Search

his is the sixth annual summary of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations. This summary addresses the most recently published resuscitation evidence reviewed by International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation Task Force science experts. Topics covered by systematic reviews include cardiopulmonary resuscitation during transport; approach to resuscitation after drowning; passive ventilation; minimizing pauses during cardiopulmonary resuscitation; temperature management after cardiac arrest; use of diagnostic point-of-care ultrasound during cardiac arrest; use of vasopressin and corticosteroids during cardiac arrest; coronary angiography after cardiac arrest; public-access defibrillation devices for children; pediatric early warning systems; maintaining normal temperature immediately after birth; suctioning of amniotic fluid at birth; tactile stimulation for resuscitation immediately after birth; use of continuous positive airway pressure for respiratory distress at term birth; respiratory and heart rate monitoring in the delivery room; supraglottic airway use in neonates; prearrest prediction of in-hospital cardiac arrest mortality; basic life support training for likely rescuers of high-risk populations; effect of resuscitation team training; blended learning for life support training; training and recertification for resuscitation instructors; and recovery position for maintenance of breathing and prevention of cardiac arrest. Members from 6 task forces have assessed, discussed, and debated the quality of the evidence using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria and generated consensus treatment recommendations. Insights into the deliberations of the task forces are provided in the Justification and Evidence-to-Decision Framework Highlights sections, and priority knowledge gaps for future research are listed. This is the sixth annual summary of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations. This summary addresses the most recently published resuscitation evidence reviewed by International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation Task Force science experts. Topics covered by systematic reviews include cardiopulmonary resuscitation during transport; approach to resuscitation after drowning; passive ventilation; minimizing pauses during cardiopulmonary resuscitation; temperature management after cardiac arrest; use of diagnostic point-of-care ultrasound during cardiac arrest; use of vasopressin and corticosteroids during cardiac arrest; coronary angiography after cardiac arrest; public-access defibrillation devices for children; pediatric early warning systems; maintaining normal temperature immediately after birth; suctioning of amniotic fluid at birth; tactile stimulation for resuscitation immediately after birth; use of continuous positive airway pressure for respiratory distress at term birth; respiratory and heart rate monitoring in the delivery room; supraglottic airway use in neonates; prearrest prediction of in-hospital cardiac arrest mortality; basic life support training for likely rescuers of high-risk populations; effect of resuscitation team training; blended learning for life support training; training and recertification for resuscitation instructors; and recovery position for maintenance of breathing and prevention of cardiac arrest. Members from 6 task forces have assessed, discussed, and debated the quality of the evidence using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria and generated consensus treatment recommendations. Insights into the deliberations of the task forces are provided in the Justification and Evidence-to-Decision Framework Highlights sections, and priority knowledge gaps for future research are listed.

Background: Completing a master thesis (MT) is mandatory in many undergraduate curricula in medicine but a specific educational model to guide the supervisor-student relationship during the MT has not been published. An attractive model for this purpose is the ‘Educational Alliance’ (EA), which focusses on the ‘clarity and agreement on goals, tasks, relationship and roles’. This study investigated factors and supervisory approaches that can either facilitate or hinder the process of MTs, and related these to the components of the EA. Methods: We conducted separate, semi-structured interviews with students and their corresponding supervisors, after the MT had been accepted. The interviews included open and Likert-type scale questions on factors facilitating or hindering the success of the MT. The authors analyzed the anonymized transcripts using inductive thematic analysis. Results: From 40 interviews related to 20 MTs, we extracted 469 comments and categorized these into four main categories a) ‘Preparation’ b) ‘Process’ c) ‘Atmosphere’ d) ‘Value of the MT’. Overall, interviewees highlighted the importance of clear expectations, a clear research plan, thorough and timely feedback, mutual agreement on timelines, and a positive working atmosphere. These factors appeared well in line with the EA concept. In addition, however, the interviews also showed that careful preparation of the project was regarded as essential. Based on the findings, we provide recommendations for students, supervisors, and the university. Conclusion: In summary, we propose this extended EA model as useful in guiding students, supervisors, and the university towards conducting successful MTs in medicine.

