Cross-sector investigation into simulator-based training for maternity emergency management: competence-based issues

Abstract

This paper reports a cross-sector reflection on a current, simulation-based program for maternity emergency management in an Australian healthcare site. It aims to develop our understandings of how learning can be enhanced through simulation and debriefing practices. It discovers how the healthcare and aviation sectors, which have seen increasing collaboration in areas of human factors and non-technical skills in the last decade, can continue to evolve beyond these areas and considers what each sector can learn from the other. A cross-sector research team observed a one-day course on maternity emergencies. The observers took reflective notes progressively throughout the day and held a post-course discussion about their observations and reflections. Thematic analyses of their cross-sector reflections – observation notes and a transcribed team discussion – identified vague understandings of occupational competence embedded in current simulation-based practices. Possible avenues to improve practices were identified, taking into consideration the differing views among researchers from different sectors.