The aim of a fireside session/chat is to learn a bit more about our Course Leads and humanise human factors for our students. We spend 30-40 mins, with a streaming fireplace roaring and burning in the background whereby one of the Programme Directors will informally interview our Course Leads and tutors with reflective questions. This enables tutors to give a more personal/professional insight into their career in Human Factors Science – students get to understand what makes them tick – that kind of thing.
Ultimately, this also aims to bring to life the tutor for students so that in the online discussion board interaction they feel that they can build a closer relationship with them based on them as humans with a personal life story and journey.
As an example please see below a recent fireside session with Emma Howie- our Course 5 Lead. Emma is a Surgical Registrar and Clinical Research Fellow, as well as a Discussion Board Tutor and a graduate tutor. Therefore Emma was a student initially on the course so has been in the same position as many of our students previously.
These are the questions that Emma Howie was asked:
- What inspired you to delve into the world of human factors and surgical non-technical skills, and what keeps you passionate about it?
- We've all heard about the intense moments in the OR. Can you share a memorable experience where strong non-technical skills really made a difference in a surgical procedure?
- You have expertise in a diverse array of pursuits: Surgery, music, sports, research and public service to name a few. What do you think are the secret ingredients for fostering great performance across domains? What do these activities have in common?
- Are there any common misconceptions about clinical human factors that you'd like to debunk?
- What's one piece of advice or a tip you'd give to aspiring professionals who want to make a difference using clinical human factors?
In ancient Persian mythology “fire” represents “heart” and these sessions attempt to inject a sense of heart into what our tutors and students are doing in their everyday lives - as after all they are the highly driven and passionate cutting edge pioneers of Human Factors science and are part of a growing community of people attempting to better understand human behaviour in the healthcare workplace.