[Full-scale simulation in German medical schools and anesthesia residency programs : Status quo]

The Future of Emergency Medicine (EM) Sim Cases: A Modified Massive Online Needs Assessment

Objective

Emergency Medicine (EM) Sim Cases was initially developed in 2015 as a free open-access simulation resource. To ensure the future of EM Sim Cases remains relevant and up to date, we performed a needs assessment to better define our audience and facilitate long-term goals.

Methods

We delivered a survey using a modified massive-online-needs-assessment methodology through an iterative process with simulation experts from the EM Simulation Educators Research Collaborative. We distributed the survey via email and Twitter and analyzed the data using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis.

Results

We obtained 106 responses. EM Sim Cases is commonly used by physicians primarily as an educational resource for postgraduate level trainees. Perceived needs included resuscitation, pediatrics, trauma, and toxicology content. Prompted needs included non-simulation-case educational resources, increased case database, and improved website organization.

Conclusions

Data collected from our needs assessment has defined our audience allowing us to design our long-term goals and strategies.

Further development of crew resource management training : Needs assessment by means of teamwork-context analysis in anesthesia and intensive care teams

BACKGROUND

Teams in anesthesia and intensive care work as high responsibility teams (HRT). Success in this environment partly depends on the use of nontechnical skills which can be learned through simulation-based training. A teamwork context analysis could help to identify training requirements for crew resource management training.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

We used a multicentric observational cross-sectional study design utilizing survey methodology to evaluate the teamwork context of different work environments, using the 62-item TAKAI inventory. We surveyed anesthesia and intensive care staff from nine hospitals in Germany which provide varying levels of care.

RESULTS

In total, 128 people (44.5% male, 53.9% female) from 9 German hospitals participated in the study. The topics "interconnectedness: departments", "interconnectedness: information flow", "dynamics", "polytely", "velocity of the team's movement", "velocity of system changes", "hierarchy" and "hierarchy: leadership", "shared task mental model", "shared team mental model" and all aspects of the scale "adaptive behaviors" were identified as focal aspects to be implemented into Crew-Resource-Management (CRM) training for the evaluated work environments.

CONCLUSION

The TAKAI scales meet quality criteria (Cronbach's alpha > 0.6) and are appropriate for use in the analysis of the teamwork environment. The results indicate many similarities between the work contexts surveyed but also slight differences. TAKAI can be an additional method to design an appropriate simulation training program for HRT in anesthesia and intensive care medicine as there does not seem to be a one-size-fits-all simulation concept. For a special focus on the needs of a work context, the easy to perform TAKAI analysis in the needs analysis step is worthwhile.

Implementation of Crisis-Resource-Management-based Team Training in Lower Austria

Objective

Sequelae of medical errors are a significant problem in acute care. Human-factor-based events are frequent but avoidable causes. Thus, non-technical skills are crucial. In 2008, crisis-resource-management (CRM)-based simulation training was established for the medical staff of the Lower Austria Regional Hospitals, one of the largest hospital operators in Europe.

Methods

Implementation and development of simulation training from 2008 until today are described, costs and performance data retrospectively analysed over a 10-year period. The applied methodology and organisational aspects of CRM training are highlighted. To complete the picture, activities triggered through CRM training throughout the hospitals with potential to further improve patient safety are shown.

Results

With an initial funding of €100,000 by the Landeskliniken Holding and course rates of €350 to €500, a simulation programme was established for approximately 1,900 co-workers in the acute care setting. In the past 10 years, more than 2,300 doctors and nurses took part in one of the courses, held by 14 qualified trainers. Training was held in the simulation centre as well as in hospitals. Over the time, simulation facilities have been expanded to 8 different manikins, high-fidelity ventilation and monitoring simulation. In addition, a variety of patient safety activities like implementation of critical incident reporting, OR checklists and anaesthesia briefing was accompanied by the trainer team. The total cost of the project was just under €20, 00,000.

Conclusion

Simulation-based CRM training was successfully introduced and sustainably institutionalised at the NOE LKH group of hospitals. The demand for and acceptance of the training were both excellent. The previous costs of training were relatively low; the organisational model of an independent, non-profit registered association allowed the training activities to be implemented without reducing the availability of the instructors in their clinical roles.

