Adapting Cognitive Task Analysis Methods for Use in a Large Sample Simulation Study of High-Risk Healthcare Events.

Cognitive task analysis (CTA) methods are traditionally used to conduct small-sample, in-depth studies. In this case study, CTA methods were adapted for a large multi-site study in which 102 anesthesiologists worked through four different high-fidelity simulated high-consequence incidents. Cognitive interviews were used to elicit decision processes following each simulated incident. In this paper, we highlight three practical challenges that arose: (1) standardizing the interview techniques for use across a large, distributed team of diverse backgrounds; (2) developing effective training; and (3) developing a strategy to analyze the resulting large amount of qualitative data. We reflect on how we addressed these challenges by increasing standardization, developing focused training, overcoming social norms that hindered interview effectiveness, and conducting a staged analysis. We share findings from a preliminary analysis that provides early validation of the strategy employed. Analysis of a subset of 64 interview transcripts using a decompositional analysis approach suggests that interviewers successfully elicited descriptions of decision processes that varied due to the different challenges presented by the four simulated incidents. A holistic analysis of the same 64 transcripts revealed individual differences in how anesthesiologists interpreted and managed the same case.

Understanding Patient and Clinician Reported Nonroutine Events in Ambulatory Surgery.

OBJECTIVE: Nonroutine events (NREs, i.e., deviations from optimal care) can identify care process deficiencies and safety risks. Nonroutine events reported by clinicians have been shown to identify systems failures, but this methodology fails to capture the patient perspective. The objective of this prospective observational study is to understand the incidence and nature of patient- and clinician-reported NREs in ambulatory surgery. METHODS: We interviewed patients about NREs that occurred during their perioperative care using a structured interview tool before discharge and in a 7-day follow-up call. Concurrently, we interviewed the clinicians caring for these patients immediately postoperatively to collect NREs. We trained 2 experienced clinicians and 2 patients to assess and code each reported NRE for type, theme, severity, and likelihood of reoccurrence (i.e., likelihood that the same event would occur for another patient). RESULTS: One hundred one of 145 ambulatory surgery cases (70%) contained at least one NRE. Overall, 214 NREs were reported-88 by patients and 126 by clinicians. Cases containing clinician-reported NREs were associated with increased patient body mass index ( P = 0.023) and lower postcase patient ratings of being treated with respect ( P = 0.032). Cases containing patient-reported NREs were associated with longer case duration ( P = 0.040), higher postcase clinician frustration ratings ( P < 0.001), higher ratings of patient stress ( P = 0.019), and lower patient ratings of their quality of life ( P = 0.010), of the quality of clinician teamwork ( P = 0.010), being treated with respect ( P = 0.003), and being listened to carefully ( P = 0.012). Trained patient raters evaluated NRE severity significantly higher than did clinician raters ( P < 0.001), while clinicians rated recurrence likelihood significantly higher than patients for both clinician ( P = 0.032) and patient-reported NREs ( P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Both patients and clinicians readily report events during clinical care that they believe deviate from optimal care expectations. These 2 primary stakeholders in safe, high-quality surgical care have different experiences and perspectives regarding NREs. The combination of patient- and clinician-reported NREs seems to be a promising patient-centered method of identifying healthcare system deficiencies and opportunities for improvement.

Incidence and Classification of Nonroutine Events during Anesthesia Care.

BACKGROUND: A nonroutine event is any aspect of clinical care perceived by clinicians or trained observers as a deviation from optimal care based on the context of the clinical situation. The authors sought to delineate the incidence and nature of intraoperative nonroutine events during anesthesia care. METHODS: The authors prospectively collected audio, video, and relevant clinical information on 556 cases at three academic hospitals from 1998 to 2004. In addition to direct observation, anesthesia providers were surveyed for nonroutine event occurrence and details at the end of each study case. For the 511 cases with reviewable video, 400 cases had no reported nonroutine events and 111 cases had at least one nonroutine event reported. Each nonroutine event was analyzed by trained anesthesiologists. Rater reliability assessment, comparisons (nonroutine event vs. no event) of patient and case variables were performed. RESULTS: Of 511 cases, 111 (21.7%) contained 173 nonroutine events; 35.1% of event-containing cases had more than one nonroutine event. Of the 173 events, 69.4% were rated as having patient impact and 12.7% involved patient injury. Longer case duration (25th vs. 75th percentile; odds ratio, 1.83; 95% CI, 1.15 to 2.93; P = 0.032) and presence of a comorbid diagnosis (odds ratio, 2.14; 95% CI, 1.35 to 3.40; P = 0.001) were associated with nonroutine events. Common contributory factors were related to the patient (63.6% [110 of 173]) and anesthesia provider (59.0% [102 of 173]) categories. The most common patient impact events involved the cardiovascular system (37.4% [64 of 171]), airway (33.3% [57 of 171]), and human factors, drugs, or equipment (31.0% [53 of 171]). CONCLUSIONS: This study describes characteristics of intraoperative nonroutine events in a cohort of cases at three academic hospitals. Nonroutine event-containing cases were commonly associated with patient impact and injury. Thus, nonroutine event monitoring in conjunction with traditional error reporting may enhance our understanding of potential intraoperative failure modes to guide prospective safety interventions.

