Video analysis of real-life shoulder dystocia to assess technical and non-technical performance.

INTRODUCTION: Managing obstetric shoulder dystocia requires swift action using correct maneuvers. However, knowledge of obstetric teams' performance during management of real-life shoulder dystocia is limited, and the impact of non-technical skills has not been adequately evaluated. We aimed to analyze videos of teams managing real-life shoulder dystocia to identify clinical challenges associated with correct management and particular non-technical skills correlated with high technical performance. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We included 17 videos depicting teams managing shoulder dystocia in two Danish delivery wards, where deliveries were initially handled by midwives, and consultants were available for complications. Delivery rooms contained two or three cameras activated by Bluetooth upon obstetrician entry. Videos were captured 5 min before and after activation. Two obstetricians assessed the videos; technical performances were scored as low (0-59), average (60-84), or high (85-100). Two other assessors evaluated non-technical skills using the Global Assessment of Team Performance checklist, scoring 6 (poor) to 30 (excellent). We used a spline regression model to explore associations between these two score sets. Inter-rater agreement was assessed using interclass correlation coefficients. RESULTS: Interclass correlation coefficients were 0.71 (95% confidence interval 0.23-0.89) and 0.82 (95% confidence interval 0.52-0.94) for clinical and non-technical performances, respectively. Two teams had low technical performance scores; four teams achieved high scores. Teams adhered well to guidelines, demonstrating limited head traction, McRoberts maneuver, and internal rotation maneuvers. Several clinical skills posed challenges, notably recognizing shoulder impaction, applying suprapubic pressure, and discouraging women from pushing. Two non-technical skills were associated with high technical performance: effective patient communication, with teams calming the mother and guiding her collaboration during internal rotational maneuvers, and situation awareness, where teams promptly mobilized all essential personnel (senior midwife, consultant, pediatric team). Team communication, stress management, and task management skills were not associated with high technical performance. CONCLUSIONS: Videos capturing teams managing real-life shoulder dystocia are an effective tool to reveal challenges with certain technical and non-technical skills. Teams with high technical performance are associated with effective patient communication and situational awareness. Future training should include technical skills and non-technical skills, patient communication, and situation awareness.

Developing the TeamOBS-vacuum-assisted delivery checklist to assess clinical performance in a vacuum-assisted delivery: a Delphi study with initial validation.

Introduction: In Northern Europe, vacuum-assisted delivery (VAD) accounts for 6-15% of all deliveries; VAD is considered safe when conducted by adequately trained personnel. However, failed vacuum extraction can be harmful to both the mother and child. Therefore, the clinical performance in VAD must be assessed to guide learning, determine a performance benchmark, and evaluate the quality to achieve an overall high performance. We were unable to identify a pre-existing tool for evaluating the clinical performance in real-life vacuum-assisted births. Objective: We aimed to develop and validate a checklist for assessing the clinical performance in VAD. Methods: We conducted a Delphi process, described as an interactive process where experts answer questions until answers converge toward a "joint opinion" (consensus). We invited international experts as Delphi panelists and reached a consensus after four Delphi rounds, described as follows: (1) the panelists were asked to add, remove, or suggest corrections to the preliminary list of items essential for evaluating clinical performance in VAD; (2) the panelists applied weights of clinical importance on a Likert scale of 1-5 for each item; (3) each panelist revised their original scores after reviewing a summary of the other panelists' scores and arguments; and (4) the TeamOBS-VAD was tested using videos of real-life VADs, and the Delphi panel made final adjustments and approved the checklist. Results: Twelve Delphi panelists from the UK (n = 3), Norway (n = 2), Sweden (n = 3), Denmark (n = 3), and Iceland (n = 1) were included. After four Delphi rounds, the Delphi panel reached a consensus on the checklist items and scores. The TeamOBS-VAD checklist was tested using 60 videos of real-life vacuum extractions. The inter-rater agreement had an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.73; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of [0.58, 0.83], and that for the average of two raters was ICC 0.84 95% CI [0.73, 0.91]. The TeamOBS-VAD score was not associated with difficulties in delivery, such as the number of contractions during vacuum extraction delivery, cephalic level, rotation, and position. Failed vacuum extraction occurred in 6% of the video deliveries, but none were associated with the teams with low clinical performance scores. Conclusion: The TeamOBS-VAD checklist provides a valid and reliable evaluation of the clinical performance of vaginal-assisted vacuum extraction.

