Use of a Hand-held Digital Cognitive Aid in Simulated Cardiac Arrest.

Overview

Cardiac arrest is one of the most stressful situations to be managed. Our first study (MAX, accepted for publication BJA) clearly showed that it could not be compared to other urgent and stressful situations (malignant hyperthermia, anaphylactic shock, acute toxicity of local anesthetics, severe and symptomatic hyperkaliemia) whose management was significantly improved with the help of a digital cognitive aid. The present study exclusively deals with the management of cardiac arrest (recovery ward, or in the delivery room.) with the second generation of our digital cognitive aid, and explores new insights on how to better manage cardiac arrest with a digital cognitive aid in the hand of the leader.

" Errare humanum est ", to err is human. This Latin saying attributed to Seneca shows that since the dawn of time, human beings are aware that managing complex situations will always be an inexhaustible source of mistakes. This is particularly true in anesthesia and intensive care in which situations are often complex and stressful, thus leading to mistakes or inadequate management. Improvement might arise from the use of cognitive aids. In a first study (MAX, accepted for publication BJA) the investigators designed a smartphone application including 5 scenarios of anesthesia and intensive care crises (malignant hyperthermia, anaphylactic shock, acute toxicity of local anesthetics, severe and symptomatic hyperkaliemia, ventricular fibrillation), designed to be used in the hand of the leader managing the crises. Technical and non technical skills were improved in 4 out of 5 scenarios. Cardiac arrest (ventricular fibrillation) clearly happened to be a different situation compared to other crises, and no improvement could be measured with our cognitive aid. The present study exclusively deals with the management of cardiac arrest (man in recovery ward, pregnant woman in the delivery room) with the second generation of our digital cognitive aid, and explores new insights on how to better manage cardiac arrest with a digital cognitive aid in the hand of the leader.