Use of a Portable Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) System to Examine Team Experience During Crisis Event Management in Clinical Simulations.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the utilization of a portable functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) system, the fNIRS PioneerTM, to examine team experience in high-fidelity simulation-based crisis event management (CEM) training for anesthesiologists in operating rooms. Background: Effective evaluation of team performance and experience in CEM simulations is essential for healthcare training and research. Neurophysiological measures with wearable devices can provide useful indicators of team experience to compliment traditional self-report, observer ratings, and behavioral performance measures. fNIRS measured brain blood oxygenation levels and neural synchrony can be used as indicators of workload and team engagement, which is vital for optimal team performance. Methods: Thirty-three anesthesiologists, who were attending CEM training in two-person teams, participated in this study. The participants varied in their expertise level and the simulation scenarios varied in difficulty level. The oxygenated and de-oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO and HbR) levels in the participants' prefrontal cortex were derived from data recorded by a portable one-channel fNIRS system worn by all participants throughout CEM training. Team neural synchrony was measured by HbO/HbR wavelet transformation coherence (WTC). Observer-rated workload and self-reported workload and mood were also collected. Results: At the individual level, the pattern of HbR level corresponded to changes of workload for the individuals in different roles during different phases of a scenario; but this was not the case for HbO level. Thus, HbR level may be a better indicator for individual workload in the studied setting. However, HbR level was insensitive to differences in scenario difficulty and did not correlate with observer-rated or self-reported workload. At the team level, high levels of HbO and HbR WTC were observed during active teamwork. Furthermore, HbO WTC was sensitive to levels of scenario difficulty. Conclusion: This study showed that it was feasible to use a portable fNIRS system to study workload and team engagement in high-fidelity clinical simulations. However, more work is needed to establish the sensitivity, reliability, and validity of fNIRS measures as indicators of team experience.

Application of contextual design methods to inform targeted clinical decision support interventions in sub-specialty care environments.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: In healthcare, the routine use of evidence-based specialty care management plans is mixed. Targeted computerized clinical decision support (CCDS) interventions can improve physician adherence, but adoption depends on CCDS' 'fit' within clinical work. We analyzed clinical work in outpatient and inpatient settings as a basis for developing guidelines for optimizing CCDS design. METHODS: The contextual design approach guided data collection, collation and analysis. Forty (40) consenting physicians were observed and interviewed in general internal medicine inpatient units and gastroenterology (GI) outpatient clinics at two academic medical centers. Data were collated using interpretive debriefing, and consolidated using thematic analysis and three work modeling approaches (communication flow, sequence and artifact models). RESULTS: Twenty-six consenting physicians were observed at Site A and 14 at Site B. Observations included attending (33%) and resident physicians. During research team debriefings, 220 of 341 unique topics were categorized into 5 CCDS-relevant themes. Resident physicians relied on patient assessment & planning processes to support their roles as communication and coordination hubs within the medical team. Artifact analysis further elucidated the evolution of assessment and planning over work shifts. CONCLUSIONS: The usefulness of CCDS tools may be enhanced in clinical care if the design: 1) accounts for clinical work that is distributed across people, space, and time; 2) targets communication and coordination hubs (specific roles) that can amplify the usefulness of CCDS interventions; 3) integrates CCDS with early clinical assessment & planning processes; and 4) provides CCDS in both electronic & hardcopy formats. These requirements provide a research agenda for future research in clinician-CCDS integration.

