Adapting Cognitive Task Analysis Methods for Use in a Large Sample Simulation Study of High-Risk Healthcare Events.

Cognitive task analysis (CTA) methods are traditionally used to conduct small-sample, in-depth studies. In this case study, CTA methods were adapted for a large multi-site study in which 102 anesthesiologists worked through four different high-fidelity simulated high-consequence incidents. Cognitive interviews were used to elicit decision processes following each simulated incident. In this paper, we highlight three practical challenges that arose: (1) standardizing the interview techniques for use across a large, distributed team of diverse backgrounds; (2) developing effective training; and (3) developing a strategy to analyze the resulting large amount of qualitative data. We reflect on how we addressed these challenges by increasing standardization, developing focused training, overcoming social norms that hindered interview effectiveness, and conducting a staged analysis. We share findings from a preliminary analysis that provides early validation of the strategy employed. Analysis of a subset of 64 interview transcripts using a decompositional analysis approach suggests that interviewers successfully elicited descriptions of decision processes that varied due to the different challenges presented by the four simulated incidents. A holistic analysis of the same 64 transcripts revealed individual differences in how anesthesiologists interpreted and managed the same case.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on American College of Surgeons-Accredited Education Institutes & American Society of Anesthesiologists-Simulation Education Network: Opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges for simulation programs including American College of Surgeons Accredited Education Institutes and American Society of Anesthesiologists Simulation Education Network. American College of Surgeons Accredited Education Institutes and American Society of Anesthesiologists Simulation Education Network leadership were surveyed to identify opportunities to enhance patient safety through simulation. METHODS: Between January and June 2021, surveys consisting of 3 targeted domains: (I) Changing practice; (II) Contributions and recognition; and (III) Moving ahead were distributed to 100 American College of Surgeons Accredited Education Institutes and 54 American Society of Anesthesiologists Simulation Education Network centers. Responses were combined and percent frequencies reported. RESULTS: Ninety-six respondents, representing 51 (51%) American College of Surgeons Accredited Education Institutes, 17 (31.5%) American Society of Anesthesiologists Simulation Education Network, and 28 dually accredited centers, completed the survey. Change of practice. Although 20.3% of centers stayed fully operational at the COVID-19 onset, 82% of all centers closed: 32% were closed less than 3 months, 28% were closed 3 to 6 months, 8% were closed 7 to 9 months, and 32% remained closed as of June 6, 2021. Most impacted activities were large-group instruction and team training. Sixty-nine percent of programs converted in-person to virtual programs. Contributions. The top reported innovative contributions included policies (80%), curricula (80%), and scholarly work (74%), Moving ahead. The respondents' top concerns were returning to high-quality training to best address learners' deficiencies and re-engagement of re-directed training programs. When asked "How the American College of Surgeons/American Society of Anesthesiologists Programs could best assist your simulation center goals?" the top responses were "facilitate collaboration" and "publish best practices from this work." CONCLUSION: The Pandemic presented multiple challenges and opportunities for simulation centers. Opportunities included collaboration between American College of Surgeons Accredited Education Institutes and the American Society of Anesthesiologists Simulation Education Network to identify best practices and resources needed to enhance patient safety through simulation.

Communication failures contributing to patient injury in anaesthesia malpractice claims☆.

BACKGROUND: Communication amongst team members is critical to providing safe, effective medical care. We investigated the role of communication failures in patient injury using the Anesthesia Closed Claims Project database. METHODS: Claims associated with surgical/procedural and obstetric anaesthesia and postoperative pain management for adverse events from 2004 or later were included. Communication was defined as transfer of information between two or more parties. Failure was defined as communication that was incomplete, inaccurate, absent, or not timely. We classified root causes of failures as content, audience, purpose, or occasion with inter-rater reliability assessed by kappa. Claims with communication failures contributing to injury (injury-related communication failures; n=389) were compared with claims without any communication failures (n=521) using Fisher's exact test, t-test, or Mann-Whitney U-tests. RESULTS: At least one communication failure contributing to patient injury occurred in 43% (n=389) out of 910 claims (κ=0.885). Patients in claims with injury-related communication failures were similar to patients in claims without failures, except that failures were more common in outpatient settings (34% vs 26%; P=0.004). Fifty-two claims had multiple communication failures for a total of 446 injury-related failures, and 47% of failures occurred during surgery, 28% preoperatively, and 23% postoperatively. Content failures (insufficient, inaccurate, or no information transmitted) accounted for 60% of the 446 communication failures. CONCLUSIONS: Communication failure contributed to patient injury in 43% of anaesthesia malpractice claims. Patient/case characteristics in claims with communication failures were similar to those without failures, except that failures were more common in outpatient settings.

High-Fidelity Simulation Education and Crisis Resource Management.

This article explores high-fidelity simulation in anesthesiology education and provides strategies for its use to improve management of critical events. Educational theories that underlie the use of simulation are described. High-fidelity simulation is useful in teaching technical (diagnostic and procedural) and nontechnical (communication and professionalism) skills, including crisis resource management (CRM) skills. The practice of CRM is fundamental to ensuring patient safety during critical events and to the safe practice of anesthesiology, and its critical elements are presented. A discussion of the use of high-fidelity simulation to learn to combine highly complex procedural skills and CRM is also provided.