Expectations, training and evaluation of intensive care staff to an interprofessional simulation course in Germany - Development of a relevant training concept

Objective: Increasingly, intensive care units (ICU) are operated by teams of physicians and nurses with specialist training in anaesthesia and intensive care. The aims of our study were to evaluate any prior experience, expectations and the requisites for interprofessional ICU simulation-based training (SBT), and to evaluate a newly designed training course incorporating these findings. Methods: The study was laid out as a cross-sectional study and is projected in three steps. First, questionnaires were sent out to ICU nurses and physicians from 15 different hospitals in a greater metropolitan area (> million citizens). Based upon this survey a one-day ICU simulator course designed for 12 participants (6 nurses and 6 physicians) was developed, with evaluation data from four subsequent courses being analysed. Results: In the survey 40% of nurses and 57% of the physicians had had prior exposure to SBT. Various course formats were explored with respect to duration, day of the week, and group composition. After completing the course, the majority deemed a full working day in interprofessional setting to be most appropriate (p<0.001). The scenarios were considered relevant and had a positive impact on communication, workflow and coping with stress. Conclusion: Currently SBT is not a mainstream tool used by German ICU teams for further education, and this lack of familiarity must be taken into consideration when preparing SBT courses for them. We developed a nontechnical skills training course for ICU teams which was undertaken in the setting of simulated clinical scenarios (pertinent to their work environment). The participants found the course's content to be relevant for their daily work, rated the course's impact on their workplace practices as being good and advocated for longer training sessions.

[Simulation training as part of clinical risk management : A health economic view]

Working in anesthesiology is characterized by a complex environment in which effective teamwork with different disciplines as well as other professions (e. g. nursing staff and surgical assistants) is crucial. Clinical risk management includes all steps to prevent incidents and patient harm. An example for this is simulation training based on crisis resource management (CRM). This training course focuses on teaching non-medical skills using simulation manikins in order to enable employees to maintain patient safety under the adverse, ever-changing and unfamiliar conditions of a medical emergency. In detail, this involves skills, such as situation awareness, teamwork, decision making, task management and communication, whereby all elements must be taken equally into account to be effective in terms of CRM. A sustainable training aims to build up, promote and permanently establish a mindset within the team. Positive effects of these could be demonstrated for long-term training that addressed the entire patient care team and that was implemented along with various other patient safety measures. In addition, other positive aspects of simulation training, such as stronger employee retention or more effective task management in critical situations are described; however, hospitals are often found to have difficulties in financing these training sessions. This article shows possible health economic considerations in the discussion about financing CRM-based simulation training. Cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analyses are difficult to perform. They require an individual planning. Regardless of this, simulation training enables participants to experience (simulation) and reflect their own actions in critical situations (debriefing). With the help of specially trained CRM instructors, deviations from expected behavior can be detected. This non-conformity can be used as a starting point for the establishment and further development of patient safety by a structural analysis of possible failures within the system. The decision to finance CRM-based simulation training remains a fundamental decision of the management of the respective hospital. In the near future, pressure from liability insurers to prevent incidents might increase. The inclusion of CRM-based simulation training as an integral component of clinical risk management could provide key benefits in contract negotiation.

Simulation centres in German hospitals and their organisational aspects: Expert survey on drivers and obstacles

Background: Simulation trainings offer the opportunity to replicate parts of or entire processes of medical care in a controlled environment. Some hospitals operate simulation centres dedicated to training their staff. Which organisational factors support or impede the implementation of such units in hospitals? Methods: In an exploratory survey experts and decision makers in German hospitals were interviewed. The answers were evaluated qualitatively in order to identify patterns in argumentation. Among the eleven participants were practitioners heading simulation centres (n=4), managers or executives in charge of finances (n=2), medical directors or head physicians with disciplinary responsibility for medical personnel (n=3), and researchers who deal with simulation trainings in medicine (n=2). The interview partners were guaranteed confidentiality in order to allow for them to speak freely about the obstacles and weaknesses in their respective organisations. Results: The interviewees showed a very heterogeneous picture of the simulation trainings in their respective hospitals in terms of content as well as target groups. Asked about purpose and benefit of simulation centres, subgroups of the interviewees gave various arguments. Financing is comprised of subsidies, fees from external participants, and of vocational training budgets. Several obstacles for the implementation were mentioned such as insufficient error culture, deficient interaction of quality and risk management, high equipment costs, or staffing levels that are too low to schedule entire teams for vocational trainings. Conclusions: Patterns in argumentation could be identified that support the implementation and operation of simulation centres in hospitals. Yet strikingly enough there were no coherent arguments i.e. there was no uniform reasoning of aim and purpose of simulation centres. Furthermore, the survey indicated the need to approach quality- and risk management more holistically wherefore simulation centres could offer laboratory environments. All in all, the survey indicates that the assessment of success and economic benefits of simulation centres haven't yet been examined thoroughly.