Improving patient safety with team coordination: challenges and strategies of implementation

The health care environment presents significant risk of errors leading to patient injury and harm. One method to promote patient safety involves improving team coordination. The MedTeams training program, a nationally funded research project, provided the framework for team training in several labor and delivery units in the United States. Many challenges were confronted when team training was implemented. Based on these experiences, specific strategies to ensure the success of team training are discussed.     

Non-technical skills for obstetricians conducting forceps and vacuum deliveries: qualitative analysis by interviews and video recordings

Objective

Non-technical skills are cognitive and social skills required in an operational task. These skills have been identified and taught in the surgical domain but are of particular relevance to obstetrics where the patient is awake, the partner is present and the clinical circumstances are acute and often stressful. The aim of this study was to define the non-technical skills of an operative vaginal delivery (forceps or vacuum) to facilitate transfer of skills from expert obstetricians to trainee obstetricians.

Study design

Qualitative study using interviews and video recordings. The study was conducted at two university teaching hospitals (St. Michael's Hospital, Bristol and Ninewells Hospital, Dundee). Participants included 10 obstetricians and eight midwives identified as experts in conducting or supporting operative vaginal deliveries. Semi-structured interviews were carried out using routine clinical scenarios. The experts were also video recorded conducting forceps and vacuum deliveries in a simulation setting. The interviews and video recordings were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic coding. The anonymised data were independently coded by the three researchers and then compared for consistency of interpretation. The experts reviewed the coded data for respondent validation and clarification. The themes that emerged were used to identify the non-technical skills required for conducting an operative vaginal delivery.

Results

The final skills list was classified into seven main categories. Four categories (situational awareness, decision making, task management, and team work and communication) were similar to the categories identified in surgery. Three further categories unique to obstetrics were also identified (professional relationship with the woman, maintaining professional behaviour and cross-monitoring of performance).

Conclusion

This explicitly defined skills taxonomy could aid trainees’ understanding of the non-technical skills to be considered when conducting an operative vaginal delivery and potentially reduce morbidity and improve the experience of delivery for the mother.     

Preventable Surgical Harm in Gynecologic Oncology: Optimizing Quality and Patient Safety

Purpose of Review

Preventable medical adverse events are a leading cause of death in the USA. The most common adverse events include medication errors, perioperative complications, venous thromboembolism, infection, and readmission. Patients requiring care with a gynecologic oncologist are at increased risk for all of these adverse events, which are both clinically undesirable and now also represent targets for reduced hospital reimbursement. The goal of this review is to identify areas of preventable harm that occur in the perioperative period on a gynecologic oncology service and identify mechanisms to minimize harm.

Recent Findings

Recognizing that gynecologic oncology surgical patients often present with advanced age, medical comorbidities, obesity, and diagnoses requiring radical procedures involving multi-organ resection, they are particularly at risk for perioperative complications, some preventable. Recent studies have examined evidence-based methods for minimizing many areas of preventable harm in gynecologic oncology surgical patients. Multiple studies have implemented bundles of care to successfully decrease surgical site infections. New data on risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) specifically in gynecologic oncology patients guide recommendations for perioperative and extended VTE prophylaxis. Enhanced recovery after surgery programs explore a multitude of factors, many in a bundle format, to minimize overall perioperative complications and decrease length of stay. Additionally, new data are available on rates of hospital readmissions and risk factors for readmission.

Summary

There is already a wealth of information available regarding incidence of complications in gynecologic oncology surgical patients. Fortunately, there is a shift in the USA toward recognizing patient risk factors and implementing interventions to decrease the rate of preventable adverse events.

     

Patient Safety in Midwifery Care for Low‐Risk Women: Instrument Development

Introduction: Few studies have examined the safety of midwife‐led care for low‐risk childbearing women. While most women have a low‐risk profile at the start of pregnancy, validated measures to detect patient safety risks for this population are needed. The increased interest of midwife‐led care for childbearing women to substitute for other models of care requires careful evaluation of safety aspects. In this study, we developed and tested an instrument for safety assessment of midwifery care. Methods: A structured approach was followed for instrument development. First, we reviewed the literature on patient safety in general and obstetric and midwifery care in particular. We identified 5 domains of patient risk: organization, communication, patient‐related risk factors, clinical management, and outcomes. We then developed a prototype to assess patient records and, in an iterative process, reviewed the prototype with the help of a review team of midwives and safety experts. The instrument was pilot tested for content validity, reliability, and feasibility. Results: Trained reviewers with clinical midwifery expertise applied the instrument. We were able to reduce the original 100‐item screening instrument to 32 items and applied the instrument to patient records in a reliable manner. With regard to the validity of the instrument, review of the literature and the validation procedure produced good content validity. Discussion: A valid and feasible instrument to assess patient safety in low‐risk childbearing women is now available and can be used for quantitative analyses of patient records and to identify unsafe situations. Identification and analysis of patient safety incidents required clinical judgment and consultation with the panel of safety experts. The instrument allows us to draw conclusions about safety and to recommend steps for specific, domain‐based improvements. Studies on the use of the instrument for improving patient safety are recommended.     

