Does teaching non-technical skills to medical students improve those skills and simulated patient outcome?

Abstract

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of a tailor-made, non-technical skills seminar on medical student’s behaviour, attitudes, and performance during simulated patient treatment.MethodsSeventy-seven students were randomized to either a non-technical skills seminar (NTS group, n=43) or a medical seminar (control group, n=34). The human patient simulation was used as an evaluation tool. Before the seminars, all students performed the same simulated emergency scenario to provide baseline measurements. After the seminars, all students were exposed to a second scenario, and behavioural markers for evaluating their non-technical skills were rated. Furthermore, teamwork-relevant attitudes were measured before and after the scenarios, and perceived stress was measured following each simulation. All simulations were also evaluated for various medical endpoints.ResultsNon-technical skills concerning situation awareness (p<.01, r=0.5) and teamwork (p<.01, r=0.45) improved from simulation I to II in the NTS group. Decision making improved in both groups (NTS: p<.01, r=0.39; control: p<.01, r=0.46). The attitude ‘handling errors’ improved significantly in the NTS group (p<.05, r=0.34). Perceived stress decreased from simulation I to II in both groups. Medical endpoints and patients´ outcome did not differ significantly between the groups in simulation II.ConclusionsThis study highlights the effectiveness of a single brief seminar on non-technical skills to improve student’s non-technical skills. In a next step, to improve student’s handling of emergencies and patient outcomes, non-technical skills seminars should be accompanied by exercises and more broadly embedded in the medical school curriculum.

Developing a novel framework for non-technical skills learning strategies for undergraduates: A systematic review

“…2 shows a remarkable increase in the number of studies available per year since 1980, with a striking increase of 122% between periods 2000–2009 and 2010–2017. Most studies were featured in the Americas (n = 25) [ [26] , [27] , [28] , [29] , [30] , [31] , [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] , [36] , [37] , [38] , [39] , [40] , [41] , [42] , [43] , [44] , [45] , [46] , [47] , [48] , [49] , [50] ], followed closely by Europe (n = 24) [ [51] , [52] , [53] , [54] , [55] , [56] , [57] , [58] , [59] , [60] , [61] , [62] , [63] , [64] , [65] , [66] , [67] , [68] , [69] , [70] , [71] , [72] , [73] , [74] ]. Specifically, the majority were carried out in the United States (US) (n = 23) [ [26] , [27] , [28] , [29] , [30] , [31] , [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] , [36] , [37] , [38] , …”

“…Variability was observed in the disclosure of further participant demographic information, specifically concerning first language, gender and mean age. Only 24 papers specified whether students had previous experience in NTS learning [ 26 , 28 , 32 , 35 , 39 , 41 , 44 , 45 , 52 , 55 , 61 , 63 , 64 , [67] , [68] , [69] , [74] , [75] , [76] , [77] , [78] , [79] , [80] , [81] ].…”

Human skills for human[istic] anatomy: An emphasis on nontraditional discipline‐independent skills

“…Deficiency in NTDIS contributes to significant increase in medical errors (Panesar et al, 2012;Roche, 2016;Uramatsu et al, 2017). In the past, teaching of the NTDIS skills and assessment of competencies in this arena has been neglected in medical school curricula (DeTata, 2015), however studies indicate that even a brief seminar highlighting NTDIS does improve students' behavior, attitudes, and performance during simulated patient treatment (Hagemann et al, 2017). The simulation environment is highly effective in teaching NTDIS to health care professions students (Arora et al, 2011;Pearson and McLafferty, 2011;Jorm et al, 2016).…”

Non-technical skills: a review of training and evaluation in urology

“…However, both groups saw a reduction in stress and better decision making. Medical endpoints and patient outcome did not differ significantly between groups [11]. Thus, although didactic teaching has a role in NTS training, exemplified by this study, difficult cognitive skills such as decision making and planning require further training using other methods [11,12].…”

“…Medical endpoints and patient outcome did not differ significantly between groups [11]. Thus, although didactic teaching has a role in NTS training, exemplified by this study, difficult cognitive skills such as decision making and planning require further training using other methods [11,12]. Other beneficial classroom-based techniques include observing famous incidents and video analysis of self-performance [12].…”