Ageing and Acute Care Physicians' Performance

Ageing Clinical Trial

Official title:

Impact of Acute Care Physician's Age on Crisis Management Performance and Learning After Simulation-based Education

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02683447
• Other study ID #: 140-2015
• Status: Completed
• Start date: January 2017
• Est. completion date: January 2020

Study information

• Verified date: March 2023
• Source: Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial Summary

The proportion of older acute care physicians (ACPs) has been increasing. Ageing is associated with physiological changes and research investigating how such age-related physiological changes affect clinical performance is lacking. Specifically, Crisis Resource Management (CRM) consists of essential clinical skills in acute care specialties which when absent, can significantly impact patient safety. As such, the goals of this study are to investigate whether ageing has a correlation with baseline CRM skills of ACPs and whether ageing influences learning from high fidelity simulation.

Description:

The proportion of older acute care physicians (ACP), emergency, critical care & anesthesia, has been steadily increasing. Ageing is associated with physiological changes, which in turn can influence a physician's clinical abilities and decision-making. The litigation and physician disciplinary data suggests that incidents involving all physicians are likely to occur later in practice, with degree of injury identified in the claims being of greater severity. However research, investigating how age-related physiological changes affect clinical performance and patient safety, is lacking.

CRM skills are essential skills within acute care specialties, and are vital for patient safety. CRM encompasses technical skills, as well as a rapid and organized approach to non-technical, cognitive skills such as decision-making, task management, situational awareness and team management. High-fidelity full body mannequin simulation-based education is effective for learning CRM, including transfer of skills from the simulated setting to the clinical setting and improving patient outcome. However, there is a gap in the literature on whether physicians' age influences baseline CRM performance and also learning from simulation-based education.

Although the effectiveness of high-fidelity simulation-based education has been studied extensively in junior learner populations (students, residents, fellows), there are a limited number of studies investigating its effectiveness in teaching CRM in the ageing physician population. In fact, a recent systematic review looking at the role of simulation in continuing medical education (CME) in ACPs supported that there is limited evidence supporting improved learning. Despite not knowing whether simulation is the correct tool in an ageing population, it is being recommended as a training, regulation and assessment tool for practicing physicians.

Objectives:

The goals of this study are to:

1. Investigate whether ageing has a correlation with baseline CRM skills of ACPs using simulated crisis scenarios and

2. Assess whether ageing influences learning from high fidelity simulation.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 48
• Est. completion date: January 2020
• Est. primary completion date: January 2020
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: N/A and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Emergency physicians

• Critical care physicians

• Anesthesiologists

• minimum 5 years of practice post-residency

Exclusion Criteria:

• Post-call day of participation

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Ageing

Intervention

Other:
• CRM Simulation
Each participant will manage a PEA arrest scenario (pre-test) and then be debriefed on their CRM skills by a trained facilitator for 20 minutes. They will then manage another crisis scenario (PEA arrest with a different inciting event) as an immediate post-test. Three months afterwards participants will return to manage a third PEA arrest scenario, which will serve as a retention post-test.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Canada	University of Ottawa	Ottawa	Ontario
Canada	Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre	Toronto	Ontario

Sponsors (3)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre	University of Ottawa, University of Toronto

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Canada, 

References & Publications (24)

Alam A, Khan J, Liu J, Klemensberg J, Griesman J, Bell CM. Characteristics and rates of disciplinary findings amongst anesthesiologists by professional colleges in Canada. Can J Anaesth. 2013 Oct;60(10):1013-9. doi: 10.1007/s12630-013-0006-8. Epub 2013 Jul 30. — View Citation

Baird M, Daugherty L, Kumar KB, Arifkhanova A. Regional and Gender Differences and Trends in the Anesthesiologist Workforce. Anesthesiology. 2015 Nov;123(5):997-1012. doi: 10.1097/ALN.0000000000000834. — View Citation

Baxter AD, Boet S, Reid D, Skidmore G. The aging anesthesiologist: a narrative review and suggested strategies. Can J Anaesth. 2014 Sep;61(9):865-75. doi: 10.1007/s12630-014-0194-x. Epub 2014 Jul 2. — View Citation

Boet S, Bould MD, Fung L, Qosa H, Perrier L, Tavares W, Reeves S, Tricco AC. Transfer of learning and patient outcome in simulated crisis resource management: a systematic review. Can J Anaesth. 2014 Jun;61(6):571-82. doi: 10.1007/s12630-014-0143-8. Epub 2014 Mar 25. — View Citation

Curtis MT, DiazGranados D, Feldman M. Judicious use of simulation technology in continuing medical education. J Contin Educ Health Prof. 2012 Fall;32(4):255-60. doi: 10.1002/chp.21153. — View Citation

Daugherty L, Fonseca R, Kumar KB, Michaud PC. An Analysis of the Labor Markets for Anesthesiology. Rand Health Q. 2011 Sep 1;1(3):18. eCollection 2011 Fall. — View Citation

Davis DA, Mazmanian PE, Fordis M, Van Harrison R, Thorpe KE, Perrier L. Accuracy of physician self-assessment compared with observed measures of competence: a systematic review. JAMA. 2006 Sep 6;296(9):1094-102. doi: 10.1001/jama.296.9.1094. — View Citation

Duclos A, Peix JL, Colin C, Kraimps JL, Menegaux F, Pattou F, Sebag F, Touzet S, Bourdy S, Voirin N, Lifante JC; CATHY Study Group. Influence of experience on performance of individual surgeons in thyroid surgery: prospective cross sectional multicentre study. BMJ. 2012 Jan 10;344:d8041. doi: 10.1136/bmj.d8041. — View Citation

Duke, E. (2006). The Critical Care Workforce: A Study of the Supply and Demand for Critical Care Physicians : Report to Congress (p. 36). U.S. Department of Health & Human Sciences.

