Integrating technical and non-technical skills coaching in an acute trauma surgery team training: Is it too much?

Integrating Technical and Nontechnical Skills in Hands-On Surgical Training

“…This reality is considered to contribute to the transfer of the acquired nontechnical skills to the real-life operating room [2]. However, our research showed that integrating technical and nontechnical skills during a training using live animal models remained difficult and resulted in a main focus on the teaching of technical skills and hardly on nontechnical skills [22,23]. It was assumed that the use of a live animal made training activities too unstable to properly teach nontechnical skills next to technical skills.…”

“…Such simulation setting not only offers extensive debriefing possibilities after simulation, for example with the help of video-recordings but also offers the possibility to freeze the condition of the patient in time. Pause and reflect procedures focused on nontechnical skills can then follow immediately, even in acute situations [22]. While still in the simulation, trainees receive feedback and have the opportunity to immediately apply and train the improved nontechnical skills during the remainder of the simulation.…”

“…Furthermore, the occurrence of stress caused by real bleedings, for example, is known to cause cognitive overload. This may have further limited the teachers in teaching nontechnical skills [22].…”

“…Trainees have to deal with real bleedings, time pressure, and hectic teamwork within realistic operating teams [22]. This reality is considered to contribute to the transfer of the acquired nontechnical skills to the real-life operating room [2].…”

“…Recently, nontechnical skills have slowly been added to the skill sets trained by simulation. Possibilities to integrate nontechnical skills next to technical skills training have been developed, for example by using simulated operating rooms with live animal models [22], manikins, and/or synthetic or hybrid models [18].…”