Cognitive failures and accidents

How Do Psychology Professors View the Relation Between Scientific Knowledge and Its Applicability and Societal Relevance?

How do researchers in psychology view the relation between scientific knowledge, its applicability, and its societal relevance? Most research on psychological science and its benefits to society is discussed from a bird's eye view (a meta-scientific perspective), by identifying general trends such as psychology's dominant focus on lab-based experiments and general descriptive theories. In recent years, several critics have argued that this focus has come at the cost of reduced practical and societal relevance. In this study, we interviewed Dutch psychology professors to gauge their views about the relation between psychological research and its relevance to society. We found that psychology professors engaged in a variety of activities to engage science with society, from work in clinical and applied settings, to consultancy, education, and science communication. However, we found that the role of theory when applying scientific knowledge to practical problems is far from straightforward. While most participants regarded theories as relevant to understanding general contexts of application, psychological theories were seldom directly related to specific applications. We compare and discuss our findings in the light of recent discussions about the lack of applicability and societal relevance of psychological science.

The Four Factors of Mind Wandering Questionnaire: Content, Construct, and Clinical Validity

Despite great interest in Mind Wandering, a fully validated questionnaire has been lacking. The Four Factors of Mind Wandering (4FMW) Questionnaire, presented here, meets this demand. First, 80 items were judged for content validity by two panels of experts. Those items that survived this content validity assessment were then tested using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses on two independent samples of young adults. The 16 resulting items were shown to cluster into four factors (i.e., Failure in social interaction, Failure in interaction with objects, Unawareness, and Inattention). The 4FMW questionnaire showed good reliability, robust structure, and acceptable goodness-of-fit indices, as well as good convergent validity with another Mind Wandering questionnaire. Importantly, the 4FMW questionnaire was able to discriminate between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms. The 4FMW Questionnaire is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing mind wandering in the young adult population.

Development of a novel hybrid cognitive model validation framework for implementation under COVID-19 restrictions

The purpose of this study was to develop a method for validation of cognitive models consistent with the remote working situation arising from COVID-19 restrictions in place in Spring 2020. We propose a framework for structuring validation tasks and applying a scoring system to determine initial model validity. We infer an objective validity level for cognitive models requiring no in-person observations, and minimal reliance on remote usability and observational studies. This approach has been derived from the necessity of the COVID-19 response, however, we believe this approach can lower costs and reduce timelines to initial validation in post-Covid-19 studies, enabling faster progress in the development of cognitive engineering systems. A three-stage hybrid validation framework was developed based on existing validation methods and was adapted to enable compliance with the specific limitations derived from COVID-19 response restrictions. This validation method includes elements of argument-based validation combined with a cognitive walkthrough analysis, and reflexivity assessments. We conducted a case study of the proposed framework on a developmental cognitive model of cardiovascular surgery to demonstrate application of a real-world validation task. This framework can be easily and quickly implemented by a small research team and provides a structured validation method to increase confidence in assumptions as well as to provide evidence to support validity claims in the early stages of model development.

Poor Work-Life Balance May Lead to Impaired Cognitive Function in Bus Drivers

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to investigate how work-life balance (WLB) corresponds to cognitive functions and which mental health conditions play a mediating role in this association among Korean bus drivers.

METHODS

The cognitive failures questionnaire (CFQ) was administered to 347 bus drivers in Seoul, Korea. The differences in the CFQ and WLB scores were examined by analysis of covariance, and a structural equation model (SEM) was constructed for investigating the mediating role of mental health indices between WLB and CFQ scores.

RESULTS

Compared with the highest subjective work-life balance group, the lowest group had significantly higher CFQ scores. In the SEM, anxiety was a mediating variable between subjective work-life balance and CFQ scores.

CONCLUSIONS

Work-life balance is associated with cognitive failures among Korean bus drivers, and anxiety was a key mediating mental health indicator.

Reputation, Goodwill, and Loss: Entering the Employee Training Audit Equation

Organizations, like individuals, have reputations that create consequences. Six features of organizational reputations are reviewed. A model for how organizational reputation is created is presented, with special attention to the role of employee training in reputation formation. The effects of organizational reputation on a firm's financial performance are reviewed, particularly in terms of goodwill valuation. Employee training practices are identified as one way by which the risks of damage to organizational reputation can be reduced—or enhanced. Specific illustrations of how training enhanced reputation (Navy Seals, FBI, airport screeners) are noted, followed by examples of six different forms of employee training failures that can create negative reputational effects. Based on this analysis, a dozen assessment questions are listed that should be used in auditing the risks to organizational reputation from employee training.

