Examining Barriers and Motivations to Speak up on Medical Errors in a Simulated Clinical Emergency: A Mixed-Methods Study.

Phenomenon: Effective communication between team members is essential during the resuscitation of critically-ill patients. Failure of junior doctors to speak up and challenge erroneous clinical decisions made by their senior doctors is a serious communication failure which can result in catastrophic outcomes and jeopardize patient safety. Crisis resource management (CRM) and conflict resolution tools have been increasingly employed in the healthcare setting to reduce communication failure among healthcare providers and improve patient safety during crisis situations. The aims of our study were to: 1) evaluate the factors affecting junior doctors' ability to speak up on medical errors, 2) examine the effectiveness of CRM and conflict resolution tools, and 3) formulate a communication framework directed at training junior doctors in appropriate intellectual questioning of authority. Approach: From January to April 2019, we recruited twenty-five second-year postgraduate junior doctors working in an Emergency Department in Singapore. We provided training in CRM and conflict resolution communication for participants in the intervention arm. Participants underwent a high-fidelity simulated resuscitation scenario which was standardized to include faculty misdirection in the form of erroneous instructions given by a role-played senior doctor. We observed if participants appropriately challenged the erroneous instructions. We subsequently interviewed participants on their response during the simulation to elicit their barriers and motivations toward challenging authority. Video recordings were analyzed by an independent panel of investigators. Findings: Participants employed various non-verbal and verbal approaches when challenging erroneous decisions. We uncovered multiple personal, interpersonal, and situation-based factors influencing the junior doctor's willingness to challenge erroneous decisions made by seniors. From their responses, we conceptualized a theoretical model designed as a "weighing scale" to demonstrate how junior doctor's eventual response is the outcome of a delicate interplay of multiple barriers and motivations. Our intervention did not significantly increase the participants' likelihood of challenging authority (69% in control arm vs 75% in intervention arm, p = 1.00). Insights: Our study provides insights into the mindset of junior doctors when faced with the dilemma of challenging authority on medical errors. Established CRM training may not be effective in addressing the challenges junior doctors face when communicating against the hierarchal gradient. We propose strategies to further develop and optimize CRM training to enhance its value for junior doctors. Drawing from our findings, we formulated a "SAFE" communication tool (State the safety concern, suggest Alternative course of action, Support with Facts, Engage via Enquiry) directed at helping junior doctors in appropriate intellectual questioning of authority.

The Effect of a Sepsis Interprofessional Education Using Virtual Patient Telesimulation on Sepsis Team Care in Clinical Practice: Mixed Methods Study.

BACKGROUND: Improving interprofessional communication and collaboration is necessary to facilitate the early identification and treatment of patients with sepsis. Preparing undergraduate medical and nursing students for the knowledge and skills required to assess, escalate, and manage patients with sepsis is crucial for their entry into clinical practice. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures have created the need for interactive distance learning to support collaborative learning. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of sepsis interprofessional education on medical and nursing students' sepsis knowledge, team communication skills, and skill use in clinical practice. METHODS: A mixed methods design using a 1-group pretest-posttest design and focus group discussions was used. This study involved 415 undergraduate medical and nursing students from a university in Singapore. After a baseline evaluation of the participants' sepsis knowledge and team communication skills, they underwent didactic e-learning followed by virtual telesimulation on early recognition and management of sepsis and team communication strategies. The participants' sepsis knowledge and team communication skills were evaluated immediately and 2 months after the telesimulation. In total, 4 focus group discussions were conducted using a purposive sample of 18 medical and nursing students to explore their transfer of learning to clinical practice. RESULTS: Compared with the baseline scores, both the medical and nursing students demonstrated a significant improvement in sepsis knowledge (P<.001) and team communication skills (P<.001) in immediate posttest scores. At the 2-month follow-up, the nursing students continued to have statistically significantly higher sepsis knowledge (P<.001) and communication scores (P<.001) than the pretest scores, whereas the medical students had no significant changes in test scores between the 2-month follow-up and pretest time points (P=.99). A total of three themes emerged from the qualitative findings: greater understanding of each other's roles, application of mental models in clinical practice, and theory-practice gaps. The sepsis interprofessional education-particularly the use of virtual telesimulation-fostered participants' understanding and appreciation of each other's interprofessional roles when caring for patients with sepsis. Despite noting some incongruities with the real-world clinical practice and not encountering many sepsis scenarios in clinical settings, participants shared the application of mental models using interprofessional communication strategies and the patient assessment framework in their daily clinical practice. CONCLUSIONS: Although the study did not show long-term knowledge retention, the use of virtual telesimulation played a critical role in facilitating the application of mental models for learning transfer and therefore could serve as a promising education modality for sepsis training. For a greater clinical effect, future studies could complement virtual telesimulation with a mannequin-based simulation and provide more evidence on the long-term retention of sepsis knowledge and clinical skills performance.

