Relationship between Non-technical Skills and Resuscitation Performance of Nurses' Team in in-situ Simulated Cardiac Arrest

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this descriptive study was to explore the relationship between non-technical skills (NTSs) and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) performance of nurses' teams in simulated cardiac arrest in the hospital. Methods: The sample was 28 teams of nurses in one university hospital located in Seoul. A high fidelity simulator was used to enact simulated cardiac arrest. The nurse teams were scored by raters using both the CPR performance checklist and the NTSs checklist. Specifically the CPR performance checklist included critical actions; time elapsed to initiation of critical actions, and quality of cardiac compression. The NTSs checklist was comprised of leadership, communication, mutual performance monitoring, maintenance of guideline, and task management. Data were collected directly from manikin and video recordings. Results: There was a significant difference between the medians of the NTSs and CPR performance (Mann Whitney U=43.5, p=.014). In five subcategories, communication (p=.026), mutual performance monitoring (p=.005), and maintenance of guideline (p=.003) differed significantly with CPR performance in medians. Leadership (p=.053) and task management (p=.080) were not significantly different with CPR performance. Conclusion: The findings indicate that NTSs of teams in addition to technical skills of individual rescuers affect the outcome of CPR. NTSs development and assessment should be considered an integral part of resuscitation training.