Using Emergency Manuals in the O.R.: What Is the Evidence and How To Be Most Effective
Tuesday, 2-3 p.m.
Upper 33A-C

Implementing Emergency Manuals — What’s the Secret Sauce?
Tuesday, 3:15-5:15 p.m.
Upper 33A-C

Sara Goldhaber-Fiebert, M.D.

In the last decade, several anesthesia emergency manuals have been developed for improving actions during critical events, and simulation-based studies have shown their effectiveness. You can learn more about the availability of manuals and data about their successful implementation during two sessions today.

“Using Emergency Manuals in the O.R.: What Is the Evidence and How To Be Most Effective” will be presented from 2 to 3 p.m. in Upper 33A-C. That will be followed by a panel discussion, “Implementing Emergency Manuals — What’s the Secret Sauce?” from 3:15 to 5:15 p.m. in the same room.

“We are at a tipping point with the recent availability of cost-free emergency manuals designed for clinical use along with resources concerning implementation,” said Sara Goldhaber-Fiebert, M.D., who will present the first session and participate in the following panel discussion. “There is mounting interest in emergency manuals as tools, though they are intended to be combined with good teamwork and never to replace clinical judgment, nor to serve as a panacea.”

A wealth of emergency manuals and other resources are available at the Emergency Manuals Implementation Collaborative (EMIC) website. Such manuals from multiple sites have been downloaded more than 20,000 times, said Dr. Goldhaber-Fiebert, a founding member of both the Stanford Anesthesia Cognitive Aid Group that wrote the Stanford tool and of EMIC. She emphasized the teamwork of colleagues involved in both groups. All participating groups share their resources, including training and implementation materials, cost-free.

“We are getting multiple requests from institutions that want help to implement the manuals,” said Dr. Goldhaber-Fiebert, Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine.

“After attending the session, attendees should be able to articulate to colleagues the evidence and rationale for why institutions should implement emergency manuals,” she said. “They will understand the framework for how to embark upon effective emergency manual implementation and use.”

Health care is not the only field using emergency manuals to deal with critical events. Aviation and nuclear power, for example, have long incorporated such manuals into their professional practices and training.

“Health care simulation studies show that teams using these emergency manuals, a.k.a., crisis checklists, performed more correct actions for optimal management of critical events than teams that were not using them,” Dr. Goldhaber-Fiebert said.