Objective To describe and evaluate a consensus finding and expert validation process for the development of patient-centred communication assessments for a national Licensing Exam in Medicine. Methods A multi-professional team of clinicians and experts in communication, assessment and role-play developed communication assessments for the Swiss Federal Licensing Examination. The six-month process, informed by a preceding national needs-assessment, an expert symposium and a critical literature review covered the application of patient-centred communication frameworks, the development of assessment guides, concrete assessments and pilot-tests. The participants evaluated the process. Results The multiple-step consensus process, based on expert validation of the medical and communication content, led to six high-stakes patient-centred communication OSCE-assessments. The process evaluation revealed areas of challenge such as calibrating rating-scales and case difficulty to the graduates’ competencies and integrating differing opinions. Main success factors were attributed to the outcome-oriented process and the multi-professional exchange of expertise. A model for developing high stakes patient-centred communication OSCE-assessments was derived. Conclusions Consensus finding was facilitated by using well-established communication frameworks, by ensuring outcome-orientated knowledge exchange among multi-professional experts, and collaborative validation of content through experts. Practice implications We propose developing high-stakes communication assessments in a multi-professional expert consensus and provide a conceptual model.

These European Resuscitation Council education guidelines are based on the 2020 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Science with Treatment Recommendations. This section provides guidance to citizens and healthcare professionals with regard to teaching and learning the knowledge, skills and attitudes of resuscitation with the ultimate aim of improving patient survival after cardiac arrest.

The aim of this scoping review initiated by the Education, Implementation and Teams Task Force of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation was to identify faculty development approaches to improve instructional competence in accredited life support courses. We searched PubMed, Ovid Embase, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials to identify studies published from January 1, 1966 to December 31, 2021 on approaches to improve faculty development for life support courses. Data on participant characteristics, interventions, design, and outcomes of included studies were extracted. Of the initially identified 10 310 studies, we included 20 studies (5 conference abstracts, 1 short communication, 14 full‐length articles). Among them, 12 studies aimed to improve instructors/candidates’ teaching ability in basic life support courses. A wide variety of interventions were identified. The interventions were categorized into 4 themes: instructor qualification/training (n=9), assessment tools (n=3), teaching skills enhancement (n=3), and additional courses for instructors (n=5). Most studies showed that these interventions improved specific teaching ability or confidence of the instructors and learning outcomes in different kinds of life support courses. However, no studies addressed clinical outcomes of patients. In conclusion, the faculty development approaches for instructors are generally associated with improved learning outcomes for participants, and also improved teaching ability and self‐confidence of the instructors. It is encouraged that local organizations implement faculty development programs for their teaching staff of their accredited resuscitation courses. Further studies should explore the best ways to strengthen and maintain instructor competency, and define the cost‐effectiveness of various different faculty development strategies.

Informed by a series of systematic reviews, scoping reviews and evidence updates from the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation, the 2021 European Resuscitation Council Guidelines present the most up to date evidence-based guidelines for the practice of resuscitation across Europe. The guidelines cover the epidemiology of cardiac arrest; the role that systems play in saving lives, adult basic life support, adult advanced life support, resuscitation in special circumstances, post resuscitation care, first aid, neonatal life support, paediatric life support, ethics and education.

Aim of the scoping review Scientific recommendations on resuscitation are typically formulated from the perspective of an ideal resource environment, with little consideration of applicability in lower-income countries. We aimed to determine clinical outcomes from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in low-resource countries, to identify shortcomings related to resuscitation in these areas and possible solutions, and to suggest future research priorities. Data sources This scoping review was part of the continuous evidence evaluation process of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR), and was performed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. We identified low-resource countries as countries with a low- or middle gross national income per capita (World Bank data). We performed a literature search on outcomes after OHCA in these countries, and we extracted data on the outcome. We applied descriptive statistics and conducted a post-hoc correlation analysis of cohort size and ROSC rates. Results We defined 24 eligible studies originating from middle-income countries, but none from low-income regions, suggesting a reporting bias. The number of reported patients in these studies ranged from 54 to 3214. Utstein-style reporting was rarely used. Return of spontaneous circulation varied from 0% to 62%. Fifteen studies reported on survival to hospital discharge (between 1.0 and 16.7%) or favourable neurological outcome (between 1.0 and 9.3%). An inverse correlation was found for study cohort size and the rate of return of spontaneous circulation (ρ = −0.48, p = 0.034). Conclusion Studies of OHCA outcomes in low-resource countries are heterogeneous and may be compromised by reporting bias. Minimum cardiopulmonary resuscitation standards for low-resource settings should be developed collaboratively involving local experts, respecting culture and context while balancing competing health priorities.

