Creating an environment for patient safety and teamwork training in the operating theatre: A quasi-experimental study.

INTRODUCTION: Positive safety and a teamwork climate in the training environment may be a precursor for successful teamwork training. This pilot project aimed to implement and test whether a new interdisciplinary and team-based approach would result in a positive training climate in the operating theatre. METHOD: A 3-day educational module for training the complete surgical team of specialist nursing students and residents in safe teamwork skills in an authentic operative theatre, named Co-Op, was implemented in a university hospital. Participants' (n=22) perceptions of the 'safety climate' and the 'teamwork climate', together with their 'readiness for inter-professional learning', were measured to examine if the Co-Op module produced a positive training environment compared with the perceptions of a control group (n=11) attending the conventional curriculum. RESULTS: The participants' perceptions of 'safety climate' and 'teamwork climate' and their 'readiness for inter-professional learning' scores were significantly higher following the Co-Op module compared with their perceptions following the conventional curriculum, and compared with the control group's perceptions following the conventional curriculum. CONCLUSION: The Co-Op module improved 'safety climate' and 'teamwork climate' in the operating theatre, which suggests that a deliberate and designed educational intervention can shape a learning environment as a model for the establishment of a safety culture.

Comparison of high- and low equipment fidelity during paediatric simulation team training: a case control study.

BACKGROUND: High-fidelity patient simulators in team training are becoming popular, though research showing benefits of the training process compared to low-fidelity models is rare. We explored in situ training for paediatric teams in an emergency department using a low-fidelity model (plastic doll) and a high-fidelity paediatric simulator, keeping other contextual factors constant. The goal was to study differences in trainees' and trainers' performance along with their individual experiences, during in situ training, using either a low-fidelity model or a high-fidelity paediatric simulator. METHODS: During a two-year period, teams involved in paediatric emergency care were trained in groups of five to nine. Each team performed one video-recorded paediatric emergency scenario. A case control study was undertaken in which 34 teams used either a low-fidelity model (n = 17) or a high-fidelity paediatric simulator (n = 17). The teams' clinical performances during the scenarios were measured as the time elapsed to prescribe as well as deliver oxygen. The trainers were monitored regarding frequency of their interventions. We also registered trainees' and trainers' mental strain and flow experience. RESULTS: Of 225 trainees' occasions during 34 sessions, 34 trainer questionnaires, 163 trainee questionnaires, and 28 videos, could be analyzed. Time to deliver oxygen was significantly longer (p = 0.014) when a high-fidelity simulator was used. The trainees' mental strain and flow did not differ between the two types of training. The frequency of trainers interventions was lower (p < 0.001) when trainees used a high-fidelity simulator; trainers' perceived mental strain was lower (<0.001) and their flow experience higher (p = 0.004) when using high-fidelity simulator. CONCLUSIONS: Levels of equipment fidelity affect measurable performance variables in simulation-based team training, but trainee s' individual experiences are similar. We also note a reduction in the frequency of trainers' interventions in the scenarios as well as their mental strain, when trainees used a high-fidelity simulator.

Simulation team training for improved teamwork in an intensive care unit.

PURPOSE: This study aims to describe implementation of simulator-based medical team training and the effect of this programme on inter-professional working in an intensive care unit (ICU). DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Over a period of two years, 90 percent (n = 152) of the staff of the general ICU at Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, Sweden, received inter-professional team training in a fully equipped patient room in their own workplace. A case study method was used to describe and explain the planning, formation, and results of the training programme. FINDINGS: In interviews, the participants reported that the training had increased their awareness of the importance of effective communication for patient safety. The intervention had even had an indirect impact by creating a need to talk, not only about how to communicate efficaciously, but also concerning difficult care situations in general. This, in turn, had led to regular reflection meetings for nurses held three times a week. Examples of better communication in acute situations were also reported. However, the findings indicate that the observed improvements will not last, unless organisational features such as staffing rotas and scheduling of rounds and meetings can be changed to enable use of the learned behaviours in everyday work. Other threats to sustainability include shortage of staff, overtime for staff, demands for hospital beds, budget cuts, and poor staff communication due to separate meetings for nurses and physicians. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The present results broaden our understanding of how to create and sustain an organizational system that supports medical team training.

Systematic simulation-based team training in a Swedish intensive care unit: a diverse response among critical care professions.