Healthcare providers' perceptions and expectations of video-assisted debriefing of real-life obstetrical emergencies: a qualitative study from Denmark.

OBJECTIVES: Video-assisted debriefing (VAD) of real-life obstetrical emergencies provides an opportunity to improve quality of care, but is rarely used in clinical practice. A barrier for implementation is the expected mental reservations among healthcare providers. The aim of this study was to explore healthcare providers' perceptions and expectations of VAD of real-life events. SETTING: Participants were recruited from two Labour and Delivery Units in Denmark. In both units, VAD of real-life obstetrical emergencies had never been conducted. PARTICIPANTS: 22 healthcare providers (10 physicians, 9 midwives and 3 nursing assistants). During the study period (August-October 2021), semi-structured, individual interviews were conducted. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: A qualitative description of healthcare providers' perceptions and expectations of VAD of real-life events. RESULTS: Three major themes were identified: (1) Video-assisted debriefing (VAD) as an opportunity for learning: All participants expected VAD to provide an opportunity for learning and improving patient care. All participants expected the video to provide a 'bigger picture', by showing 'what was actually done' instead of 'what we believed was done'. (2) Video-assisted debriefing (VAD) as a cause for concern: The primary concern for all participants was the risk of being exposed as less competent. Participants were concerned that being confronted with every minor detail of their clinical practice would enhance their self-criticalness. (3) Preconditions for video-assisted debriefing (VAD): Participants emphasised the importance of organisational support from management. In addition, creating a safe environment for VAD, for example, by using only expert debriefers was considered an essential precondition for successful implementation. CONCLUSIONS: The risk of being exposed as less competent was a barrier towards VAD of real-life events. However, the majority found the educational benefits to outweigh the risk of being exposed.

Women and partners' experience of major postpartum haemorrhage: a qualitative study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine women and their partners' experience of major postpartum haemorrhage (PPH). DESIGN: A qualitative interview study. SETTING: Two Labour and Delivery Units in Denmark. POPULATION: Women who experienced major PPH (≥1 litre within 2 hours after vaginal birth). METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 women and nine partners (nine joint interviews, six individual interviews). Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: A qualitative description of women and their partners' experiences. RESULTS: Three major themes were identified. (1) 'From birth to emergency' included factors that increased concern in women and their partners, such as 'incomprehensible' medical terminology, a tense atmosphere, and alarm call. Transfer to the operating theatre was experienced as the most devastating part of major PPH. (2) 'Feeling safe during an emergency' described factors that supported the women and their partners' management of the situation such as brief explanations from a few healthcare professionals and reassurance that the healthcare professionals were in control of the situation. The pain was experienced as severe, but acceptable. (3) 'Family unity challenged' described how family bonding was supported by positioning the partner at the head of the bed and by keeping the baby on the woman's chest. CONCLUSIONS: Several factors such as small gestures from healthcare professionals and appropriate organisation of the PPH can make a difference to the woman and her partner's experience of major PPH. Particularly, efforts that support family bonding are greatly valued by women and their partners.

Teamwork and Adherence to Guideline on Newborn Resuscitation-Video Review of Neonatal Interdisciplinary Teams.