Was, wenn der Arzt selbst zum Patienten wird? Wie objektiv kann er seine eigene Erkrankung beurteilen? Und wie sollte sich ein Kollege ihm, dem „Arzt-Patienten“ gegenuber korrekt verhalten? Der vorliegende Fall gibt Ansatze, um diese Probleme anzugehen.

Background Research shows that when patients and health care providers share responsibility for clinical decisions, both patient satisfaction and quality of care increase, and resource use decreases. Yet few studies have assessed how to train residents to use shared decision-making (SDM) in their practice. Objective We developed and evaluated a SDM training program in internal medicine. Methods Senior internal medicine residents from 3 hospitals in Switzerland were assessed shortly before and 2 months after completing a program that included a 2-hour workshop and pocket card use in clinical practice. Encounters with standardized patients (SPs) were recorded and SDM performance was assessed using a SDM completeness rating scale (scores ranging from 0 to 100), a self-reported questionnaire, and SPs rating the residents. Results Of 39 eligible residents, 27 (69%) participated. The mean (SD) score improved from 65 (SD 13) to 71 (SD 12; effect size [ES] 0.53; P = .011). After training, participants were more comfortable with their SDM-related knowledge (ES 1.42, P < .001) and skills (ES 0.91, P < .001), and with practicing SDM (ES 0.96, P < .001). Physicians applied SDM concepts more often in practice (ES 0.71, P = .001), and SPs felt more comfortable with how participants discussed their care (ES 0.44, P = .031). Conclusions The SDM training program improved the competencies of internal medicine residents and promoted the use of SDM in clinical practice. The approach may be of interest for teaching SDM to residents in other disciplines and to medical students.

Context Parent/family presence at pediatric resuscitations has been slow to become consistent practice in hospital settings and has not been universally implemented. A systematic review of the literature on family presence during pediatric and neonatal resuscitation has not been previously conducted. Objective To conduct a systematic review of the published evidence related to family presence during pediatric and neonatal resuscitation. Data sources Six major bibliographic databases was undertaken with defined search terms and including literature up to June 14, 2020. Study selection 3200 titles were retrieved in the initial search; 36 ultimately included for review. Data extraction Data was double extracted independently by two reviewers and confirmed with the review team. All eligible studies were either survey or interview-based and as such we turned to narrative systematic review methodology. Results The authors identified two key sets of findings: first, parents/family members want to be offered the option to be present for their child’s resuscitation. Secondly, health care provider attitudes varied widely (ranging from 15% to >85%), however, support for family presence increased with previous experience and level of seniority. Limitations English language only; lack of randomized control trials; quality of the publications. Conclusions Parents wish to be offered the opportunity to be present but opinions and perspectives on the family presence vary greatly among health care providers. This topic urgently needs high quality, comparative research to measure the actual impact of family presence on patient, family and staff outcomes. PROSPERO registration number CRD42020140363.

Diese Leitlinien des European Resuscitation Council basieren auf dem internationalen wissenschaftlichen Konsens 2020 zur kardiopulmonalen Reanimation mit Behandlungsempfehlungen (International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation 2020 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Science with Treatment Recommendations [ILCOR] 2020 CoSTR). Dieser Abschnitt bietet Bürgern und Angehörigen der Gesundheitsberufe Anleitungen zum Lehren und Lernen der Kenntnisse, der Fertigkeiten und der Einstellungen zur Reanimation mit dem Ziel, das Überleben von Patienten nach Kreislaufstillstand zu verbessern.

