PEXiS (Performance Experts in Safety)

David Woods, Ph.D. at the GAPS Center has developed a four-module master's class in human factors in healthcare: PEXiS 1 Behind the Label "Human Error'-An Introduction to Complexity and Safety; PEXiS 2 Escape from Data Overload: Design decisions to mitigate information overload; PEXiS 3 Process-Tracing: Analyzing Human Performance in Context; and PEXiS 4 Safety Culture Issues. The PEXiS curriculum is designed to explore and promote patient safety through a sequential, focused examination of human performance, using strategies developed in high risk industries, accident analysis, and human factors methodology. The course intends to promote a sophisticated adverse event analysis through scrutiny of incidents and accidents within a wide spectrum of industries.

In PEXiS 1, using a hybrid of self-study and face-to-face encounters, participants examine basic concepts in how complex systems fail and how people contribute to these failures and how such failures are averted by identifying gaps in the system of care. Participants analyze multiple accidents from healthcare and other high complex industries, including the Fox River Grove school bus/train collision, Therac 25 overdoses, and Texas A&M Bonfire collapse, using multiple sources of information, including original accident reports. PEXiS 2 examines the impact of data overload on human performance. PEXiS 3 goes to the essence of investigation tasking participants to analyze human performance in context through a detailed investigation of a specific medical accident, tracing out all relevant human performance factors.

To learn more about PEXiS visit the PEXiS course module, which is linked below.  The Pexis Course may be used as a learning tool by interested parties and organizations. The website contents are, however, copyrighted by the authors and may not be reproduced in any form without the express written consent of the authors.

BACK to the Patient Safety Concepts page