Examining interprofessional learning perceptions among students in a simulation-based operating room team training experience.

High-fidelity simulation (HFS) operating room (OR) inter-professional team training improves healthcare students' team-based attitudes and behaviours. Such improvements can diminish tribalism among the professions in the OR by overcoming entrenched perceptions of team members. We investigated whether simulation-based interprofessional student OR team training impacts students differently based on their professional background. From 2010 to 2013, HFS OR interprofessional student team training sessions were conducted involving senior medical students, senior undergraduate nursing students, and nurse anaesthesia students. The training involved a two-scenario format, each followed by a structured debriefing focusing on team-based competencies. Before and after each session, students completed a 15-item teamwork competencies self-efficacy survey as well as, from 2012-2013, the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS). At the end of each session, they also completed a 6-item rating scale assessing overall team function during the session. Mean scores were calculated for each student professional group, post/pre mean differences were determined, and student t-test and ANOVA analyses were employed to compare within and between-group differences, respectively. Response rates were over 80% for each scale used. Medical students and undergraduate nursing students had significant improvements in team-based attitudes post- to pre-session. Medical students and nurse anaesthesia students had significant improvements in RIPLS scores. Statistically significant improvements from post- to pre-session were seen overall for both team-based attitudes (effect size = 0.83) and RIPLS (effect size = 0.37). The difference between the team-based scores between professions was significant; RIPLS differences were not. No significant difference existed between professions related to overall teamwork scores. HFS OR team training of healthcare students has beneficial but variable benefits for each professional group.

Interprofessional teamwork among students in simulated codes: a quasi-experimental study.

AIM: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of using crisis resource management (CRM) principles and high-fidelity human patient simulation (HFHPS) for interprofessional (IP) team training of students from undergraduate nursing, nurse anesthesia, medical, and respiratory therapy. BACKGROUND: IP education using simulation-based training has the potential to transform education by improving teamwork and communication and breaking down silos in education. METHOD: This one-year study used a quasi-experimental design to evaluate students' acquisition and retention of teamwork and communication skills. A convenience sample consisted of 52 students in the fall semester, with 40 students returning in the spring. RESULTS: Mean scores increased after training, and skills were retained fairly well. Any loss was regained with repeat training in the spring. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that using CRM and HFHPS is an effective pedagogy for teaching communication and teamwork skills to IP student teams.

Comprehensive Literature Search to Identify Assessment Tools for Operating Room Nontechnical Skills to Determine Common Critical Components.

BACKGROUND: Effective use of nontechnical skills (NTS) contributes to the provision of safe, quality care in the fast-paced, dynamic setting of the operating room (OR). Inter-professional education of NTS to OR team members can improve performance. Such training requires the accurate measurement of NTS in order to identify gaps in their utilization by OR teams. Although several instruments for measuring OR NTS exist in the literature, each tool tends to define specific NTS differently. AIM: We aimed to determine commonalities in defined measurements among existing OR NTS tools. METHODS: We undertook a comprehensive literature review of assessment tools for OR NTS to determine the critical components common to these instruments. A PubMed search of the literature from May 2009 to May 2019 combined various combinations of keywords and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) related to the following subjects: teamwork, teams, assessment, debriefing, surgery, operating room, nontechnical, communication. From this start, articles were selected describing specific instruments. Three reviewers then identified the common components measured among these assessment tools. Reviewers collated kin constructs within each instrument using frequency counts of similarly termed and conceptualized components. RESULTS: The initial PubMed search produced 119 articles of which 24 articles satisfied the inclusion criteria. Within these articles, 10 assessment tools evaluated OR NTS. Kin constructs were grouped into six NTS categories in the following decreasing frequency order: communication, situation awareness, teamwork, leadership, decision making, and task management/decision making (equal). CONCLUSION: NTS OR assessment tools in the literature have a variety of kin constructs related to the specific measured components within the instruments. Such kin constructs contain thematic cohesion across six primary NTS groupings with some variation in scale and scope. Future plans include using this information to develop an easy-to-use assessment tool to assist with debriefing in the clinical environment.

Brick in the wall? Linking quality of debriefing to participant learning in team training of interprofessional students.