BACKGROUND: Teamwork-that is, collaboration and communication-is an important factor for safe healthcare, but professions perceive the quality of teamwork differently. OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between simulation-based team training (SBTT) and different professions' self-efficacy, experienced quality of collaboration and communication, perceptions of teamwork and safety, together with staff turnover. METHODS: All staff (n=151; physicians, nurses and nurse assistants) in an intensive care unit (ICU) at a university hospital were systematically trained over 2 years. Data on individual self-efficacy were measured using the self-efficacy questionnaire; the experienced quality of collaboration and communication, teamwork climate, safety climate and perception of working conditions were sampled using the ICU version of the safety attitudes questionnaire (SAQ). Staff turnover and sick leave was measured using the hospital's staff administration system for the intervention ICU and a control ICU in the same hospital. RESULTS: The perception of safety differed between professions before training. Nurses' and physicians' mean self-efficacy scores improved, and nurse assistants' perceived quality of collaboration and communication with physician specialists improved after training. Nurse assistants' perception of the SAQ factors teamwork climate, safety climate and working conditions were more positive after the project as well as nurses' perception of safety climate. The number of nurses quitting their job and nurse assistants' time on sick leave was reduced in comparison to the control ICU during the study period. LIMITATIONS: Results for SAQ factors must be interpreted with caution given that Cronbach's α and inter-correlations for the SAQ factors showed lower values than benchmarking data. CONCLUSIONS: All team members benefited from the SBTT in an authentic composed team, but this was expressed differently for the respective professions.

Leaders' and followers' individual experiences during the early phase of simulation-based team training: an exploratory study.

BACKGROUND: A growing body of evidence shows that team training can develop essential team skills and contribute to better patient outcomes. Current simulation-based team training (SBTT) programmes most often include targets and feedback focused on the whole team and/or leader, ignoring the follower as a unique entity. By considering followers' individual experiences, and tailoring behavioural targets for training and feedback, SBTT could be improved. Our aim was to explore the individual experiences and behaviours of leaders and followers during the early phase of SBTT, and we hypothesised that leaders and followers would show different responses. METHODS: Medical students (n=54) participated in half-day SBTT including three video-recorded scenarios. Self-efficacy was assessed pretraining and post-training. For each scenario (n=36), the individual teamwork behaviours, concentration, mental strain and the team's clinical performance were recorded. Data were analysed using a mixed model allowing for participants to be their own control in their roles as leader or follower. RESULTS: Self-efficacy improved. In the role of leader, participants communicated to a greater extent and experienced higher mental strain and concentration than they did in the role of follower. DISCUSSION: The increased self-efficacy enables a positive learning outcome after only three scenarios. Individual experiences and behaviours differed between the role of leader and that of follower. By shedding further light on leaders' and followers' individual experiences and behaviours, targets for training and feedback could be specified in order to improve SBTT.

Target-focused medical emergency team training using a human patient simulator: effects on behaviour and attitude.

CONTEXT: Full-scale simulation training is an accepted learning method for gaining behavioural skills in team-centred domains such as aviation, the nuclear power industry and, recently, medicine. In this study we evaluated the effects of a simulator team training method based on targets and known principles in cognitive psychology. METHODS: This method was developed and adapted for a medical emergency team. In particular, we created a trauma team course for novices, and allowed 15 students to practise team skills in 5 full-scale scenarios. Students' team behaviour was video-recorded and students' attitude towards safe teamwork was assessed using a questionnaire before and after team practice. RESULTS: Nine of 10 observed team skills improved significantly in response to practice, in parallel with a global rating of team skills. In contrast, no change in attitude toward safe teamwork was registered. CONCLUSION: The use of team skills in 5 scenarios in a full-scale patient simulator environment implementing a training method based on targets and known principles in cognitive psychology improved individual team skills but had no immediate effect on attitude toward safe patient care.

Central blood volume, atrial natriuretic peptide and intermittent hemodialysis.

OBJECTIVE: Hypotension and decreased serum atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) in response to hemodialysis have both been attributed to a decrease in central blood volume. The aim of this study was to test whether circulatory performance and serum ANP were related to changes in central blood volume, in conjunction with hemodialysis with loss of plasma volume. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Ten uremic patients without cardiopulmonary symptoms were investigated before, immediately after and 2 h after a regular dialysis session. Bolus indocyanine green dilution was used for the measurements of central blood volume, cardiac output and stroke volume. Serum ANP was analyzed using a radioimmunoassay technique. RESULTS: Hemodialysis resulted in a 3.8 +/- 1.3 kg decrease in weight and an increase in hemoglobin concentration, while central blood volume, stroke volume, cardiac output, blood pressure and serum ANP fell in parallel. Two h after dialysis, central blood volume recovered to its pre-dialytic level, whereas weight, plasma volume, stroke volume, blood pressure and serum ANP stayed at low levels. There were strong correlations between serum ANP and hemoglobin concentration, stroke volume, cardiac output and blood pressure, but not between serum ANP and central blood volume. Correlations between central blood volume and plasma volume, stroke volume, cardiac output, and blood pressure were also weak. CONCLUSIONS: The close correlation between circulatory performance and serum ANP implies a reduction in preload in response to dialysis. The lack of correlations between central blood volume and circulatory performance and serum ANP suggests that the compliance in the central vasculature is increased in response to dialysis.