The rise of human factors: optimising performance of individuals and teams to improve patients’ outcomes

The improvement of outcomes has always been important for surgeons. This aim has been supported by the evolution of science in different fields, from medicine to technology. The majority of successes have been achieved working under the assumption that good surgical outcomes are mainly a result of technical skills. This model, although correct, is not exhaustive and has left out a number of variables that affect outcomes, of which a number can be grouped under the label of non-technical skills, which is a subset of human factors