2024 FSA Podium and Poster Abstracts
P044: EVALUATION OF A COURSE TO TEACH MEDICAL STUDENTS LATENT HAZARD IDENTIFICATION IN THE OPERATING ROOM
Catherine P Marudo, BA1; Natasha C Cammer, BS1; Kristen M Mascarenhas, BS1; Roxanna J Araya, BA2; Marianfeli C Landino, MD2; Danielle B Horn, MD3; Jean R Corvington, BS1; Richard H Epstein, MD2; Alecia L. S. Stein, MD2; Joni M Maga, MD2; 1University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; 2University of Miami/Jackson Memorial System-Center for Patient Safety; 3University of Miami Miller School of Medicine / Jackson Memorial Hospital
Introduction: To improve situational awareness in the operating room (OR), an online virtual operating room of hazards (ROH) with deliberately placed risks was created. We hypothesized that subjects first participating in the virtual ROH would identify more hazards during an in-person ROH exercise in a physical OR than those in the control group who only received didactic training.
Methods: Design: Randomized controlled trial. Setting: Virtual (online) and actual OR (with a simulated case in progress) at a large academic center. Subjects: Forty-eight first- and second-year preclinical medical students without previous operating room exposure during their classes. Interventions: Control and experimental group subjects participated in a brief, in-person didactic orientation to latent hazards in the OR. Experimental group subjects further interacted with a virtual (online) ROH in which latent hazards were present. Measurements: Fraction of deliberately created latent hazards placed in a physical OR identified by subjects.
Results: Experimental group subjects identified a significantly larger fraction of the created hazards (41.3%) than the control group (difference = 16.4%, 95% CI 11.3% to 21.4%, p < .0001). There was no difference in the number of non-hazards misidentified as hazards between the groups.
Conclusions: Participation in the virtual environment resulted in greater recognition of latent operating room hazards in a simulation conducted in a physical OR than in a didactic experience alone. Because creating an in-room experience to teach the identification of latent hazards in an OR is resource-intensive and requires removing the OR from clinical use, we recommend the virtual approach described for training purposes. Adding items most misidentified as hazards is suggested for future implementation.