These European Resuscitation Council education guidelines, are based on the 2020 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Science with Treatment Recommendations. This section provides guidance to citizens and healthcare professionals with regard to teaching and learning the knowledge, skills and attitudes of resuscitation with the ultimate aim of improving patient survival after cardiac arrest.

Aim To conduct a systematic review evaluating improvement in team and leadership performance and resuscitation outcomes after such a training of healthcare providers during advanced life support (ALS) courses. Methods This systematic review asked the question of whether students taking structured and standardised ALS courses in an educational setting which include specific leadership or team training, compared to no such specific training in these courses, improves patient survival, skill performance in actual resuscitations, skill performance at 3−15 months (patient tasks, teamwork, leadership), skill performance at course conclusion (patient tasks, teamwork, leadership), or cognitive knowledge PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane database were searched until April 2020. Screening of articles, analysis of risk of bias, outcomes and quality assessment were performed according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation methodology. Only studies with abstracts in English were included. Results 14 non-randomised studies and 17 randomised controlled trials, both in adults and children, and seven studies involving patients were included in this systematic review. No randomised controlled trials but three observational studies of team and leadership training showed improvement in the critical outcome of “patient survival”. However, they suffered from risk of bias (indirectness and imprecision). The included studies reported many different methods to teach leadership skills and team behaviour. Conclusion This systematic review found very low certainty evidence that team and leadership training as part of ALS courses improved patient outcome. This supports the inclusion of team and leadership training in ALS courses for healthcare providers.

Individuals may show different responses to stressful events. Here, we investigate the neurobiological basis of stress resilience, by showing that neural responsitivity of the noradrenergic locus coeruleus (LC-NE) and associated pupil responses are related to the subsequent change in measures of anxiety and depression in response to prolonged real-life stress. We acquired fMRI and pupillometry data during an emotional-conflict task in medical residents before they underwent stressful emergency-room internships known to be a risk factor for anxiety and depression. The LC-NE conflict response and its functional coupling with the amygdala was associated with stress-related symptom changes in response to the internship. A similar relationship was found for pupil-dilation, a potential marker of LC-NE firing. Our results provide insights into the noradrenergic basis of conflict generation, adaptation and stress resilience., Individuals vary considerably in how they are affected by stress. Here, the authors show that the severity of psychopathological symptoms triggered by prolonged real-life stress relate to fMRI-measured responsivity of the human brainstem arousal system and associated pupil responses.

Introduction: Cardiac arrest is a time-sensitive condition requiring urgent intervention. Prompt and accurate recognition of cardiac arrest by emergency medical dispatchers at the time of the emergency call is a critical early step in cardiac arrest management allowing for initiation of dispatcher-assisted bystander CPR and appropriate and timely emergency response. The overall accuracy of dispatchers in recognizing cardiac arrest is not known. It is also not known if there are specific call characteristics that impact the ability to recognize cardiac arrest. Methods: We performed a systematic review to examine dispatcher recognition of cardiac arrest as well as to identify call characteristics that may affect their ability to recognize cardiac arrest at the time of emergency call. We searched electronic databases for terms related to "emergency medical dispatcher", "cardiac arrest", and "diagnosis", among others, with a focus on studies that allowed for calculating diagnostic test characteristics (e.g. sensitivity and specificity). The review was consistent with Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) method for evidence evaluation. Results: We screened 2520 article titles, resulting in 47 studies included in this review. There was significant heterogeneity between studies with a high risk of bias in 18 of the 47 which precluded performing meta-analyses. The reported sensitivities for cardiac arrest recognition ranged from 0.46 to 0.98 whereas specificities ranged from 0.32 to 1.00. There were no obvious differences in diagnostic accuracy between different dispatching criteria/algorithms or with the level of education of dispatchers. Conclusion: The sensitivity and specificity of cardiac arrest recognition at the time of emergency call varied across dispatch centres and did not appear to differ by dispatch algorithm/criteria used or education of the dispatcher, although comparisons were hampered by heterogeneity across studies. Future efforts should focus on ways to improve sensitivity of cardiac arrest recognition to optimize patient care and ensure appropriate and timely resource utilization.

