Importance of leadership in cardiac arrest situations: from simulation to real life and back
Author(s)
Date issued
April 18, 2013
In
Swiss Medical Weekly
Vol
13774
No
143
From page
1
To page
6
Abstract
The 2010 American Heart Association guidelines now re-
commend leadership training in Advanced Cardiac Life
Support courses. In this review we provide a comprehens-
ive summary of data derived from clinical studies that in-
vestigated the importance of leadership in cardiopulmon-
ary resuscitation (CPR). Only a few, mostly observational,
studies have been conducted under real-life conditions be-
cause of the high heterogeneity of the situations, diffi-
culties in capturing the initial phase of CPR, and ethical
issues. Well-controlled studies in the human simulator can
fill existing gaps and provide important insights. High-fi-
delity video-assisted simulator studies from different re-
search groups have shown that a prolonged process of
teambuilding is associated with significant shortcomings
in CPR, whereas effective leadership improves team per-
formance. In addition, randomised controlled studies have
provided evidence that medical students receiving leader-
ship training subsequently showed improved CPR perform-
ance, which was sustained after a follow up of 4 months.
In addition, leadership is influenced by gender and other
factors such as emotional stress. Future studies are needed
to investigate cultural differences and how findings from
the simulator can be transferred to real-life situations.
commend leadership training in Advanced Cardiac Life
Support courses. In this review we provide a comprehens-
ive summary of data derived from clinical studies that in-
vestigated the importance of leadership in cardiopulmon-
ary resuscitation (CPR). Only a few, mostly observational,
studies have been conducted under real-life conditions be-
cause of the high heterogeneity of the situations, diffi-
culties in capturing the initial phase of CPR, and ethical
issues. Well-controlled studies in the human simulator can
fill existing gaps and provide important insights. High-fi-
delity video-assisted simulator studies from different re-
search groups have shown that a prolonged process of
teambuilding is associated with significant shortcomings
in CPR, whereas effective leadership improves team per-
formance. In addition, randomised controlled studies have
provided evidence that medical students receiving leader-
ship training subsequently showed improved CPR perform-
ance, which was sustained after a follow up of 4 months.
In addition, leadership is influenced by gender and other
factors such as emotional stress. Future studies are needed
to investigate cultural differences and how findings from
the simulator can be transferred to real-life situations.
Publication type
journal article