Evaluation of aviation-based safety team training in a hospital in The Netherlands.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the implementation of a broad-scale team resource management (TRM) program on safety culture in a Dutch eye hospital, detailing the program's content and procedures. Aviation-based TRM training is recognized as a useful approach to increase patient safety, but little is known about how it affects safety culture.

Design/methodology/approach: Pre- and post-assessments of the hospitals' safety culture was based on interviews with ophthalmologists, anesthesiologists, residents, nurses, and support staff.

Safety by design: effects of operating room floor marking on the position of surgical devices to promote clean air flow compliance and minimise infection risks.

Objective: To evaluate the use of floor marking on the positioning of surgical devices within the clean air flow in an operating room (OR) to minimise infection risk. Laminar flow clean air systems are important in preventing infection in ORs but, for optimal results, surgical devices must be correctly positioned.

Methods: The authors evaluated floor marking in four ORs at an eye hospital using time series analysis.

Diffusing aviation innovations in a hospital in The Netherlands.

Background: Many authors have advocated the diffusion of innovations from other high-risk industries into health care to improve safety. The aviation industry is comparable to health care because of its similarities in (a) the use of technology, (b) the requirement of highly specialized professional teams, and (c) the existence of risk and uncertainties. For almost 20 years, The Rotterdam Eye Hospital (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) has been engaged in diffusing several innovations adapted from aviation.