The Association Between Technical and Non-technical Skills in Real-life ALS Situations. Impact of Pit Crew Model on the Resuscitation Skills.

Background

Cardiac arrest is a time-critical emergency situation, which is treated by cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The actions during resuscitation are lead by international guidelines (Nolan et al 2010). Because of the relatively rare nature of cardiac arrests in many wards and clinics, regular resuscitation training is necessary.

During cardiopulmonary resuscitation and other sudden medical crisis situations, in addition to medical knowledge and technical skills (TS), also non-technical skills (NTS) are needed (Castelao et al 2011, Fletcher et al 2002, Helmreich et al 1999, Gaba et al 1998). NTS are behavioural elements which are ought to improve team performance. The importance of NTS has been demonstrated only in a simulated settings, not in a real life.

Drawbacks in team organization and communication are frequent problems within advanced life support (ALS) events (Risaliti et al, Colquitt et al). As unclear team member roles can cause errors during ALS (Weng et al, Ornato et al) more emphasis should be placed on educating specific roles and responsibilities to resuscitation team members (Soar et al, Maney et al). Pit crew models for resuscitation, where all resuscitation team members have their pre-assigned positions and pre-arranged roles and tasks to perform ALS have been developed to respond these problems. (Gonzales et al, Pearson et al, Glendenning et al, Ong et al, Hopkins et al, Spitzer et al)

Objective, purpose, and hypothesis