Prevalence of Potentially Distracting Noncare Activities and Their Effects on Vigilance, Workload, and Nonroutine Events during Anesthesia Care.

BACKGROUND: When workload is low, anesthesia providers may perform non-patient care activities of a clinical, educational, or personal nature. Data are limited on the incidence or impact of distractions on actual care. We examined the prevalence of self-initiated nonclinical distractions and their effects on anesthesia workload, vigilance, and the occurrence of nonroutine events. METHODS: In 319 qualifying cases in an academic medical center using a Web-based electronic medical chart, a trained observer recorded video and performed behavioral task analysis. Participant workload and response to a vigilance (alarm) light were randomly measured. Postoperatively, participants were interviewed to elicit possible nonroutine events. Two anesthesiologists reviewed each event to evaluate their association with distractions. RESULTS: At least one self-initiated distraction was observed in 171 cases (54%), largely during maintenance. Distractions accounted for 2% of case time and lasted 2.3 s (median). The most common distraction was personal internet use. Distractions were more common in longer cases but were not affected by case type or American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status. Workload ratings were significantly lower during distraction-containing case periods and vigilance latencies were significantly longer in cases without any distractions. Three distractions were temporally associated with, but did not cause, events. CONCLUSIONS: Both nurse anesthetists and residents performed potentially distracting tasks of a personal and/or educational nature in a majority of cases. Self-initiated distractions were rarely associated with events. This study suggests that anesthesia professionals using sound judgment can self-manage nonclinical activities. Future efforts should focus on eliminating more cognitively absorbing and less escapable distractions, as well as training in distraction management.

Facilitated Nurse Medication-Related Event Reporting to Improve Medication Management Quality and Safety in Intensive Care Units.

BACKGROUND: Medication safety presents an ongoing challenge for nurses working in complex, fast-paced, intensive care unit (ICU) environments. Studying ICU nurse's medication management-especially medication-related events (MREs)-provides an approach to analyze and improve medication safety and quality. OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study was to explore the utility of facilitated MRE reporting in identifying system deficiencies and the relationship between MREs and nurses' work in the ICUs. METHODS: We conducted 124 structured 4-hour observations of nurses in three different ICUs. Each observation included measurement of nurse's moment-to-moment activity and self-reports of workload and negative mood. The observer then obtained MRE reports from the nurse using a structured tool. The MREs were analyzed by three experts. RESULTS: MREs were reported in 35% of observations. The 60 total MREs included four medication errors and seven adverse drug events. Of the 49 remaining MREs, 65% were associated with negative patient impact. Task/process deficiencies were the most common contributory factor for MREs. MRE occurrence was correlated with increased total task volume. MREs also correlated with increased workload, especially during night shifts. DISCUSSION: Most of these MREs would not be captured by traditional event reporting systems. Facilitated MRE reporting provides a robust information source about potential breakdowns in medication management safety and opportunities for system improvement.

Simulation-based Assessment of the Management of Critical Events by Board-certified Anesthesiologists.

BACKGROUND: We sought to determine whether mannequin-based simulation can reliably characterize how board-certified anesthesiologists manage simulated medical emergencies. Our primary focus was to identify gaps in performance and to establish psychometric properties of the assessment methods. METHODS: A total of 263 consenting board-certified anesthesiologists participating in existing simulation-based maintenance of certification courses at one of eight simulation centers were video recorded performing simulated emergency scenarios. Each participated in two 20-min, standardized, high-fidelity simulated medical crisis scenarios, once each as primary anesthesiologist and first responder. Via a Delphi technique, an independent panel of expert anesthesiologists identified critical performance elements for each scenario. Trained, blinded anesthesiologists rated video recordings using standardized rating tools. Measures included the percentage of critical performance elements observed and holistic (one to nine ordinal scale) ratings of participant's technical and nontechnical performance. Raters also judged whether the performance was at a level expected of a board-certified anesthesiologist. RESULTS: Rater reliability for most measures was good. In 284 simulated emergencies, participants were rated as successfully completing 81% (interquartile range, 75 to 90%) of the critical performance elements. The median rating of both technical and nontechnical holistic performance was five, distributed across the nine-point scale. Approximately one-quarter of participants received low holistic ratings (i.e., three or less). Higher-rated performances were associated with younger age but not with previous simulation experience or other individual characteristics. Calling for help was associated with better individual and team performance. CONCLUSIONS: Standardized simulation-based assessment identified performance gaps informing opportunities for improvement. If a substantial proportion of experienced anesthesiologists struggle with managing medical emergencies, continuing medical education activities should be reevaluated.

