Nontechnical Competency Framework for Health Professionals in All-Hazard Emergency Environment: A Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Emergency Medicine
• Disaster Health
• Health Professions Education

Background:

• Nontechnical competencies are vital for health professionals in emergency and disaster response.
• Existing competency frameworks in this domain lack standardization and consistency.
• A need exists to understand the current landscape of these frameworks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To summarize the characteristics and commonalities of non-technical competency frameworks for health professionals in emergency and disaster settings.
• To identify common domains within these frameworks.
• To assess the reported reliability and validity of existing frameworks.

Main Methods:

• Conducted an extensive electronic literature search across multiple databases (PubMed, MEDLINE, ERIC, Scopus, Cochrane, Google Scholar).
• Included original English-language articles on the development, evaluation, or application of non-technical competency frameworks.
• Abstracted data on study design, framework characteristics, and evidence of reliability and validity.

Main Results:

• Identified 65 frameworks from 94 eligible studies.
• Most studies focused on clinical settings, particularly acute critical events in hospitals and unspecified disasters.
• A significant proportion of frameworks lacked reported evidence of reliability (50.8%) and validity (64.6%).
• Fourteen common domains were identified across the frameworks.

Conclusions:

• Non-technical competency frameworks for multidisciplinary emergency health professionals are heterogeneous in construct and application.
• A fundamental framework with standardized terminology is needed for universal acceptance and adaptation in all-hazard emergency environments.
• Further research and development are required to establish a universally applicable framework.