Durning SJ, Artino AR, Holmboe E, Beckman TJ, van der Vleuten C, Schuwirth L. Aging and cognitive performance: challenges and implications for physicians practicing in the 21st century. J Contin Educ Health Prof. 2010 Summer;30(3):153-60. doi: 10.1002/chp.20075. — View Citation

Eva KW. The aging physician: changes in cognitive processing and their impact on medical practice. Acad Med. 2002 Oct;77(10 Suppl):S1-6. doi: 10.1097/00001888-200210001-00002. No abstract available. — View Citation

Katz JD. Issues of concern for the aging anesthesiologist. Anesth Analg. 2001 Jun;92(6):1487-92. doi: 10.1097/00000539-200106000-00027. No abstract available. — View Citation

Khaliq AA, Dimassi H, Huang CY, Narine L, Smego RA Jr. Disciplinary action against physicians: who is likely to get disciplined? Am J Med. 2005 Jul;118(7):773-7. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2005.01.051. — View Citation

Khanduja PK, Bould MD, Naik VN, Hladkowicz E, Boet S. The role of simulation in continuing medical education for acute care physicians: a systematic review. Crit Care Med. 2015 Jan;43(1):186-93. doi: 10.1097/CCM.0000000000000672. — View Citation

Kim J, Neilipovitz D, Cardinal P, Chiu M, Clinch J. A pilot study using high-fidelity simulation to formally evaluate performance in the resuscitation of critically ill patients: The University of Ottawa Critical Care Medicine, High-Fidelity Simulation, and Crisis Resource Management I Study. Crit Care Med. 2006 Aug;34(8):2167-74. doi: 10.1097/01.CCM.0000229877.45125.CC. — View Citation

Marinopoulos SS, Dorman T, Ratanawongsa N, Wilson LM, Ashar BH, Magaziner JL, Miller RG, Thomas PA, Prokopowicz GP, Qayyum R, Bass EB. Effectiveness of continuing medical education. Evid Rep Technol Assess (Full Rep). 2007 Jan;(149):1-69. — View Citation

McEvoy MD, Smalley JC, Nietert PJ, Field LC, Furse CM, Blenko JW, Cobb BG, Walters JL, Pendarvis A, Dalal NS, Schaefer JJ 3rd. Validation of a detailed scoring checklist for use during advanced cardiac life support certification. Simul Healthc. 2012 Aug;7(4):222-35. doi: 10.1097/SIH.0b013e3182590b07. — View Citation

Norman G, Young M, Brooks L. Non-analytical models of clinical reasoning: the role of experience. Med Educ. 2007 Dec;41(12):1140-5. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2923.2007.02914.x. Epub 2007 Nov 13. — View Citation

Savoldelli GL, Naik VN, Hamstra SJ, Morgan PJ. Barriers to use of simulation-based education. Can J Anaesth. 2005 Nov;52(9):944-50. doi: 10.1007/BF03022056. — View Citation

Siu LW, Boet S, Borges BC, Bruppacher HR, LeBlanc V, Naik VN, Riem N, Chandra DB, Joo HS. High-fidelity simulation demonstrates the influence of anesthesiologists' age and years from residency on emergency cricothyroidotomy skills. Anesth Analg. 2010 Oct;111(4):955-60. doi: 10.1213/ANE.0b013e3181ee7f4f. Epub 2010 Aug 24. — View Citation

Steadman RH. Improving on reality: can simulation facilitate practice change? Anesthesiology. 2010 Apr;112(4):775-6. doi: 10.1097/ALN.0b013e3181d3e337. No abstract available. — View Citation

Tessler MJ, Shrier I, Steele RJ. Association between anesthesiologist age and litigation. Anesthesiology. 2012 Mar;116(3):574-9. doi: 10.1097/ALN.0b013e3182475ebf. — View Citation

Trunkey DD, Botney R. Assessing competency: a tale of two professions. J Am Coll Surg. 2001 Mar;192(3):385-95. doi: 10.1016/s1072-7515(01)00770-0. No abstract available. — View Citation

Turnbull J, Carbotte R, Hanna E, Norman G, Cunnington J, Ferguson B, Kaigas T. Cognitive difficulty in physicians. Acad Med. 2000 Feb;75(2):177-81. doi: 10.1097/00001888-200002000-00018. — View Citation

* Note: There are 24 references in all — Click here to view all references

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Other	Retention of learning from simulation as assessed by Ottawa Global Rating Scale	Ottawa GRS score will be compared to score in second scenario on Day 1 to look for improvement	3 months after completing first two scenarios - Day 90
Other	Retention of learning from simulation as assessed by ACLS checklist	ACLS score will be compared to score in second scenario on Day 1 to look for improvement	3 months after completing first two scenarios - Day 90
Primary	CRM Performance during first sim scenario assessed by Ottawa Global Rating Scale (GRS)	Ottawa GRS score will be correlated with age	After managing first simulation scenario - Day 1
Primary	CRM Performance during first sim scenario assessed by ACLS checklist	ACLS score will be correlated with age	After managing first simulation scenario - Day 1
Secondary	Learning from high-fidelity simulation education assessed by Ottawa Global Rating Scale	Ottawa GRS score will be compared to score in first scenario to look for improvement	After managing second simulation scenario - Day 1
Secondary	Learning from high-fidelity simulation education assessed by ACLS checklist	ACLS score will be compared to score in first scenario to look for improvement	After managing second simulation scenario - Day 1