shift between directing, supporting and challenging roles to maintain clarity, adaptability and shared situational awareness. Drawing on research into team dynamics, HF and Safety I/Safety II thinking, the session uses examples from clinical practice to illustrate environmental pressures, communication demands and strategies that strengthen high performance teamwork and effective disruption management. LO: 1.Differentiate leadership and followership behaviours and explain how each contributes to safe, effective team performance
2. Apply principles of psychological safety and HF to enhance communication, shared awareness and adaptive decision making in clinical practice
3. Identify strategies to strengthen high performance teamwork, including managing disruptions & navigating environmental pressures

Info: This session explores the growing staffing crisis and widening training gaps affecting theatres today. Using real examples and frontline stories, we’ll examine how shortages, skill mix challenges, and rapid turnover impact safety, workflow, and team confidence. Delegates will gain practical ideas to strengthen onboarding, support developing staff, and build more resilient teams despite ongoing workforce pressures.

Info: As advanced perioperative roles continue to evolve, clarity of scope is essential to patient safety. This session explores the difference between structured role development and informal “role creep.”
Through a human factors' lens, it examines how ambiguity in scope can lead to blurred accountability, increased cognitive load and hidden organisational risk.
Practical strategies for safe integration of advanced roles will be discussed, including compulsory academic competency frameworks, consultant sign-off and governance oversight, supporting defensible and sustainable role progression within surgical teams. LO: 1. To understand why role clarity matters for SFAs and advanced practitioners, and how it supports safe practice in theatre.

2. To explore the difference between healthy role development and unintentional role creep within surgical teams.

3. To recognise practical ways we can protect professional boundaries while still progressing and growing advanced roles safely.

Info: This session explores how perioperative teams can prepare, communicate, and perform effectively in high-pressure, unpredictable situations such as major trauma and multi-casualty incidents. Drawing on real-world experience, the session highlights lessons learned from live events, identifies the key enablers of effective theatre response, and offers practical strategies for building resilient, well-coordinated teams capable of delivering safe care under extreme conditions. Participants will leave with practical tools to enhance preparedness, leadership, and readiness. // LEARNING OBJECTIVES: 1. Identify common barriers and breakdowns in communication, coordination, and leadership during emergencies.
2. Apply practical strategies to build confidence and team readiness for high-stakes scenarios.
3. Reflect on real-world case experiences to understand how preparation, rehearsal, and debriefing shape performance. 4. Recognise leadership and awareness for maintaining calm and control.

Info: Robotic surgery is reshaping the modern operating theatre, but its rapid adoption brings new human factors challenges that teams must navigate with confidence. This session explores how robotics changes communication, situational awareness, workflow, and team roles - often in ways that aren’t immediately obvious. Using real theatre stories, practical examples, and case‑based scenarios, we’ll examine the pressures created by altered team positioning, reduced tactile feedback, steep learning curves, and shifting responsibilities.

The session highlights where risks can emerge and how human factors principles can support safer, smoother integration of robotic systems.

Info: This session examines the clinical, organisational, and psychological impact of high-functioning burnout in healthcare. We will explore why conventional wellness models often fail under real-world pressure, and how chronic stress affects cognition, empathy, and decision-making. Attendees will gain awareness of the early warning signs of emotional and physiological depletion, particularly in professionals who appear to be coping. The session will offer practical insights and outline a range of evidence-based approaches clinicians can explore to sustain their performance and wellbeing - without compromising their health, relationships, or professional integrity. LO: 1. Understand the hidden signs and clinical impact of high-functioning burnout in healthcare professionals.

2. Explore why many workplace wellness strategies fall short in high-pressure clinical environments.

3. Gain insight into evidence-informed approaches to support personal and professional sustainability in demanding.

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Host or Publisher The Association for Perioperative Practice (AfPP)