… may decrease risk for adverse events . … La ne S, Gross M, Arzola C, et al. Can J Anaesth . 2022;69(7):832-840. …

This randomized simulation study examined the use of checklists during simulated pediatric cardiac arrests in the surgical setting. Despite low uptake of the checklists, their availability during the simulations was associated with better performance. The authors recommend use of these checklists to enhance performance in rare critical situations.

Anesthesia residents who received specific training in communication strategies to challenge a supervisor's decision performed better in a simulated anesthetic emergency compared to residents who received only general teamwork training. This suggests that targeted educational strategies may be effective at flattening hierarchies in emergency situations.

This systematic review found that simulation training based on crew resource management principles appeared to be more effective than didactic teaching at improving multidisciplinary teamwork behaviors in patient care situations. The authors suggest that further research focus on transferring learning to workplace practice and its impact on patient outcomes.

In this simulation study, most anesthesiology residents acceded to an attending physician's order to transfuse blood to a patient who had explicitly refused transfusions for religious reasons. Subsequent interviews with the residents revealed that strict hierarchies persist within medical training, despite evidence that hierarchies impair communication and negatively affect safety. This study is reminiscent of one of the earliest studies of the impact of hierarchies on patient safety.