Simulation-based Assessment of the Management of Critical Events by Board-certified Anesthesiologists.

BACKGROUND: We sought to determine whether mannequin-based simulation can reliably characterize how board-certified anesthesiologists manage simulated medical emergencies. Our primary focus was to identify gaps in performance and to establish psychometric properties of the assessment methods. METHODS: A total of 263 consenting board-certified anesthesiologists participating in existing simulation-based maintenance of certification courses at one of eight simulation centers were video recorded performing simulated emergency scenarios. Each participated in two 20-min, standardized, high-fidelity simulated medical crisis scenarios, once each as primary anesthesiologist and first responder. Via a Delphi technique, an independent panel of expert anesthesiologists identified critical performance elements for each scenario. Trained, blinded anesthesiologists rated video recordings using standardized rating tools. Measures included the percentage of critical performance elements observed and holistic (one to nine ordinal scale) ratings of participant's technical and nontechnical performance. Raters also judged whether the performance was at a level expected of a board-certified anesthesiologist. RESULTS: Rater reliability for most measures was good. In 284 simulated emergencies, participants were rated as successfully completing 81% (interquartile range, 75 to 90%) of the critical performance elements. The median rating of both technical and nontechnical holistic performance was five, distributed across the nine-point scale. Approximately one-quarter of participants received low holistic ratings (i.e., three or less). Higher-rated performances were associated with younger age but not with previous simulation experience or other individual characteristics. Calling for help was associated with better individual and team performance. CONCLUSIONS: Standardized simulation-based assessment identified performance gaps informing opportunities for improvement. If a substantial proportion of experienced anesthesiologists struggle with managing medical emergencies, continuing medical education activities should be reevaluated.

Practice improvements based on participation in simulation for the maintenance of certification in anesthesiology program.

BACKGROUND: This study describes anesthesiologists' practice improvements undertaken during the first 3 yr of simulation activities for the Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology Program. METHODS: A stratified sampling of 3 yr (2010-2012) of participants' practice improvement plans was coded, categorized, and analyzed. RESULTS: Using the sampling scheme, 634 of 1,275 participants in Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology Program simulation courses were evaluated from the following practice settings: 41% (262) academic, 54% (339) community, and 5% (33) military/other. A total of 1,982 plans were analyzed for completion, target audience, and topic. On follow-up, 79% (1,558) were fully completed, 16% (310) were partially completed, and 6% (114) were not completed within the 90-day reporting period. Plans targeted the reporting individual (89% of plans) and others (78% of plans): anesthesia providers (50%), non-anesthesia physicians (16%), and non-anesthesia non-physician providers (26%). From the plans, 2,453 improvements were categorized as work environment or systems changes (33% of improvements), teamwork skills (30%), personal knowledge (29%), handoff (4%), procedural skills (3%), or patient communication (1%). The median word count was 63 (interquartile range, 30 to 126) for each participant's combined plans and 147 (interquartile range, 52 to 257) for improvement follow-up reports. CONCLUSIONS: After making a commitment to change, 94% of anesthesiologists participating in a Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology Program simulation course successfully implemented some or all of their planned practice improvements. This compares favorably to rates in other studies. Simulation experiences stimulate active learning and motivate personal and collaborative practice improvement changes. Further evaluation will assess the impact of the improvements and further refine the program.

Simulation-based education with deliberate practice may improve intraoperative handoff skills: a pilot study.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To examine the results of simulation-based education with deliberate practice on the acquisition of handoff skills by studying resident intraoperative handoff communication performances. DESIGN: Preinvention and postintervention pilot study. SETTING: Simulated operating room of a university-affiliated hospital. MEASUREMENTS: Resident handoff performances during 27 encounters simulating elective surgery were studied. Ten residents (CA-1, CA-2, and CA-3) participated in a one-day simulation-based handoff course. Each resident repeated simulated handoffs to deliberately practice with an intraoperative handoff checklist. One year later, 7 of the 10 residents participated in simulated intraoperative handoffs. All handoffs were videotaped and later scored for accuracy by trained raters. A handoff assessment tool was used to characterize the type and frequency of communication failures. The percentage of handoff errors and omissions were compared before simulation and postsimulation-based education with deliberate practice and at one year following the course. MAIN RESULTS: Initially, the overall communication failure rate, defined as the percentage of handoff omissions plus errors, was 29.7%. After deliberate practice with the intraoperative handoff checklist, the communication failure rate decreased to 16.8%, and decreased further to 13.2% one year after the course. CONCLUSIONS: Simulation-based education using deliberate practice may result in improved intraoperative handoff communication and retention of skills at one year.

Using Simulation Education With Deliberate Practice to Teach Leadership and Resource Management Skills to Senior Resident Code Leaders.