Quantifying the influence of safe road systems and legal licensing age on road mortality among young adolescents: steps towards system thinking

Based on existing literature, a system thinking approach was used to set up a conceptual model on the interrelationships among the components influencing adolescent road mortality, distinguishing between components at the individual level and at the system level. At the individual level the role of risk behaviour (sometimes deliberate and sometimes from inexperience or other non-deliberate causes) in adolescent road mortality is well documented. However, little is known about the extent to which the 'road system' itself may also have an impact on younger adolescents' road mortality. This, by providing a safe or unsafe road environment for all road users (System-induced exposure) and by allowing access to high-risk vehicles at a young or older age through the legal licensing age. This study seeks to explore these relationships by analysing the extent to which the road mortality of 10 to 17 year olds in various jurisdictions can be predicted from the System-induced Exposure (SiE) in a jurisdiction and from its legal licensing age to drive motor vehicles. SiE was operationalized as the number of road fatalities per 10(5) inhabitants/all ages together, but excluding the 10 to 17 year olds. Data on road fatalities during the years 2001 through 2008 were obtained from the OECD International Road Traffic Accident Database (IRTAD) and from the USA NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) database for 29 early and 10 late licensing jurisdictions. Linear mixed models were fitted with annual 'Adolescent road mortality per capita' for 2001 through 2008 as the dependent variable, and time-dependent 'SiE' and time-independent 'Licensing system' as predictor variables. To control for different levels of motorisation, the time-dependent variable 'Annual per capita vehicle distance travelled' was used as a covariate. Licensing system of a jurisdiction was entered as a categorical predictor variable with late licensing countries as a baseline group. The study found support for the protective effects of SiE on adolescent safety. If SiE increased by one unit, the mortality rate of 10 to 17 year olds increased by 0.487 units. No support was found for a protective effect of late licensing for this age group. Thus, compared to young adolescents who are allowed to drive motor vehicles in early licensing jurisdictions, late licensing does not provide extra protection for pre-license adolescents. This finding is probably the result of the high risks associated with alternative transport modes, such as moped riding and bicycling. Also, the fact that the study only included risks to young adolescents themselves and did not include the risks they might pose to other road users and passengers may have contributed to this finding, because such risks are greater when driving a motor vehicle than riding a moped or a bicycle. Therefore, to advance our understanding of the impact of licensing systems, more study is needed into the benefits of early or late licensing, thereby considering these wider effects as well.

Exploring the burden of emergency care: predictors of stress-health outcomes in emergency nurses

AIMS

This paper is a report of a study that examines (1) whether emergency nurses differ from a general hospital nursing comparison group in terms of job and organizational characteristics and (2) to what extent these characteristics predict job satisfaction, turnover intention, work engagement, fatigue and psychosomatic distress in emergency nurses.

BACKGROUND

The work environment and job characteristics of nurses are important predictors of stress-health outcomes. Emergency nurses are particularly exposed to stressful events and unpredictable work conditions.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study (N = 254) was carried out in 15 emergency departments of Belgian general hospitals in 2007-2008 by means of the Leiden Quality of Work Questionnaire for Nurses, the Checklist Individual Strength, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and the Brief Symptom Inventory.

RESULTS

Emergency nurses report more time pressure and physical demands, lower decision authority, less adequate work procedures and less reward than a general hospital nursing population. They report, however, more opportunity for skill discretion and better social support by colleagues. Work-time demands appear to be important determinants of psychosomatic complaints and fatigue in emergency nurses. Apart from personal characteristics, decision authority, skill discretion, adequate work procedures, perceived reward and social support by supervisors prove to be strong determinants of job satisfaction, work engagement and lower turnover intention in emergency nurses.

CONCLUSION

Emergency departments should be screened regularly on job and organizational characteristics to identify determinants of stress-health outcomes that can be the target of preventive interventions.