For this 2020 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations, the Education, Implementation, and Teams Task Force applied the population, intervention, comparator, outcome, study design, time frame format and performed 15 systematic reviews, applying the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation guidance. Furthermore, 4 scoping reviews and 7 evidence updates assessed any new evidence to determine if a change in any existing treatment recommendation was required. The topics covered included training for the treatment of opioid overdose; basic life support, including automated external defibrillator training; measuring implementation and performance in communities, and cardiac arrest centers; advanced life support training, including team and leadership training and rapid response teams; measuring cardiopulmonary resuscitation performance, feedback devices, and debriefing; and the use of social media to improve cardiopulmonary resuscitation application.

Visual Patient is an avatar-based alternative to standard patient monitor displays that significantly improves the perception of vital signs. Implementation of this technology in larger organizations would require it to be teachable by brief class instruction to large groups of professionals. Therefore, our study aimed to investigate the efficacy of such a large-scale introduction to Visual Patient.In this study, we aimed to compare 2 different educational methods, one-on-one instruction and class instruction, for training anesthesia providers in avatar-based patient monitoring.We presented 42 anesthesia providers with 30 minutes of class instruction on Visual Patient (class instruction group). We further selected a historical sample of 16 participants from a previous study who each received individual instruction (individual instruction group). After the instruction, the participants were shown monitors with either conventional displays or Visual Patient displays and were asked to interpret vital signs. In the class instruction group, the participants were shown scenarios for either 3 or 10 seconds, and the numbers of correct perceptions with each technology were compared. Then, the teaching efficacy of the class instruction was compared with that of the individual instruction in the historical sample by 2-way mixed analysis of variance and mixed regression.In the class instruction group, when participants were presented with the 3-second scenario, there was a statistically significant median increase in the number of perceived vital signs when the participants were shown the Visual Patient compared to when they were shown the conventional display (3 vital signs, P.001; effect size -0.55). No significant difference was found for the 10-second scenarios. There was a statistically significant interaction between the teaching intervention and display technology in the number of perceived vital signs (P=.04; partial ηAlthough individual instruction on Visual Patient is slightly more effective, class instruction is a viable teaching method; thus, large-scale introduction of health care providers to this novel technology is feasible.

UNSTRUCTURED Corrigendum Corrigendum Corrigendum Corrigendum Corrigendum Corrigendum

ObjectivesOutcome from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) highly depends on bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with high-quality chest compressions (CCs). Precondition is a supine position of the victim on a firm surface. Until now, no study has systematically analysed whether bystanders of OHCA apply appropriate positions to victims and whether the position is associated with a particular outcome.DesignProspective observational cohort study.SettingMetropolitan emergency medical services (EMS) serving a population of 400 000; dispatcher-assisted CPR was implemented. We obtained information from the first EMS vehicle arriving on scene and matched this with data from semi-structured interviews with witnesses of the arrest.ParticipantsBystanders of all OHCAs occurring during a 12-month period (July 2006–July 2007). From 201 eligible missions, 200 missions were fully reported by EMS. Data from 138 bystander interviews were included.Primary and secondary outcome measuresProportion of positions suitable for effective CCs; related survival with favourable neurological outcome at 3 months.ResultsPositioning of victims at EMS arrival was ‘supine on firm surface’ in 64 cases (32.0%), ‘recovery position (RP)’ in 37 cases (18.5%) and other positions unsuitable for CCs in 99 cases (49.5%). Survival with favourable outcome at 3 months was 17.2% when ‘supine position’ had been applied, 13.5% with ‘RP’ and 6.1% with ‘other positions unsuitable for CCs’; a statistically significant association could not be shown (p=0.740, Fisher’s exact test). However, after ‘effective CCs’ favourable outcome at 3 months was 32.0% compared with 5.3% if no actions were taken. The OR was 5.87 (p=0.02).ConclusionIn OHCA, two-thirds of all victims were found in positions not suitable for effective CCs. This was associated with inferior outcomes. A substantial proportion of the victims was placed in RP. More attention should be paid to the correct positioning of victims in OHCA. This applies to CPR training for laypersons and dispatcher-assisted CPR.

