Improving non-technical skills performance in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

The primary aim of this project is to investigate the association between non-technical skills performance and technical performance within the ‘resuscitation rapid response’ paramedic unit (3RU) attending patients in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA)

Secondary aims include assessment of the effectiveness of non-technical skills analytic tools in the pre-hospital setting and hospital Emergency Department (ED) and investigation of the barriers to implementing non-technical skills training and development in the ED.

This study will be the first prospective description of the non-technical skills performance of paramedics and medical staff attending patients in OHCA, identifying performance indicators for development and creating a training programme in non-technical skills, based on these performance indicators, which is applicable to both pre-hospital and in-hospital emergency staff.

We will use a variety of matrices to quantify technical and non-technical performance during resuscitation. Our workflow model includes body worn cameras (Edesix) capturing a secure video and audio record which is then analysed using state of the art video analysis tools (Studiocode).