A study, published in Anesthesiology, examined how anesthesiologists responded to continuing education simulation courses centered on managing life-threatening events.
Researchers studied how 263 board-certified anesthesiologists from across the U.S. fared in a series of continuing education simulations focused on management of life-threatening events.
Researchers recorded all participants and had independent experts rate anesthesiologists' technical and behavioral performance.
Here's what you should know:
1. All physicians had the opportunity to improve their performance.
2. Around 80 percent of critical actions were carried out in simulations.
3. Approximately 75 percent of all performance scored average or higher.
4. Anesthesiologists often omitted critical actions in low-scoring simulated care encounters.
5. Researchers found calling for help drastically improved overall performance.
6. Areas for improvement include:
- Failure to escalate therapy if initial treatment was ineffective
- Failure to engage another team member
- Failure to use available resources
- Failure to use evidence-based guidelines
Researchers concluded, "The results suggest that processes and tools that enhance the ability of clinicians and teams to respond to acute events could be strengthened. As board-certified anesthesiologists, we are at the forefront of improving clinical care as a specialty by being self-critical and asking hard questions of ourselves.”