Simulation in healthcare : journal of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare
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Accuracy in blood loss estimation has been shown to improve immediately after didactic training. The objective of this study was to evaluate retention of blood loss estimation skills 9 months after a didactic web-based training. ⋯ Decay in blood loss estimation skills occurs by 9 months after didactic training.
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On November 2009, the Italian health authorities set up a network of selected intensive care unit (ICU) centers (ECMOnet) to prepare for the treatment of the sickest patients of influenza A (H1N1) by means of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). To quickly and efficaciously train all the physicians working in the ICUs of the ECMOnet on ECMO use, we decided to take advantages of the opportunity provided by simulation technology. Simulation proved efficacious in providing adequate training and education to participants as confirmed by the survival results obtained by the group of ICUs of the ECMOnet. Our experience supports the use of simulation as a valuable alternative to animal laboratory sessions proposed by traditional ECMO training programs providing participants with cognitive, technical, and behavioral skills and allowing a proficient transfer of those skills to the real medical domain.
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Prompt treatment is necessary to assure patient survival during crisis. Obstetric cardiac arrest (OCA) and malignant hyperthermia (MH) are rarely occurring crises. Cognitive aids (CAs) consolidate management and assist treatment decisions. We investigated a novel method to encourage resident physician CA use during simulated crises. ⋯ Reader introduction resulted in execution of all critical actions. During the debriefing of the simulated scenarios, subjects acknowledged the benefit of the Reader.
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Patient flow computer simulations allow Emergency Department stakeholders to assess operational interventions, develop utilization and performance measures, and produce estimates for budgeting or planning purposes. Key challenges of traditional discrete-event computer simulation software are their inherent complexity for modeling, coding, or analyzing output and their significant costs and training. We propose a simulation platform that runs in spreadsheets. Because of their low cost, popularity and powerful functionality and performance, spreadsheets also allow for the development and management of simulations that efficiently output results that are just as reliable as those from traditional software. ⋯ Spreadsheet simulations are as effective as traditional simulations but easier to use, understand, and implement. Spreadsheet software is widely available, at a fraction of the cost of discrete-event simulation software. Coding spreadsheet simulations may be more challenging as it requires a different and more novel expertise than traditional computer programming. However, spreadsheets can be organized to reference existing datasets, thus minimizing the burden of copying and likelihood of transcription errors and information leakage. Output analysis can also be customized with user-specific performance statistics and charts.