Background: The evidence for the conventional wisdom that debriefing quality determines the effectiveness of learning in simulation-based training is lacking. We investigated whether the quality of debriefing in using simulation-based training in team training correlated with the degree of learning of participants. Methods: Forty-two teams of medical and undergraduate nursing students participated in simulation-based training sessions using a two-scenario format with after-action debriefing. Observers rated team performance with an 11-item Teamwork Assessment Scales (TAS) instrument (three subscales, team-based behaviours (5-items), shared mental model (3-items), adaptive communication and response (3-items)). Two independent, blinded raters evaluated video-recorded facilitator team prebriefs and debriefs using the Objective Structured Assessment of Debriefing (OSAD) 8-item tool. Descriptive statistics were calculated, t-test comparisons made and multiple linear regression and univariate analysis used to compare OSAD item scores and changes in TAS scores. Results: Statistically significant improvements in all three TAS subscales occurred from scenario 1 to 2. Seven faculty teams taught learners with all scores ≥3.0 (except two) for prebriefs and all scores ≥ 3.5 (except one) for debriefs (OSAD rating 1=done poorly to 5=done well). Linear regression analysis revealed a single statistically significant correlation between debrief engagement and adaptive communication and response score without significance on univariate analysis. Conclusions: Quality of debriefing does not seem to increase the degree of learning in interprofessional education using simulation-based training of prelicensure student teams. Such a finding may be due to the relatively high quality of the prebrief and debrief of the faculty teams involved in the training.

Improvement in student-led debriefing analysis after simulation-based team training using a revised teamwork assessment tool.

BACKGROUND: Team debriefing is an important teamwork development intervention for improving team outputs in healthcare. Debriefing is a key component of experiential team training teamwork development interventions such as simulation-based training. Improving the quality of debriefing of healthcare teams, therefore, has multiple benefits. We investigated whether the quality of student-led debriefing improved using a shortened guide. METHODS: Senior medical students, nurse anesthesia students, and senior undergraduate nursing students participated in student operating room team training at a health sciences center in the southeastern United States. Student teams participated in a dual-scenario simulation-based training session with immediate after-action debriefings after each scenario. In 2018, student teams conducted the second debriefing using as a guide the teamwork assessment scale, an 11-item, 3-subscale, 6-point Likert-type instrument. In 2019, they used a shortened, revised, 5-item version of the teamwork assessment scale, the quick teamwork assessment scale. Trained observers rated the quality of the student-led debriefings using the Objective Structured Assessment of Debriefing, an 8-item, 5-point instrument. The Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test was used to compare the teamwork assessment scale-guided and the quick teamwork assessment scale-guided mean item debriefing scores. RESULTS: Two observers rated 3 student-led team debriefings using the teamwork assessment scales as a guide in 2018, and 6 such debriefings happened using the quick teamwork assessment scale as a guide in 2019. For each debriefing, observer scores were averaged for each Objective Structured Assessment of Debriefing item; these mean scores were then averaged with other mean scores for each year. The use of the quick teamwork assessment scale resulted in a statistically significant higher mean score for the Analysis Objective Structured Assessment of Debriefing item compared with the use of the teamwork assessment scale (4.92 [standard deviation 0.20] versus 3.83 [standard deviation 0.76], P = .023). CONCLUSION: The use of a shortened teamwork assessment instrument as a debriefing guide for student teams in student operating room team training was more effective in analysis of actions than the original, longer tool. Next steps include determining the efficacy of the quick teamwork assessment scale in an actual clinical setting.

Quality with quantity? Evaluating interprofessional faculty prebriefs and debriefs for simulation training using video.