BACKGROUND: Cardiopulmonary arrests are rare, high-stakes events that benefit from using crisis resource management (CRM). Simulation-based education with deliberate practice can promote skill acquisition. OBJECTIVE: We assessed whether using simulation-based education to teach CRM would lead to improved performance, compared to a lecture format. METHODS: We tested third-year internal medicine residents in simulated code scenarios. Participants were randomly assigned to simulation-based education with deliberate practice (SIM) group or lecture (LEC) group. We created a checklist of CRM critical actions (which includes announcing the diagnosis, asking for help/suggestions, and assigning tasks), and reviewed videotaped performances, using a checklist of skills and communications patterns to identify CRM skills and communication efforts. Subjects were tested in simulated code scenarios 6 months after the initial assessment. RESULTS: At baseline, all 52 subjects recognized distress, and 92% (48 of 52) called for help. Seventy-eight percent (41 of 52) did not succeed in resuscitating the simulated patient or demonstrate the CRM skills. After intervention, both groups (n  =  26 per group) improved. All SIM subjects announced the diagnosis compared to 65% LEC subjects (17 of 26, P  =  .01); 77% (20 of 26) SIM and 19% (5 of 26) LEC subjects asked for suggestions (P < .001); and 100% (26 of 26) SIM and 27% (7 of 26) LEC subjects assigned tasks (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: The SIM intervention resulted in significantly improved team communication and cardiopulmonary arrest management. During debriefing, participants acknowledged the benefit of the SIM sessions.

Prevention of central venous catheter-related bloodstream infections: is it time to add simulation training to the prevention bundle?

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To study the impact of adding simulation-based education to the pre-intervention mandatory hospital efforts aimed at decreasing central venous catheter-related blood stream infections (CRBSI) in intensive care units (ICU). DESIGN: Pre- and post-intervention retrospective observational investigation. SETTING: 24-bed ICU and a 562-bed university-affiliated, urban teaching hospital. PATIENTS: ICU patients July 2004-June 2008 were studied for the development of central venous catheter related blood stream infections (CRBSI). MEASUREMENTS: ICU patients from July 2004-June 2008 were studied for the development of central venous catheter-related blood stream infections (CRBSI). PRE-INTERVENTION: mandatory staff and physician education began in 2004 to reduce CRBSI. The CRBSI-prevention program included online and didactic courses, and a pre- and post-test. Elements in the pre-intervention efforts included hand hygiene, full barrier precautions, use of Chlorhexidine skin preparation, and mask, gown, gloves, and hat protection for operators. A catheter-insertion cart containing all supplies and checklist were was a mandatory element of this program; a nurse was empowered to stop the procedure for non-performance of checklist items. INTERVENTION: As of July 1, 2006, a mandatory simulation-based program for all intern, resident, and fellow physicians was added to teach central venous catheter (CVC) insertion. MEASUREMENTS: Data collected pre- and post-intervention were CRBSI incidence, number of ICU catheter days, mortality, laboratory pathogen results, and costs. MAIN RESULTS: The pre-intervention CRBSI incidence of 6.47/1,000 catheter days was reduced significantly to 2.44/1,000 catheter days post-intervention (58%; P < 0.05), resulting in a $539,902 savings (USD; 47%), and was attributed to shorter ICU and hospital lengths of stay. CONCLUSIONS: Following simulation-based CVC program implementation, CRBSI incidence and costs were significantly reduced for two years post-intervention.

Does every code need a "reader?" improvement of rare event management with a cognitive aid "reader" during a simulated emergency: a pilot study.

INTRODUCTION: Prompt treatment is necessary to assure patient survival during crisis. Obstetric cardiac arrest (OCA) and malignant hyperthermia (MH) are rarely occurring crises. Cognitive aids (CAs) consolidate management and assist treatment decisions. We investigated a novel method to encourage resident physician CA use during simulated crises. METHODS: Resident physicians were examined during 31 simulated crises of OCA and MH. CAs reviewed in a prior lecture were placed on resuscitation carts. The confederate emergency management team consisted of two anesthesiologists, two critical care nurses, and a medical student who was assigned to act as the CA "Reader." If the subject failed to manage the crisis, the Reader would prompt the subject to use the CA. If the subject still failed to manage the crisis, the Reader would read the aid aloud to the subject. Steps were scored if completed; physiologic variables were recorded. Subject performance was examined before and after Reader introduction. RESULTS: OCA: No subjects performed all critical steps before introduction of the Reader. Twenty-two percent of Anesthesiology (AN) and 31% of Obstetrics (OB) trainees used the CA. MH: All subjects (AN) correctly diagnosed MH and administered the first dantrolene dose at 7.3 ± 2.5 minutes (PETCO2 72 ± 8 mm Hg, temperature 41.5 °C ± 1.3 °C) but skipped critical treatment steps. Thirty-three percent of subjects used the CA. After Reader introduction, all critical actions for both OCA and MH were completed. CONCLUSIONS: Reader introduction resulted in execution of all critical actions. During the debriefing of the simulated scenarios, subjects acknowledged the benefit of the Reader.