BACKGROUND Visual Patient is an avatar-based alternative to standard patient monitor displays that significantly improves the perception of vital signs. Implementation of this technology in larger organizations would require it to be teachable by brief class instruction to large groups of professionals. Therefore, our study aimed to investigate the efficacy of such a large-scale introduction to Visual Patient. OBJECTIVE In this study, we aimed to compare 2 different educational methods, one-on-one instruction and class instruction, for training anesthesia providers in avatar-based patient monitoring. METHODS We presented 42 anesthesia providers with 30 minutes of class instruction on Visual Patient (class instruction group). We further selected a historical sample of 16 participants from a previous study who each received individual instruction (individual instruction group). After the instruction, the participants were shown monitors with either conventional displays or Visual Patient displays and were asked to interpret vital signs. In the class instruction group, the participants were shown scenarios for either 3 or 10 seconds, and the numbers of correct perceptions with each technology were compared. Then, the teaching efficacy of the class instruction was compared with that of the individual instruction in the historical sample by 2-way mixed analysis of variance and mixed regression. RESULTS In the class instruction group, when participants were presented with the 3-second scenario, there was a statistically significant median increase in the number of perceived vital signs when the participants were shown the Visual Patient compared to when they were shown the conventional display (3 vital signs, PP=.04; partial η2=.076). The mixed logistic regression model for correct vital sign perception yielded an odds ratio (OR) of 1.88 (95% CI 1.41-2.52; PP CONCLUSIONS Although individual instruction on Visual Patient is slightly more effective, class instruction is a viable teaching method; thus, large-scale introduction of health care providers to this novel technology is feasible.

For this 2020 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations , the Education, Implementation, and Teams Task Force applied the population, intervention, comparator, outcome, study design, time frame format and performed 15 systematic reviews, applying the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation guidance. Furthermore, 4 scoping reviews and 7 evidence updates assessed any new evidence to determine if a change in any existing treatment recommendation was required. The topics covered included training for the treatment of opioid overdose; basic life support, including automated external defibrillator training; measuring implementation and performance in communities, and cardiac arrest centers; advanced life support training, including team and leadership training and rapid response teams; measuring cardiopulmonary resuscitation performance, feedback devices, and debriefing; and the use of social media to improve cardiopulmonary resuscitation application.

Background Since 2011, the Swiss Catalogue of Learning Objectives (SCLO) has provided the framework for assessing communication skills in the Swiss Medical Federal Licensing Examination (FLE). This study evaluates how far the communication curricula of five Swiss medical schools match the SCLO and international recommendations. It also explores their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT). Methods A mixed method approach was used. In a first step, curriculum coordinators/key communication skills teachers and medical graduates were asked to fill out a questionnaire based on communication related objectives from the SCLO and a review of European consensus statements on communication training. Second, information was collected from all Swiss medical schools to identify which communication skills were taught in which formats and at what time points within the 6-year curricula. Finally, 3–4 curriculum coordinators/key communication skills teachers from each medical school were interviewed about their communication curriculum, using SWOT analysis. Results Sixteen teachers/coordinators (response rate 100%) and 389 medical graduates (response rate 43%) filled out the questionnaire. Both the teachers/coordinators and the graduates considered that two thirds of the communication items listed in the questionnaire were covered in their curricula. Between sixty and two hundred structured hours were dedicated to communication, predominantly in small group and experiential formats. Assessment relied on both MCQs and OSCEs. Most of the training occurred during the first three years of medical school. Teachers felt that the need for communication skills training was now well-recognized by their institution and was taught with appropriate teaching methods. However, recruitment and training of teachers, continuity of communication skills training during clinical years, and the adoption of a common frame of reference among the five medical schools, remained a challenge. Conclusion Although the Swiss medical schools all offered a partly longitudinal communication skills training, with appropriate teaching methods, this study indicates that the communication skills actually taught do not fully match the SCLO or international recommendations. There was less training for complex communication skills training during the clinical years, and ensuring quality and coherence in the teaching remained a challenge. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12909-018-1376-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background: As the communication competencies of physicians are crucial for providing optimal patient care, their assessment in the context of the high-stakes Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is of paramount importance. Despite abundant literature on the topic, evidence-based recommendations for the assessment of communication competencies in high stakes OSCEs are scarce. As part of a national project to improve communication-competencies assessments in the Swiss licensing exam, we held a symposium with national and international experts to derive corresponding guidelines. Methods: Experts were invited on account of their recognized expertise either in teaching or assessing communication competencies, or in conducting national high-stakes OSCEs. They were asked to propose concrete solutions related to four potential areas for improvement: the station design, the rating tool, the raters’ training, and the role of standardized patients. Data gene.rated in the symposium was available for analysis and consisted of video recordings of plenary sessions, of the written summaries of group work, and the cards with participants’ personal take-home messages. Data were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. Results: Nine major suggestions for improving communication-competencies assessments emerged from the analysis and were classified into four categories, namely, the roles of the OSCE scenarios, rating tool, raters’ training, and simulated patients. Conclusion: In the absence of established evidence-based guidelines, an experts’ symposium facilitated the identification of nine practical suggestions for improving the assessment of communication competencies in the context of high-stakes OSCEs. Further research is needed to test effectiveness of the suggestions and how they contribute to improvements in the quality of high-stakes communication-competencies assessment. © The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.

