Assessing non-technical skills on the delivery suite: a pilot study

The importance of non-technical skills (NTS) is a growing area for training and assessment in medicine. Currently there is little formal assessment of these skills in obstetrics and gynaecology.

Non-technical Skills for Surgeons (NOTSS) is perhaps the most psychometrically robust tool for assessing individual NTS in the surgical environment. It has previously been evaluated in our specialty alongside objective structured assessments of technical skills, with promising results.

By removing rankings, NOTSS was adapted for use as a formative feedback tool. This article describes the subsequent Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) usability pilot of the adapted version of NOTSS in the real delivery suite environment using minimally trained assessors. Twenty-six trainee evaluations and 25 trainer evaluations were completed after 55 assessments.

The number of assessments and evaluations completed was disappointing. However, NOTSS appears promising as a formative NTS assessment tool for use on the delivery suite. Overall satisfaction with NOTSS was high (an average score of 4.5 on a scale of 1-5 for trainers and trainees). Both trainers and trainees consider that it is accep and straightforward to deliver, and that the form takes an average of 10 minutes to complete, including time for feedback (range 5-20 min). There will be considerable challenges to achieving the successful implementation of the NOTSS tool, and its inclusion in the RCOG training matrix: primarily, in training those using it to recognise the behaviours under observation and to give feedback appropriately, and also engaging trainees, although they obviously appreciated the NOTSS process when used.