Operative Hysteroscopy in an Office-Based Surgical Setting: Review of Patient Safety and Satisfaction in 414 Cases

Study ObjectiveTo determine the safety and satisfaction among patients undergoing operative hysteroscopy in an office-based setting.DesignRetrospective analysis (Canadian Task Force classification II-2).SettingPhysician's private office.PatientsWomen undergoing operative hysteroscopy in an office setting.InterventionsThree hundred eighty-seven women underwent a total of 414 operative hysteroscopic procedures, with use of parenterally administered moderate sedation, a 9-mm operative resectoscope, and sonographic guidance. All patients were American Society of Anesthesiologists class I–III.Measurements and Main ResultsA total of 305 primary operative hysteroscopic procedures were performed including endomyometrial resection, myomectomy, polypectomy, removal of a uterine septum, and adhesiolysis. One hundred nine (26.3%) repeat operative procedures were performed in women in whom previous endometrial ablation and resection had failed. The average procedure required a mean (SD) of 37.6 (13.5) minutes to complete, and produced 14.1 (10.2) g of tissue. Ninety-nine percent of all procedures were completed. Only 1 patient required a hospital transfer for evaluation of a uterine perforation necessitating diagnostic laparoscopy. There were 8 (1.9%) postoperative infections, and no complications attributable to use of conscious sedation. Two hundred fifty-five women (65.6%) responded to our telephone survey. Two hundred fifty-two (98.8%) respondents were either “very satisfied” or “satisfied.” Two hundred forty-nine women (97.6%) preferred the office to a hospital setting, whereas 6 (2.4%) would have preferred a hospital setting. All but 5 respondents would recommend this procedure to a friend.ConclusionMajor operative hysteroscopic surgery can be performed in an office-based setting with a high degree of safety and patient satisfaction.     

Diversity in sexual health: Problems and dilemmas

The increase in migrant populations in western Europe has led to specific problems and dilemmas in the area of sexual and reproductive health and service provision. In general, these problems and dilemmas can be divided into four categories: (1) epidemiology of diseases and risk factors; (2) psychosocial and cultural aspects; (3) communication; and (4) moral and ethical dilemmas.

Regarding epidemiology, there is an increased prevalence in migrant groups of unwanted pregnancy and abortion, HIV/STDs, and sexual violence. Effective contraceptive use is hampered by knowledge deficits, uncertain living conditions, ambivalence regarding the use of contraceptives, and problems accessing (information on) contraception. Psychosocial and cultural aspects relate to the norms and attitudes individuals and groups have regarding the family, social relationships, sexuality, and gender. These norms and attitudes have an impact on the sexual and reproductive choices people make and the possibilities and restrictions they feel in this respect. Problems in communication concern not only language but also communication styles, the way patients present their problems, and the expectations they have from the service provider. Communication problems inevitably lead to a lower quality of care. Moral and ethical dilemmas arise where cultures collide, for example regarding sexuality education and virginity problems. Two examples of practical situations in which migrant patients ask for help with sexual or reproductive health problems will be described.     

Childbirth traditions and cultural perceptions of safety in Nepal: Critical spaces to ensure the survival of mothers and newborns in remote mountain villages

Objective

to uncover local beliefs regarding pregnancy and birth in remote mountainous villages of Nepal in order to understand the factors which impact on women's experiences of pregnancy and childbirth and the related interplay of tradition, spiritual beliefs, risk and safety which impact on those experiences.

Design

this study used a qualitative methodological approach with in-depth interviews framework within social constructionist and feminist critical theories.

Setting

the setting comprised two remote Nepalese mountain villages where women have high rates of illiteracy, poverty, disadvantage, maternal and newborn mortality, and low life expectancy. Interviews were conducted between February and June, 2010.

Participants

twenty five pregnant/postnatal women, five husbands, five mothers-in-law, one father-in-law, five service providers and five community stakeholders from the local communities were involved.

Findings

Nepalese women, their families and most of their community strongly value their childbirth traditions and associated spiritual beliefs and they profoundly shape women's views of safety and risk during pregnancy and childbirth, influencing how birth and new motherhood fit into daily life. These intense culturally-based views of childbirth safety and risk conflict starkly with the medical view of childbirth safety and risk.

Key conclusions and implications for practice

if maternity services are to improve maternal and neonatal survival rates in Nepal, maternity care providers must genuinely partner with local women inclusive of their cultural beliefs, and provide locally based primary maternity care. Women will then be more likely to attend maternity care services, and benefit from feeling culturally safe and culturally respected within their spiritual traditions of birth supported by the reduction of risk provided by informed and reverent medicalised care.