Checklists and multidisciplinary team performance during simulated obstetric hemorrhage

Area of Science:

• Medical simulation
• Obstetrics
• Patient safety

Background:

• Checklists enhance team performance in medical crises.
• Limited research exists on checklist use in obstetric emergencies.
• This study evaluated checklist use and team performance during postpartum hemorrhage simulations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of checklist training on team performance during postpartum hemorrhage simulations.
• To evaluate checklist utilization and its impact on critical intervention times.

Main Methods:

• Fourteen multidisciplinary teams underwent postpartum hemorrhage simulations after checklist training.
• Key outcomes included checklist usage, time to massive transfusion protocol activation, and time to red blood cell transfusion.
• A designated checklist reader's role was also examined.

Main Results:

• 86% of teams utilized the checklist during the simulation.
• All teams administered red blood cell transfusions.
• Median times were 5min 14s for massive transfusion protocol activation and 14min 40s for red blood cell transfusion initiation.

Conclusions:

• Checklist training successfully promoted checklist use in postpartum hemorrhage scenarios.
• However, the extent of checklist application among multidisciplinary teams was inconsistent.
• Further investigation is necessary to standardize checklist use during postpartum hemorrhage events.