BACKGROUND: High-fidelity simulation-based training is used increasingly for prelicensure student teams. Such sessions rely on faculty who are able to provide quality prebriefing and debriefing to foster learning among participants. We investigated how well faculty conducted prebriefing and debriefing as part of high-fidelity simulation-based training for interprofessional education. METHODS: Two trained observers independently rated 38 video-recorded sessions of combinations of 4 faculty conducting prebriefings and debriefings of prelicensure student teams after high-fidelity simulation-based training. Assessment was undertaken using the Objective Structured Assessment of Debriefing, an 8-item tool using a 5-point Likert scale (1 as minimum and 5 as maximum). Mean scores for each item were calculated. Inter-rater agreement was determined using Cohen's kappa. A one-way between-subjects analysis of variance with post-hoc Tukey's studentized range procedure was conducted to compare the effect of team facilitator grouping on the quality of team performance of each Objective Structured Assessment of Debriefing element during a prebriefing or a debriefing. Trend analyses of teams with 4 or more observations were performed using Kendall's Tau coefficient test and linear regression analyses to identify whether teams showed improvement through time. Statistical significance was set at P < .05. RESULTS: A total of 7 combinations of faculty conducted between 1 to 14 prebriefings or debriefings. In general, faculty combinations performed better during debriefings compared with prebriefings, with only 1 team having 1 mean item score <3.50. Statistically significant differences between faculty combinations in mean item scores was more pronounced during the prebriefings (2 of 3 Objective Structured Assessment of Debriefing items rated) than during debriefings (1 of 8 Objective Structured Assessment of Debriefing items rated). Effect sizes were strong for all differences. Linear regression analysis revealed a statistically significant change through time for the 3 rated prebriefing items and for 7 of the 8 rated debriefing items. CONCLUSION: Interprofessional faculty combinations in this study tended to have good quality prebriefings and debriefings. The quality of the prebriefings and debriefings can, however, be influenced by the composition of the facilitator teams, most prominently for prebriefings, and team performance does appear to change through time, especially during the debriefing. Future work will focus on whether the quality of prebriefings and debriefings influences learning by trainees.

Factors influencing intent to stay in academia for nursing faculty in the southern United States of America.

The current nursing faculty shortage makes understanding intent to stay in academia a step toward slowing the exodus of faculty. The purpose of this study was to discover a parsimonious set of predictor variables from the variables of job satisfaction, mentoring, organizational commitment, and leadership behaviors for intent to stay in nursing education. A random cluster sample consisted of 39 schools of nursing in states within the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB). There were 316 responses from 782 potential participants for a response rate of 40.4%. Stepwise multiple regression results indicated that organizational commitment explained 19.7% of the variance in intent to stay one year and 21.2% of the variance in intent to stay five years. Further, mentored faculty scored significantly higher on organizational commitment. Intent to stay three years was not significantly correlated to any predictor variables suggesting it is a time to intervene to influence decisions to stay.

eAssessment: development of an electronic version of the Objective Structured Assessment of Debriefing tool to streamline evaluation of video recorded debriefings.

Objective: The Objective Structured Assessment of Debriefing (OSAD) is an evidence-based, 8-item tool that uses a behaviorally anchored rating scale in paper-based form to evaluate the quality of debriefing in medical education. The objective of this project was twofold: 1) to create an easy-to-use electronic format of the OSAD (eOSAD) in order to streamline data entry; and 2) to pilot its use on videoed debriefings. Materials and Methods: The eOSAD was developed in collaboration with the LSU Health New Orleans Epidemiology Data Center using SurveyGizmo (Widgix Software, LLC, Boulder, CO, USA) software. The eOSAD was then piloted by 2 trained evaluators who rated 37 videos of faculty teams conducting pre-briefing and debriefing after a high-fidelity trauma simulation. Inter-rater reliability was assessed, and evaluators' qualitative feedback was obtained. Results: Inter-rater reliability was good [prebrief, intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC = 0.955 (95% CI, 0.912-0.977), P < .001; debrief, ICC = 0.853 (95% CI, 0.713-0.924), P < .001]. Qualitative feedback from evaluators found that the eOSAD was easy to complete, simple to read and add comments, and reliably stored data that were readily retrievable, enabling the smooth dissemination of information collected. Discussion: The eOSAD features a secure login, sharable internet access link for distant evaluators, and the immediate exporting of data into a secure database for future analysis. It provided convenience for end-users, produced reliable assessments among independent evaluators, and eliminated multiple sources of possible data corruption. Conclusion: The eOSAD tool format advances the post debriefing evaluation of videoed inter-professional team training in high-fidelity simulation.

Opportunistic Fungal Infections in Critical Care Units.

Fungal infections are rare compared with bacterial infections, but they are on the increase in critical care units. Diagnosis can be difficult, resulting in increased mortality. Immunocompromised patients are at higher risk for fungal infections, including organ transplant, oncology, and HIV/AIDS patients. Fatigue and fever are common symptoms that require critical care nurses to remain vigilant in assessment to identify at-risk patients and promote use of timely cultures and appropriate treatments for fungal infections. Critical care nurses can contribute to decreasing risk for fungal infections by controlling glucose levels, decreasing the use of invasive lines, and preventing unnecessary antibiotic use.

