Human Factors Training: Structured Management Airway Response Team (SMART) Approach Aims to Improve Patient Safety

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Background: Technical skills and human factors are the pillars of effective team work in every given situation. This is more evident in professions where an error can transform into a catastrophe in seconds and minutes. The avaition industry and medical specialty have been witness to this predicament. Difficult airway is one such realm in anaesthetics where a sound management strategy coupled with excellent team dynamics hold the key to a successful outcome. Hence, we piloted the concept of Structured Management Airway Response Team with 'predesignated roles' to improve airway safety. Methods: A training course was developed to teach non technical skills to teams of anaesthetist and anaesthetic assistants. The course was evaluated for its effectiveness at changing delegates' attitudes to 'airway safety'. Delegates were asked to complete pre and post course questionnaires designed by panel of airway experts where they were asked to mark their response to eight question on a visual analogue scale of 0-100. Results: The results indicated a positive change as the visual analogue scores were significantly higher in the post-course questionnaire (p = 0.001 for one question and = <0.001 for other seven questions). Conclusion: We infer that teaching Human Factors to teams involving anesthetist and anaesthetic assistants would improve attitudes to airway management and promote patient safety.