Background: Little is known about the importance of non-technical skills for the adherence to guidelines, when teams of midwives, obstetricians, anesthesiologists, and pediatricians resuscitate and support the transition of newborns. Non-technical skills are competences underpinning successful teamwork in healthcare. These are usually referred to as leadership, situational awareness, communication, teamwork, decision making, and coping with stress and fatigue. Objective: By review of videos of teams managing newborns with difficult transition, we aimed to investigate whether the level of the teams' non-technical skills was associated with the degree of adherence to guidelines for newborn resuscitation and transitional support at birth. Methods: Four expert raters independently assessed 43 real-life videos of teams managing newborns with transitional difficulties, two assessed the non-technical score and two assessed the clinical performance. Exposure was the non-technical score, obtained by the Global Assessment Of Team Performance checklist (GAOTP). GAOTP was rated on a Likert Scale 1-5 (1 = poor, 3 = average and 5 = excellent). The outcome was the clinical performance score of the team assessed according to adherence of the European Resuscitation Counsel (ERC) guideline for neonatal resuscitation and transitional support. The ERC guideline was adapted into the checklist TeamOBS-Newborn to facilitate a structured and simple performance assessment (low score 0-60, average 60-84, high 85-100). Interrater agreement was analyzed by intraclass correlation (ICC), Bland-Altman analysis, and Cohen's kappa weighted. The risk of high and low clinical performance was analyzed on the logit scale to meet the assumptions of normality and constant standard deviation. Results: Teams with an excellent non-technical score had a relative risk 5.5 [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.4-22.5] of high clinical performance score compared to teams with average non-technical score. In addition, we found a dose response like association. The specific non-technical skills associated with the highest degree of adherence to guidelines were leadership and teamwork, coping with stress and fatigue, and communication with parents. Inter-rater agreement was high; raters assessing non-technical skills had an interclass coefficient (ICC) 0.88 (95% CI 0.79-0.94); the neonatologists assessing clinical performance had an ICC of 0.81 (95% CI 0.66-0.89). Conclusion: Teams with an excellent non-technical score had five times the chance of high clinical performance compared to teams with average non-technical skills. High performance teams were characterized by good leadership and teamwork, coping with stress, and fatigue and communication with parents.

Noise as a risk factor in the delivery room: A clinical study.

INTRODUCTION: We aimed to investigate whether noise in delivery rooms is associated with impaired performance of obstetric teams managing major (≥1000 mL) postpartum hemorrhage. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We included video recordings of 96 obstetric teams managing real-life major postpartum hemorrhage. Exposure was noise defined as the occurrence of sound level pressures (SPL) above 90 dB. The outcome was high clinical performance assessed through expert ratings using the TeamOBS-PPH tool. RESULTS: The 23 teams unexposed to noise had a significantly higher chance of high clinical performance than the 73 teams exposed to noise: 91.3% (95% CI; 72.0-98.9) versus 58.9% (95% CI; 46.8-70.3) (p < 0.001). The results remained significant when adjusting for the following possible confounders: team size, non-technical performance, bleeding velocity, hospital type, etiology of bleeding, event duration and time of day. Typical sources of noise above 90 dB SPL were mother or baby crying, dropping of instruments, and slamming of cupboard doors. CONCLUSION: Noise in delivery rooms may be an independent source of impaired clinical performance.

Development of the TeamOBS-PPH - targeting clinical performance in postpartum hemorrhage.

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to develop a valid and reliable TeamOBS-PPH tool for assessing clinical performance in the management of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH). The tool was evaluated using video-recordings of teams managing PPH in both real-life and simulated settings. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A Delphi panel consisting of 12 obstetricians from the UK, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Denmark achieved consensus on (i) the elements to include in the assessment tool, (ii) the weighting of each element, and (iii) the final tool. The validity and reliability were evaluated according to Cook and Beckman. (Level 1) Four raters scored four video-recordings of in situ simulations of PPH. (Level 2) Two raters scored 85 video-recordings of real-life teams managing patients with PPH ≥1000 mL in two Danish hospitals. (Level 3) Two raters scored 15 video-recordings of in situ simulations of PPH from a US hospital. RESULTS: The tool was designed with scores from 0 to 100. (Level 1) Teams of novices had a median score of 54 (95% CI 48-60), whereas experienced teams had a median score of 75 (95% CI 71-79; p < 0.001). (Level 2) The intra-rater [intra-class correlation (ICC) = 0.96] and inter-rater (ICC = 0.83) agreements for real-life PPH were strong. The tool was applicable in all cases: atony, retained placenta, and lacerations. (Level 3) The tool was easily adapted to in situ simulation settings in the USA (ICC = 0.86). CONCLUSION: The TeamOBS-PPH tool appears to be valid and reliable for assessing clinical performance in real-life and simulated settings. The tool will be shared as the free TeamOBS App.

[Stimulation of labour with oxytocin and ventouse deliveries are inadequately documented].

A retrospective sample of 180 records from four regional hospitals and five university hospitals in Denmark was collected and the documentation for use of oxytocin in augmentation of labour and ventouse deliveries according to the national guidelines was registered. Only approximately half of the elements in the national guidelines were documented. This shows that there is a potential for improvement in the ongoing Danish national quality improvement project Safe Deliveries (Sikre Fødsler).