Team Training of Inter-Professional Students (TTIPS) for improving teamwork.

Objective: In surgery, dysfunctional teamwork is perpetuated by a 'silo' mentality modelled by students. Interprofessional education using high-fidelity simulation-based training (SBT) may counteract such modelling. We sought to determine whether SBT of interprofessional student teams (1) changes long-term teamwork attitudes and (2) is an effective form of team training. Design: A quasiexperimental, pre/postintervention comparison design was employed at an academic health sciences institution. High-fidelity simulation-based training of 42 interprofessional teams of third year surgery clerkship medical students and senior undergraduate nursing students was undertaken using a two-scenario format with immediate after action debriefing. Pre/postintervention TeamSTEPPS Teamwork Attitudes questionnaires (5 subscales, 30 items, Likert type) were given to the medical student and undergraduate nursing student classes. Pre/postsession Readiness for Inter-Professional Learning (RIPL; 19 items, Likert type) surveys and postscenario participant-rated and observer-rated Teamwork Assessment Scales (3 subscales, 11 items, Likert type) were given during each training session. Mean TeamSTEPPS Teamwork Attitudes Questionnaire, RIPL and Teamwork Assessment Scales scores were calculated; matched pre/postscore differences and trained versus non-trained TeamSTEPPS Teamwork Attitudes Questionnaire scores were compared using paired t-test or analysis of variance. Results: Both student groups had 10 significantly improved RIPL items as well as TeamSTEPPS Teamwork Attitudes Questionnaire (TTAQ) mutual support subscales. Medical students had a significantly improved TTAQ team structure subscale. Over a simulation-based training session, each observer-rated Teamwork Assessment Scales subscale and two self-rated Teamwork Assessment Scales subscales significantly improved. Trained students had significantly higher TTAQ team structure subscales than non-trained students. Conclusions: Interprofessional education using high-fidelity simulation-based training of students is effective at teaching teamwork, changing interprofessional attitudes and improving long-term teamwork attitudes.

Using Simulation in Interprofessional Education.

Simulation-based training (SBT) is a powerful educational tool permitting the acquisition of surgical knowledge, skills, and attitudes at both the individual- and team-based level in a safe, nonthreatening learning environment at no risk to a patient. Interprofessional education (IPE), in which participants from 2 or more health or social care professions learn interactively, can help improve patient care through the promotion of efficient coordination, dissemination of advances in care across specialties and professions, and optimization of individual- and team-based function. Nonetheless, conducting SBT IPE sessions poses several tactical and strategic challenges that must be effectively overcome to reap IPE's benefits.

Getting a head start: high-fidelity, simulation-based operating room team training of interprofessional students.

BACKGROUND: Effective teamwork in the operating room (OR) is often undermined by the "silo mentality" of the differing professions. Such thinking is formed early in one's professional experience and is fostered by undergraduate medical and nursing curricula lacking interprofessional education. We investigated the immediate impact of conducting interprofessional student OR team training using high-fidelity simulation (HFS) on students' team-related attitudes and behaviors. STUDY DESIGN: Ten HFS OR interprofessional student team training sessions were conducted involving 2 standardized HFS scenarios, each of which was followed by a structured debriefing that targeted team-based competencies. Pre- and post-session mean scores were calculated and analyzed for 15 Likert-type items measuring self-efficacy in teamwork competencies using the t-test. Additionally, mean scores of observer ratings of team performance after each scenario and participant ratings after the second scenario for an 11-item Likert-type teamwork scale were calculated and analyzed using one-way ANOVA and t-test. RESULTS: Eighteen nursing students, 20 nurse anesthetist students, and 28 medical students participated in the training. Statistically significant gains from mean pre- to post-training scores occurred on 11 of the 15 self-efficacy items. Statistically significant gains in mean observer performance scores were present on all 3 subscales of the teamwork scale from the first scenario to the second. A statistically significant difference was found in comparisons of mean observer scores with mean participant scores for the team-based behaviors subscale. CONCLUSIONS: High-fidelity simulation OR interprofessional student team training improves students' team-based attitudes and behaviors. Students tend to overestimate their team-based behaviors.