A simulation-based curriculum to introduce key teamwork principles to entering medical students.

BACKGROUND: Failures of teamwork and interpersonal communication have been cited as a major patient safety issue. Although healthcare is increasingly being provided in interdisciplinary teams, medical school curricula have traditionally not explicitly included the specific knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors required to function effectively as part of such teams. METHODS: As part of a new "Foundations" core course for beginning medical students that provided a two-week introduction to the most important themes in modern healthcare, a multidisciplinary team, in collaboration with the Center for Experiential Learning and Assessment, was asked to create an experiential introduction to teamwork and interpersonal communication. We designed and implemented a novel, all-day course to teach second-week medical students basic teamwork and interpersonal principles and skills using immersive simulation methods. Students' anonymous comprehensive course evaluations were collected at the end of the day. Through four years of iterative refinement based on students' course evaluations, faculty reflection, and debriefing, the course changed and matured. RESULTS: Four hundred twenty evaluations were collected. Course evaluations were positive with almost all questions having means and medians greater than 5 out of 7 across all 4 years. Sequential year comparisons were of greatest interest for examining the effects of year-to-year curricular improvements. Differences were not detected among any of the course evaluation questions between 2007 and 2008 except that more students in 2008 felt that the course further developed their "Decision Making Abilities" (OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.07-2.67). With extensive changes to the syllabus and debriefer selection/assignment, concomitant improvements were observed in these aspects between 2008 and 2009 (OR = 2.11, 95% CI: 1.28-3.50). Substantive improvements in specific exercises also yielded significant improvements in the evaluations of those exercises. CONCLUSIONS: This curriculum could be valuable to other medical schools seeking to inculcate teamwork foundations in their medical school's preclinical curricula. Moreover, this curriculum can be used to facilitate teamwork principles important to inter-disciplinary, as well as uni-disciplinary, collaboration.

Defining Safety in the Nursing Home Setting: Implications for Future Research.

Currently, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Common Format for nursing homes (NHs) accommodates voluntary reporting for 4 adverse events: falls with injury, pressure ulcers, medication errors, and infections. In 2015, AHRQ funded a technical brief to describe the state of the science related to safety in the NH setting to inform a research agenda. Thirty-six recent systematic reviews evaluated NH safety-related interventions to address these 4 adverse events and reported mostly mixed evidence about effective approaches to ameliorate them. Furthermore, these 4 events are likely inadequate to capture safety issues that are unique to the NH setting and encompass other domains related to residents' quality of care and quality of life. Future research needs include expanding our definition of safety in the NH setting, which differs considerably from that of hospitals, to include contributing factors to adverse events as well as more resident-centered care measures. Second, future research should reflect more rigorous implementation science to include objective measures of care processes related to adverse events, intervention fidelity, and staffing resources for intervention implementation to inform broader uptake of efficacious interventions. Weaknesses in implementation contribute to the current inconclusive and mixed evidence base as well as remaining questions about what outcomes are even achievable in the NH setting, given the complexity of most resident populations. Also related to implementation, future research should determine the effects of specific staffing models on care processes related to safety outcomes. Last, future efforts should explore the potential for safety issues in other care settings for older adults, most notably dementia care within assisted living.

A Multimodal Intervention Improves Postanesthesia Care Unit Handovers.

