Do good non-technical skills correlate with outcomes in Endoscopy?
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Do good non-technical skills correlate with good patient outcomes in Endoscopy?
IRAS ID
186279
Contact name
Charlotte R Hitchins
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
10-15% of patients experience some kind of adverse event during their hospital stay, a significant proportion of which occur in surgery. These often stem from deficiencies in the non-technical aspects of human interactions and team performance. Early research in this field comes from the aviation industry where Non-technical skills were described as the “cognitive and social skills of flight crew members in the cockpit”. In aviation failures in teamwork have been linked to half of adverse events, and work within surgery has shown a significant reduction in adverse events when teams perform well. Behavioural ratings systems have been used in aviation in the assessment and training of non-technical skills. Similar tools have been developed in healthcare, and more specifically in Surgery, including ‘Oxford NOTECHS II’, a tool for assessing the performance of theatre teams. Such tools can be used as observational assessments or in self-evaluation for reflection and professional development. Endoscopy units are akin to day-case theatres. Patients consent to undergo procedures of varying complexity and risk. As technology and techniques advance, increasingly complex endoscopic procedures are pioneered; however, there has been little research into non-technical skills in this area. This study aims to ascertain if the Oxford NOTECHS II tool can be used as a predictor of good clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction in Endoscopy. We hypothesise that good performance will correlate with both good clinical outcomes and improved patient satisfaction. Oxford NOTECHS II will be trialed in Endoscopy. Scores will be correlated with clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction, staff safety culture assessments, adverse events, and debrief data. Unstructured interviews will take place with staff to establish the key non-technical skills behaviours thought most important in Endoscopy.
REC name
South West - Cornwall & Plymouth Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/SW/0014
Date of REC Opinion
17 Feb 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion