SC14 ‘human factors day’: ward simulation for developing medical students’ non-technical skills

BackgroundNon-technical skills, or ‘Human Factors’ are the skills required to interact with colleagues and the work environment.1 They include team working, prioritisation, time management and situation awareness; poor performance in these domains can lead to error and clinical incidents and therefore impact patient safety. Recently there has been a focus towards improving Human Factors with team training exercises, often using simulation.The use of simulation has gained popularity as it provides a ‘safe space’ for trainees to practice before encountering a real patient, thus preserving and enhancing patient safety, which is especially relevant in the undergraduate domain. Simulation can facilitate practical team-based learning, and teamwork training has been shown to improve performance and enhance patient safety, for example in obstetrics, where team training has been shown to reduce adverse neonatal outcomes.2Summary of education programmeThe ‘Human Factors Day’ was designed to introduce and develop final year medical students’ non-technical skills within a simulated ward environment. As an immersive simulation experience, pairs of students worked their way around 7 scenarios to cover common situations students may experience when they become foundation doctors. The scenarios were designed to interact to introduce distraction and create the illusion of a busy medical ward; each scenario focused on a different non-technical skill.Results47 out of a total of 87 students (54%) over two academic years filled out an evaluation questionnaire (in addition to standard feedback), designed to assess readiness for the GMC’s ‘outcomes for graduates’. The results show that 70% of students felt prepared for their foundation jobs following the simulation day (this is similar to figures from the GMC, 2014), and 85% felt that the skills learnt through simulation had set them up well for working as a foundation doctor. For specific non-technical skills competencies there were high levels of preparedness; ‘adapting to change and uncertainty’, ‘prioritization’ and ‘team-working’, preparedness increased to 79%, 85% and 100% respectively.Discussion, conclusion and recommendationsDeveloping skills to deal with the non-technical aspects of medicine is key for undergraduate medical trainees. An effective way to develop these skills in a safe environment is with the use of a ward simulation. Using this intervention was associated with high levels of preparedness both overall and