Dr Anuradha Perera1,2, Dr Julie Myers1, Dr Robin Griffiths1
1University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand, 2University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
Non-technical skills are a key component of safe and effective clinical performance. They are the cognitive, social, and personal resource skills (situational awareness, decision making, communication, teamwork, and leadership), that complement technical skills and contribute to safe and efficient task performance. Originally from aviation, behavioural frameworks are increasingly being used in healthcare to teach and evaluate non-technical skills. A framework specific to maternity aeromedical transfer would be highly relevant because non-technical skills can have a significant impact on patient outcomes. No such framework currently exists.
The objective of this study was to develop a non-technical skills framework specific to multidisciplinary teams undertaking maternity aeromedical transfers.
Taking a post-positivist qualitative approach, an existing most suitable framework identified from a previous study, Global Assessment of Obstetric Team Performance (GAOTP), was adapted for maternity aeromedical transfer by triangulating interview data from health professionals experienced in maternity aeromedical transfers with direct field observations, and literature.
The Non-Technical Skills in Obstetrics Transfers (NOAT) prototype consists of six main skills categories: Communication with the patient and the partner, Task/case management, Teamwork, Situational awareness, Communication with team members, and Environment of the cabin. Examples of some observable behaviours that illustrate the skills include: sourcing relevant information from the referral hospital, considering team composition when planning the mission, helping women to transition from a personalised labour room to an aviation-based clinical environment, and cross-checking information with relevant parties. A rating scale can be used to assign a numerical value to the non-technical skill performance.
NOAT identifies specific non-technical skills and their observable behaviours indicative of good and bad performance, to apply in a maternity aeromedical transfer setting.
NOAT provides a common language for discussing non-technical skills in this clinical setting. It has the potential to function as a framework around which teaching, training, and debriefing can be structured.
Biography:
B.Sc in Nursing, RN, Ph.D. candidate and a lecturer in nursing