Cognitive Aids for the Management of Deteriorating Surgical Patients

Background and Goal of Study: Adherence to best practice management of emergencies improves through the use of cognitive aids. Aim of this study was to develop and validate cognitive aids for management of deteriorating surgical ward patients (CAMDS) in order to improve adherence to best practice and hereby reduce the likelihood of failure to rescue. Materials and Methods: Fifty surgical teams will be randomly assigned to manage 150 standardised high fidelity simulation cases of deteriorating patients using the CAMDS or not. There are 10 standardised patient scenarios; pneumonia, pneumothorax, bradycardia, cardiac arrest shockable and non-shockable rhythm, bleeding, myocardial infarction, anaphylaxis, sepsis and loss of consciousness. Two independent observers will score the team's performance in adhering to all the management steps. To assess perceived usability of the CAMDS participants will be asked about eight aspects of the CAMDS. These items will be scored on a Likert scale (0= strongly disagree to 4= strongly agree).