BACKGROUND: Failures of communication are a major contributor to perioperative adverse events. Transitions of care may be particularly vulnerable. We sought to improve postoperative handovers. METHODS: We introduced a multimodal intervention in an adult and a pediatric postanesthesia care unit (PACU) to improve postoperative handovers between anesthesia providers (APs) and PACU registered nurses (RNs). The intervention included a standardized electronic handover report form, a didactic webinar, mandatory simulation training focused on improving interprofessional communication, and post-training performance feedback. Trained, blinded nurse observers scored PACU handovers during 17 months using a structured tool consisting of 8 subscales and a global score (1-5 scale). Multivariate logistic regression assessed the effect of the intervention on the proportion of observed handovers receiving a global effectiveness rating of ≥3. RESULTS: Four hundred fifty-two clinicians received the simulation-based training, and 981 handovers were observed and rated. In the adult PACU, the estimated percentages of acceptable handovers (global ratings ≥3) among AP-RN pairs, where neither received simulation-based training (untrained dyads), was 3% (95% confidence interval, 1%-11%) at day 0, 10% (5%-19%) at training initiation (day 40), and 57% (33%-78%) at 1-year post-training initiation (day 405). For AP-RN pairs where at least one received the simulation-based training (trained dyads), these percentages were estimated to be 18% (11%-28%) and 68% (57%-76%) on days 40 and 405, respectively. The percentage of acceptable handovers was significantly greater on day 405 than it was on day 40 for both untrained (P < 0.001) and trained dyads (P < 0.001). Similar patterns were observed in the pediatric PACU. Three years later, the unadjusted estimate of the probability of an acceptable handover was 87% (72%-95%) in the adult PACU and 56% (40%-72%) in the pediatric PACU. CONCLUSIONS: A multimodal intervention substantially improved interprofessional PACU handovers, including those by clinicians who had not undergone formal simulation training. An effect appeared to be present >3 years later.

Significant Physiological Disturbances Associated With Non-Routine Event Containing and Routine Anesthesia Cases.

OBJECTIVES: A nonroutine event (NRE) is defined as any event that deviates from ideal clinical care for a given patient in a specific clinical situation. We sought to compare anesthesia providers' reporting of NREs with the incidence of significant physiological disturbances (SPDs) detected via retrospective videotape review. SPD criteria were defined prestudy to be deviations of physiological parameters (heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and oxygen saturation) requiring clinical intervention. We hypothesized that SPDs would occur more frequently in NRE cases than in routine (no reported NRE) cases. METHODS: A trained observer reviewed videotapes of anesthesia care from 16 randomly selected NRE-containing and 16 matched routine cases for SPD occurrence using custom software. Data were analyzed using nonparametric tests. RESULTS: Although a preponderance of the anesthetic in both types of cases were uneventful (i.e., free of SPD in 97 ± 1.6% of routine case time versus 89 ± 3.9% of NRE case time), there was at least one SPD episode in 69% of routine and 88% of NRE cases. NRE-containing cases had significantly more SPDs than routine cases (1.4 ± 0.9 SPDs/case hour for NRE versus 0.8 ± 0.3 for routine cases). Twice as many SPDs during NRE-containing cases were clinically related to a reported NRE as opposed to unrelated. CONCLUSIONS: SPDs occur more often in NRE-containing cases. The incidence of approximately one NRE-independent SPD per case was similar in NRE-containing and routine case. Further research is needed to ascertain the relationship of both NREs and SPDs to patient outcomes.

Operating room clinicians' ratings of workload: a vignette simulation study.

OBJECTIVES: Increased clinician workload is associated with medical errors and patient harm. The Quality and Workload Assessment Tool (QWAT) measures anticipated (pre-case) and perceived (post-case) clinical workload during actual surgical procedures using ratings of individual and team case difficulty from every operating room (OR) team member. The purpose of this study was to examine the QWAT ratings of OR clinicians who were not present in the OR but who read vignettes compiled from actual case documentation to assess interrater reliability and agreement with ratings made by clinicians involved in the actual cases. METHODS: Thirty-six OR clinicians (13 anesthesia providers, 11 surgeons, and 12 nurses) used the QWAT to rate 6 cases varying from easy to moderately difficult based on actual ratings made by clinicians involved with the cases. Cases were presented and rated in random order. Before rating anticipated individual and team difficulty, the raters read prepared clinical vignettes containing case synopses and much of the same written case information that was available to the actual clinicians before the onset of each case. Then, before rating perceived individual and team difficulty, they read part 2 of the vignette consisting of detailed role-specific intraoperative data regarding the anesthetic and surgical course, unusual events, and other relevant contextual factors. RESULTS: Surgeons had higher interrater reliability on the QWAT than did OR nurses or anesthesia providers. For the anticipated individual and team workload ratings, there were no statistically significant differences between the actual ratings and the ratings obtained from the vignettes. There were differences for the 3 provider types in perceived individual workload for the median difficulty cases and in the perceived team workload for the median and more difficult cases. CONCLUSIONS: The case difficulty items on the QWAT seem to be sufficiently reliable and valid to be used in other studies of anticipated and perceived clinical workload of surgeons. Perhaps because of the limitations of the clinical documentation shown to anesthesia providers and OR nurses in the current vignette study, more evidence needs to be gathered to demonstrate the criterion-related validity of the QWAT difficulty items for assessing the workload of nonsurgeon OR clinicians.