Virtual reality mobile application to improve videoscopic airway training: A randomised trial.

INTRODUCTION: Flexible bronchoscopic intubation (FBI) is an important technique in managing an anticipated difficult airway, yet it is rarely performed and has a steep learning curve. We aim to evaluate if the integration of virtual reality gaming application into routine FBI training for emergency department doctors would be more effective than traditional teaching methods. METHODS: We conducted a randomised controlled trial to compare self-directed learning using the mobile application, Airway Ex* in the intervention group versus the control group without use of the mobile application. All participants underwent conventional didactic teaching and low-fidelity simulation with trainer's demonstration and hands-on practice on a manikin for FBI. Participants randomised to the intervention arm received an additional 30 minutes of self-directed learning using Airway Ex, preloaded on electronic devices while the control arm did not. The primary outcome was time taken to successful intubation. RESULTS: Forty-five physicians (20 junior and 25 senior physicians) were enrolled, with male predominance (57.8%, 26/45). There was no difference in time taken to successful intubation (median 48 seconds [interquartile range, IQR 41-69] versus 44 seconds [IQR 37-60], P=0.23) between the control and intervention groups, respectively. However, the intervention group received better ratings (median 4 [IQR 4-5]) for the quality of scope manipulation skills compared to control (median 4 [IQR 3-4], adjusted P=0.03). This difference remains significant among junior physicians in stratified analysis. CONCLUSION: Incorporating virtual reality with traditional teaching methods allows learners to be trained on FBI safely without compromising patient care. Junior physicians appear to benefit more compared to senior physicians.

Emergency airway management in a Singapore centre: A registry study.

INTRODUCTION: Intubations in the emergency department (ED) are often performed immediately without the benefit of pre-selection or the ability to defer. Multicentre observational data provide a framework for understanding emergency airway management but regional practice variation may exist. We aim to describe the intubation indications, prevalence of difficult airway features, peri-intubation adverse events and intubator characteristics in the ED of the National University Hospital, Singapore. METHODS: We conducted a prospective observational study over a period of 31 months from 1 March 2016 to 28 September 2018. Information regarding each intubation attempt, such as indications for intubation, airway assessment, intubation techniques used, peri-intubation adverse events, and clinical outcomes, was collected and described. RESULTS: There were 669 patients, with male predominance (67.3%, 450/669) and mean age of 60.9 years (standard deviation [SD] 18.1). Of these, 25.6% were obese or grossly obese and majority were intubated due to medical indications (84.8%, 567/669). Emergency physicians' initial impression of difficult airway correlated with a higher grade of glottis view on laryngoscopy. First-pass intubation success rate was 86.5%, with hypoxia (11.2%, 75/669) and hypotension (3.7%, 25/669) reported as the two most common adverse events. Majority was rapid sequence intubation (67.3%, 450/669) and the device used was most frequently a video laryngoscope (75.6%, 506/669). More than half of the intubations were performed by postgraduate clinicians in year 5 and above, clinical fellows or attending physicians. CONCLUSION: In our centre, the majority of emergency intubations were performed for medical indications by senior doctors utilising rapid sequence intubation and video laryngoscopy with good ffirst-attempt success.

Assessment of dyspneic patients in the emergency department using point-of-care lung and cardiac ultrasonography-a prospective observational study.

BACKGROUND: Lung ultrasonography is increasingly used in the emergency department (ED) as a standard adjunct in the evaluation of the breathless patient. The study objective was to ascertain the diagnostic accuracy of lung and cardiac ultrasound in undifferentiated dyspneic ED patients. METHODS: We conducted this prospective observational study on patients presenting with dyspnea in the ED of a tertiary hospital. The sonographers who performed lung and cardiac ultrasound according to a locally-designed protocol were blinded to clinical and radiologic results. Ultrasonographic findings were subsequently compared with the final adjudicated diagnoses. RESULTS: Between February and August 2015, 231 patients were recruited. There was male predominance (63.2%) with a mean age of 67.8 years. Overall, lung ultrasonography yielded correct diagnoses in 68.3% of patients. Our protocol had likelihood ratios of 3.63 [95% confidence interval (CI): 2.44-5.40], 3.73 (95% CI: 2.50-5.57) and 6.31 (95% CI: 3.72-10.72) for positive findings; and 0.42 (95% CI: 0.29-0.63), 0.35 (95% CI: 0.25-0.50), and 0.40 (95% CI: 0.28-0.56) for negative findings in the diagnoses of pneumonia, pulmonary edema, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma, respectively. Addition of bedside echocardiography was able to differentiate cardiogenic from nephrogenic pulmonary edema in 70% of patients. CONCLUSIONS: Lung ultrasonography, when complemented with other tools of investigation, aids evaluation, allows for earlier treatment and more accurate disposition of undifferentiated dyspneic patients in the ED. The addition of cardiac ultrasound was not able to reliably differentiate the causes of pulmonary edema.