Findings in Health and Medicine Reported from Johns Hopkins University (Simulation of Shoulder Dystocia for Skill Acquisition and Competency Assessment: a Systematic Review and Gap Analysis)

Health & Medicine Daily

2019 MAR 29 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health & Medicine Daily -- A new study on Health and Medicine is now available. According to news reporting originating in Baltimore, Maryland, by NewsRx editors, the research stated, “Statement Mastery of shoulder dystocia management skills acquired via simulation training can reduce neonatal brachial plexus injury by 66% to 90%. However, the correlation between simulation drills and reduction in clinical injuries has been inconsistently replicated, and establishing a causal relationship between simulation training and reduction of adverse clinical events from shoulder dystocia is infeasible due to ethical limitations.”

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Johns Hopkins University, “Nevertheless, professional liability insurance carriers increasingly are mandating simulation-based rehearsal and competency assessment of their covered obstetric providers’ shoulder dystocia management skillsa high-stakes demand that will require rapid scaling up of access to quality shoulder dystocia simulation. However, questions remain about differing simulation training schemes and instructional content used among clinically effective and ineffective educational interventions. This review of original research compares curricular content of shoulder dystocia simulation and reveals several critical gaps: (1) prescriptive instruction prioritizing maneuvers shown to decrease strain on the brachial plexus is inconsistently used. (2) Proscriptive instruction to avoid placing excessive and laterally directed traction on the head or to observe a brief hands-off period before attempting traction is infrequently explicit. (3) Neither relative effectiveness nor potential interaction between prescriptive and proscriptive elements of instruction has been examined directly. (4) Reliability of high-fidelity mannequins capable of objective measurement of clinician-applied traction force as compared with subjective assessment of provider competence is unknown.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Further study is needed to address these gaps and inform efficient and effective implementation of clinically translatable shoulder dystocia simulation.”

For more information on this research see: Simulation of Shoulder Dystocia for Skill Acquisition and Competency Assessment: a Systematic Review and Gap Analysis. Simulation in Healthcare The Journal of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, 2018;13(4):268-283. Simulation in Healthcare The Journal of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare can be contacted at: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Two Commerce Sq, 2001 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA.

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting E.D.G. Allen, Johns Hopkins University, Sch Med, Dept. of Gynecol Obstet, Baltimore, MD, United States.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1097/SIH.0000000000000292. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.