Self-reported subjective workload of on-call interns.

BACKGROUND: Workload has traditionally been measured by using surrogates, such as number of patients admitted or census, but these may not fully represent the complex concept of workload. OBJECTIVE: We measured self-reported subjective workload of interns and explored the relationship between subjective workload and possible predictors of it. METHODS: Trained research assistants observed internal medicine interns on call on a general medicine service. Approximately once an hour, the research assistants recorded the self-reported subjective workload of the interns by using Borg's Self-Perceived Exertion Scale, a 6 to 20 scale, and also recorded their own perceptions of the intern's workload. Research assistants continuously recorded the tasks performed by the interns. Interns were surveyed before and after the observation to obtain demographic and census data. RESULTS: Our sample included 25 interns, with a mean age of 28.6 years (SD, 2.4 years). Mean self-reported subjective workload was 12.0 (SD, 2.4). Mean self-reported subjective workload was significantly correlated with intern age (r  =  0.49, P < .05), but not with team or intern census, number of admissions, or number of patients cross-covered. Self-reported subjective workload in the period after sign-out was significantly higher than in the period before and during sign-out (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Self-reported subjective workload was not associated with traditional measures of workload. However, receiving sign-out and assuming the care of cross-coverage patients may be related to higher subjective workload in interns. Given the patient safety implications of workload, it is important that the medical education community have tools to evaluate workload and identify contributors to it.

The composition of intern work while on call.

BACKGROUND: The work of house staff is being increasingly scrutinized as duty hours continue to be restricted. OBJECTIVE: To describe the distribution of work performed by internal medicine interns while on call. DESIGN: Prospective time motion study on general internal medicine wards at a VA hospital affiliated with a tertiary care medical center and internal medicine residency program. PARTICIPANTS: Internal medicine interns. MAIN MEASURES: Trained observers followed interns during a "call" day. The observers continuously recorded the tasks performed by interns, using customized task analysis software. We measured the amount of time spent on each task. We calculated means and standard deviations for the amount of time spent on six categories of tasks: clinical computer work (e.g., writing orders and notes), non-patient communication, direct patient care (work done at the bedside), downtime, transit and teaching/learning. We also calculated means and standard deviations for time spent on specific tasks within each category. We compared the amount of time spent on the top three categories using analysis of variance. KEY RESULTS: The largest proportion of intern time was spent in clinical computer work (40 %). Thirty percent of time was spent on non-patient communication. Only 12 % of intern time was spent at the bedside. Downtime activities, transit and teaching/learning accounted for 11 %, 5 % and 2 % of intern time, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that during on call periods, relatively small amounts of time are spent on direct patient care and teaching/learning activities. As intern duty hours continue to decrease, attention should be directed towards preserving time with patients and increasing time in education.

MyMediHealth - designing a next generation system for child-centered medication management.

BACKGROUND: The last mile of the medication use system requires tools to help patients comply with medication administration rules and monitor for side effects. Personal health records (PHR) and emerging user-adopted communication tools promise to change the landscape of medication management; however, no research has been done to demonstrate how these tools might be constructed to support children with special healthcare needs. The overarching goal of the MyMediHealth project was to investigate ways in which PHRs and supported applications can improve the safety and quality of medication delivery in this population. DESIGN APPROACH: This project employed user-centered design to identify requirements for a child-centered medication management system. We collected information through site visits, facilitated group discussions, and iterative design sessions with adult caregivers. Once design requirements were articulated and validated, we constructed an initial prototype medication scheduler, which was evaluated by 202 parents using scripted activities completed using an online interactive prototype. The results of this analysis informed the development of a working prototype. STATUS: We have completed a working prototype of a scheduling system, a text-message-based alert and reminder system, and a medication administration record based on web-entered patient data. IMPLICATIONS: Pilot testing of the working prototype by stakeholders yielded strong endorsement and helpful feedback for future modifications, which are now underway as a part of an expanded project to test this system in a real-world environment.

