Original Research

Effects of Simulation-based Training for High School Sports Medicine Personnel on Emergency Response Confidence and Teamwork Behaviors

Daryl A. Rosenbaum, MD; Heath C. Thornton, MD; James E. Johnson, PhD; Ian Saunders, Cer. AT; Michael T. Fitch, MD, PhD

  • Athletic Training and Sports Health Care
  • May/June 2012 - Volume 4 · Issue 3: 126-132
  • DOI: 10.3928/19425864-20110930-02
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Abstract

This study aimed to determine whether a workshop emphasizing teamwork and simulation can improve confidence and nontechnical skills in multidisciplinary athletic emergency response teams. Thirty-five participants from 7 high schools completed the 1-day summer workshop. An individual confidence self-assessment questionnaire was administered preworkshop, immediately postworkshop, and delayed postworkshop (at the end of the school year). Two observers reviewed video of the preworkshop and postworkshop simulation exercises and used the Anesthetists’ Nontechnical Skills (ANTS) system to rate team performance. All 5 self-confidence ratings increased for both immediate and delayed postworkshop, compared with preworkshop. Most of this improvement is attributable to nonhealth care professionals. ANTS scores immediately postworkshop showed improvement in all categories: task management (P = .008), teamwork (P < .001), situation awareness (P = .001), and decision making (P = .001). Multidisciplinary team participation in a workshop emphasizing teamwork and simulation training increased confidence and observed teamwork skills.

AUTHORS

Dr Rosenbaum and Dr Thornton are from the Department of Family and Community Medicine, Dr Johnson and Mr Saunders are from the Center for Applied Learning, and Dr Fitch is from the Department of Emergency Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

This study was presented in part at the 19th Annual Meeting of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine; April 21, 2010; Cancun, Mexico.

Dr Rosenbaum received funding as a Brooks Scholar at the Wake Forest School of Medicine. The authors have no financial or proprietary interest in the materials presented herein.

Address correspondence to Daryl A. Rosenbaum, MD, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1084; e-mail: drosenba@wakehealth.edu

doi: 10.3928/19425864-20110930-02

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