Better together? Ambulance staff views of XXXX factors in resuscitation.

@entity1 @entity1167
BACKGROUND: Research into the care of @entity1167 @entity1 outside of hospital is limited. Evidence from hospital settings suggests that @entity1 factors including both technical and non-technical skills and performance may impact on care. This study sought staff views from a UK ambulance service aiming to investigate areas for improvement in resuscitation performance. METHODS: Volunteer ambulance staff responded to an open invitation to complete an anonymous internet-based survey. The survey used a mixture of closed questions, Likert-scaled answers and free text to explore staff views on resuscitation performance. Quantitative responses were presented graphically, and free text answers arranged by theme. RESULTS: 111 staff responded to the survey. The results demonstrated that staff see effective teamwork as desirable in out-of-hospital resuscitation, but that this is not always the case currently. Staff felt more confident about practical skills such as cannulation and chest compression delivery. Difficulties were noted in: poor communication between staff members; inconsistent identification and nomination of leaders; low staff confidence in peri- and post- @entity1167 conversations with relatives; and insufficient staff numbers on scene. CONCLUSIONS: The findings demonstrate poor staff confidence in several non-technical skills, including teamwork and communication. Limitations of the survey included lack of recording of training received-where this has shifted in recent years from in-service to higher education routes-and missing demographic data. However, the findings provide specific areas for improvement activity. This has already included best practice slides displayed in ambulance stations, and proposals for identification wristbands, a role-based work standard to reduce task omission and duplication, and a policy to send higher numbers of rescuers to @entity1167 cases.