Diagnose- und Behandlungsfehler finden in der Medizin zunehmend Beachtung. Zu deren Verstandnis ist die Betrachtung der zugrunde liegenden kognitiven Prozesse notwendig. Klinisches Denken und Entscheiden ist durch die gleichzeitige Aktivierung von zwei unterschiedlichen kognitiven Systemen charakterisiert, einem schnellen, intuitiven (System 1) und einem langsameren, systematisch-analytischem (Typ 2). In der Notfallmedizin haben Typ-1-Entscheidungen einen besonderen Stellenwert. Damit verbunden ist die Gefahr von resultierenden Verzerrungen („biases“). Fehlentscheidungen konnen auf verschiedene affektiv-emotionale und kognitive „biases“ zuruckgefuhrt werden. Zusatzlich spielen Systemfehler eine wichtige Rolle (Arbeitsumfeld, Team- und Patientenfaktoren, limitierte Ressourcen). Mit Hilfe von Debiasing- und ROWS-Strategien (ROWS „rule out worst case scenarios“) auf der Ebene des individuellen Entscheidens sowie Feedback im Rahmen von Debriefing, Simulationstrainings auf Teamebene und durch Morbidity and Mortality Rounds (M&M-Konferenzen) sowie Critical Incident Reporting auf Systemebene (CIRS) lassen sich viele Fehler vermeiden.

Als „entrustable professional activity“ (EPA) wird eine in sich abgeschlossene klinische Arbeitseinheit bezeichnet, die fur den jeweiligen Arbeitsbereich typisch ist und die im Verlauf der Weiterbildung schrittweise dem Weiterzubildenden zur selbststandigen Durchfuhrung anvertraut wird. Das konnte z. B. die intraoperative Narkosefuhrung bei einem ASA-1-Patienten fur einen unkomplizierten operativen Eingriff sein. Die EPA kann als Weiterentwicklung eines „kompetenzbasierten“ Ausbildungskonzepts verstanden werden, indem die vorhandenen Kompetenzen einer Person auf die konkrete Arbeitssituation bezogen werden. Damit werden die auf einer bestimmten Weiterbildungsstufe erwarteten Fahigkeiten und Fertigkeiten fur alle Beteiligten klarer fassbar, und der Gefahr der Fragmentierung von Einzelkompetenzen im „kompetenzbasierten“ Modell wird vorgebeugt. Erfahrungen mit dem Konzept sind derzeit noch begrenzt, sodass dringend Studien notwendig sind, die zeigen, ob und wie EPA zu einer Verbesserung der Weiterbildung beitragen.

