Distractions and interruptions are common during delivery of health care. In this evaluation of 194 cardiac catheterization procedures at a single hospital, the authors found that fewer than half of all procedures were completed without interruption or distraction. The authors propose several actions such as the use of a ‘sterile cockpit’ to reduce distractions and improve patient safety.

Human error can contribute to failures in health care. Using examples from aviation, this review explores how human factors can affect safety in the surgical environment. The authors suggest that focusing on addressing human factors can help health care to achieve high reliability.

This commentary discusses how crew resource management concepts, briefings, and other human factors-based tactics can be applied to oral and maxillofacial surgery to improve safety.