Job characteristics, organizational conditions, and distress/well-being among Italian and Dutch nurses: a cross-national comparison

BACKGROUND

Among health care workers, nursing has been identified as particularly stressful. Several studies have shown cross-national differences in nurses' levels of occupational stress and burnout.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of the study was to compare job characteristics, organizational conditions, and strain reactions in Italian (N = 609) and Dutch (N = 873) nurses. It was also examined how and to what extent various job characteristics and organizational conditions explain occupational and general strain.

DESIGN

The study was a cross-sectional questionnaire survey.

METHOD

Based on the Job Demand-Control-Support Model and the Tripod accident causation model, respectively job characteristics and organizational conditions were assessed as independent variables. Strain was operationalized in terms of job satisfaction, burnout, and psychosomatic complaints.

RESULTS

Italian nurses perceived their job characteristics, organizational conditions, and well-being as more unfavourable than their Dutch colleagues. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that high job demands, low skill discretion, and low social support from supervisor were the most consistent predictors of occupational and general strain across samples. Organizational conditions added significantly to the prediction of job satisfaction and burnout. Furthermore, lack of personnel was a stronger predictor of burnout in the Italian nurses than in the Dutch nurses.

CONCLUSIONS

The study provides cross-national confirmation of the impact of job characteristics and organizational conditions on nurses' well-being. Differences in job characteristics partially explain the observed cross-national differences in distress/well-being. Furthermore, some evidence for crossnational differential effects of job characteristics and organizational conditions on well-being was found.

Patient safety: latent risk factors

The person-centred analysis and prevention approach has long dominated proposals to improve patient safety in healthcare. In this approach, the focus is on the individual responsible for making an error. An alternative is the systems-centred approach, in which attention is paid to the organizational factors that create precursors for individual errors. This approach assumes that since humans are fallible, systems must be designed to prevent humans from making errors or to be tolerant to those errors. The questions raised by this approach might, for example, include asking why an individual had specific gaps in their knowledge, experience, or ability. The systems approach focuses on working conditions rather than on errors of individuals, as the likelihood of specific errors increases with unfavourable conditions. Since the factors that promote errors are not directly visible in the working environment, they are described as latent risk factors (LRFs). Safety failures in anaesthesia, in particular, and medicine, in general, result from multiple unfavourable LRFs, so we propose that effective interventions require that attention is paid to interactions between multiple factors and actors. Understanding how LRFs affect safety can enable us to design more effective control measures that will impact significantly on both individual performance and patient outcomes.

Medical accidents in hospital care: applications of failure analysis to hospital quality appraisal

BACKGROUND

Medical accidents can be understood as patient injuries that result from interaction of physician or nurse error during the provision of care with faults latent in the hospital system. Medical accidents are not random events but are events with discoverable associations between human error and system faults through application of methods of failure analysis in the evaluation of patient injuries.

CASE ANALYSIS

The goal of a failure analysis is to make apparent system faults that are otherwise obscured. Analyses seek to answer several questions. What characteristics of the system failed to prevent a slip, mistake, or rule violation from evolving into an accident? What system changes might have offset, or prevented, the active error from contributing to the sequence of events culminating in injury? Brief descriptions of eight cases of apparent medical accidents are provided in this article. For three of these cases, the failure analysis approach is used to identify the sequence of events contributing to the patient injury; identify events within this sequence that represent active errors; and identify points within this sequence that represent system faults which failed to prevent the occurrence of subsequent events.

CONCLUSIONS

Within the framework of current methods of hospital quality appraisal, attribution of patient injury historically has focused on clinician error. Yet unless detected and corrected, system faults persist and create circumstances of "accidents waiting to happen." Understanding of casual factors in the evolution of medical accidents can be usefully applied toward improvement in the quality of hospital appraisal of iatrogenic injuries and, through that application, toward reduction in the rates of adverse outcomes.

Human errors in fatal and serious occupational accidents in Finland

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of human error on industrial accidents. One hundred and seventy-eight fatalities and 99 serious accidents were classified according to Rasmussen's SRK model. Of accidents, 84-94% were due mainly to human error. Most of the errors were skill-based, next came rule-based errors and then knowledge-based errors. The type of error was analyzed by age, work experience and work tasks of the victims. The results showed that the SRK model is suitable for analyzing accidents in industrial work using rather simple technology.