Sudden cardiac death is the third leading cause of death in industrialised nations. It is estimated that in Europe and in the United States, more than 700 000 patients die annually following sudden cardiac death, even when the emergency medical service has been activated and started cardiopulmonary

The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation has initiated a continuous review of new, peer-reviewed, published cardiopulmonary resuscitation science. This is the third annual summary of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations. It addresses the most recent published resuscitation evidence reviewed by International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation Task Force science experts. This summary addresses the role of cardiac arrest centers and dispatcher-assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the role of extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation in adults and children, vasopressors in adults, advanced airway interventions in adults and children, targeted temperature management in children after cardiac arrest, initial oxygen concentration during resuscitation of newborns, and interventions for presyncope by first aid providers. Members from 6 International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation task forces have assessed, discussed, and debated the certainty of the evidence on the basis of the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria, and their statements include consensus treatment recommendations. Insights into the deliberations of the task forces are provided in the Justification and Evidence to Decision Framework Highlights sections. The task forces also listed priority knowledge gaps for further research.

Background Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) are commonly developed by senior clinicians and education experts. However, if postgraduate training is conceptualised as an educational alliance, the perspective of trainees should be included. This raises the question as to whether the views of trainees and supervisors on entrustability of specific EPAs differ, which we aimed to explore. Methods A working group, including all stakeholders, selected and drafted 16 EPAs with the potential for unsupervised practice within the first year of training. For each EPA, first-year trainees, advanced trainees, and supervisors decided whether it should be possible to attain trust for unsupervised practice by the end of the first year of anaesthesiology training (i.e. whether the respective EPA qualified as a ‘first-year EPA'). Results We surveyed 23 first-year trainees, 47 advanced trainees, and 51 supervisors (overall response rate: 68%). All groups fully agreed upon seven EPAs as ‘first-year EPAs' and on four EPAs that should not be entrusted within the first year. For all five remaining EPAs, a significantly higher proportion of first-year trainees thought these should be entrusted as first-year EPAs compared with advanced trainees and supervisors. We found no differences between advanced trainees and supervisors. Conclusions The views of first-year trainees, advanced trainees, and supervisors showed high agreement. Differing views of young trainees disappeared after the first year. This finding provides a fruitful basis to involve trainees in negotiations of autonomy.

Background Education is a cornerstone strategy to prevent health-associated infections. Trainings benefit from being interactive, simulation-based, team-orientated, and early in professional socialization. We conceived an innovative inter-professional peer-teaching module with operating room technician trainees (ORTT) teaching infection prevention behavior in the operating room (OR) to medical students (MDS). Methods ORTT delivered a 2-h teaching module to small groups of MDS in a simulated OR setting with 4 posts: ‘entering OR’; ‘surgical hand disinfection’; ‘dressing up for surgery and preparing a surgical field’, ‘debriefing’. MDS and ORTT evaluated module features and teaching quality through 2 specific questionnaires. Structured field notes by education specialist observers were analyzed thematically. Results On Likert scales from − 2 to + 2, mean overall satisfaction was + 1.91 (±0.3) for MDS and + 1.66 (±0.6 SD) for ORTT while teaching quality was rated + 1.89 (±0.3) by MDS and self-rated with + 1.34 (±0.5) by ORTT. Students and observers highlighted that the training fostered mutual understanding and provided insight into the corresponding profession. Conclusions Undergraduate inter-professional teaching among ORTT and MDS in infection prevention and control proved feasible with high educational quality. Inducing early mutual understanding between professional groups might improve professional collaboration and patient safety. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13756-019-0526-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation has initiated a continuous review of new, peer-reviewed, published cardiopulmonary resuscitation science. This is the third annual summary of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations. It addresses the most recent published resuscitation evidence reviewed by International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation Task Force science experts. This summary addresses the role of cardiac arrest centers and dispatcher-assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the role of extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation in adults and children, vasopressors in adults, advanced airway interventions in adults and children, targeted temperature management in children after cardiac arrest, initial oxygen concentration during resuscitation of newborns, and interventions for presyncope by first aid providers. Members from 6 International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation task forces have assessed, discussed, and debated the certainty of the evidence on the basis of the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria, and their statements include consensus treatment recommendations. Insights into the deliberations of the task forces are provided in the Justification and Evidence to Decision Framework Highlights sections. The task forces also listed priority knowledge gaps for further research.