Effects of intraoperative reading on vigilance and workload during anesthesia care in an academic medical center.

BACKGROUND: During routine cases, anesthesia providers may divert their attention away from direct patient care to read clinical (e.g., medical records) and/or nonclinical materials. The authors sought to ascertain the incidence of intraoperative reading and measure its effects on clinicians' workload and vigilance. METHODS: In 172 selected general anesthetic cases in an academic medical center, a trained observer categorized the anesthesia provider's activities into 37 possible tasks. Vigilance was assessed by the response time to a randomly illuminated alarm light. Observer- and subject-reported workload were scored at random intervals. Data from Reading and Non-Reading Periods of the same cases were compared to each other and to matched cases that contained no observed reading. The cases were matched before data analysis on the basis of case complexity and anesthesia type. RESULTS: Reading was observed in 35% of cases. In these 60 cases, providers read during 25 +/- 3% of maintenance but not during induction or emergence. While Non-Reading Cases (n = 112) and Non-Reading Periods of Reading Cases did not differ in workload, vigilance, or task distribution, they both had significantly higher workload than Reading Periods. Vigilance was not different among the three groups. When reading, clinicians spent less time performing manual tasks, conversing with others, and recordkeeping. CONCLUSIONS: Anesthesia providers, even when being observed, read during a significant percentage of the maintenance period in many cases. However, reading occurred when workload was low and did not appear to affect a measure of vigilance.

A facilitated survey instrument captures significantly more anesthesia events than does traditional voluntary event reporting.

BACKGROUND: This study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of an active survey method for detecting anesthesia nonroutine events (NREs). An NRE is any aspect of clinical care perceived by clinicians or observers as a deviation from optimal care based on the context of the clinical situation. METHODS: A Comprehensive Open-ended Nonroutine Event Survey (CONES) was developed to elicit NREs. CONES, which consisted of multiple brief open-ended questions, was administered to anesthesia providers in the postanesthesia care unit. CONES data were compared with those from the same hospital's anesthesia quality assurance (QA) process, which relied on self-reporting of predefined adverse events. RESULTS: CONES interviews were conducted after 183 cases of varying patient, anesthesia, and surgical complexity. Fifty-five cases had at least one NRE (30.4% incidence). During the same 30-month period, the QA process captured 159 cases with 96.8% containing at least one NRE among the 8,303 anesthetic procedures conducted (1.9% overall incidence). The CONES data were more representative of the overall surgical population. There were significant differences in NRE incidence (P < 0.001), patient impact (74.5% vs. 96.2%; P < 0.001), and injury (23.6% vs. 60.3%) between CONES and QA data. Outcomes were more severe in the QA group (P < 0.001). Extrapolation of the CONES data suggested a significantly higher overall incidence of anesthesia-related patient injury (7.7% vs. only 1.0% with the QA method). CONCLUSIONS: An active surveillance tool using the NRE construct identified a large number of clinical cases with potential patient safety concerns. This approach may be a useful complement to more traditional QA methods of self-reporting.

Multiple measures of anesthesia workload during teaching and nonteaching cases.

UNLABELLED: In this study, we sought to examine several measures of anesthesia provider workload during different phases of anesthesia care and during teaching and nonteaching cases. Clinical work was assessed in real-time during 24 general anesthetics performed by consenting anesthesia providers. Workload was measured using physiological (provider heart rate), psychological (self-assessment and observer rating), and procedural (response latency to an alarm light and workload density) techniques. Clinicians' heart rates, observer and self-reported workload scores, and nonteaching workload density were consistently increased during anesthetic induction and emergence compared with maintenance. In nonteaching cases, workload density correlated with heart rate and with psychological workload. Workload density during teaching cases did not decrease during the induction and was significantly greater than during nonteaching cases. Alarm-light response latency (a measure of clinical vigilance) was significantly prolonged during the teaching compared with nonteaching cases. These results suggest that intraoperative teaching increases the workload of the clinician instructor and may reduce vigilance during anesthesia care. Additionally, multiple workload measures may provide a more comprehensive profile of the work demands of clinical cases. IMPLICATIONS: Psychological, physiological, and procedural workload measures during routine general anesthesia cases documented the increased work demands of induction and emergence. Intraoperative teaching increased workload and decreased vigilance, suggesting the need for caution when educating during patient care.