STORC safety initiative: a multicentre survey on preparedness & confidence in obstetric emergencies.
BACKGROUND
Patient safety is a national and international priority. The purpose of this study was to understand clinicians' perceptions of teamwork during obstetric emergencies in clinical practice, to examine factors associated with confidence in responding to obstetric emergencies and to evaluate perceptions about the value of team training to improve preparedness.


METHODS
An anonymous survey was administered to all clinical staff members who respond to obstetric emergencies in seven Oregon hospitals from June 2006 to August 2006.


RESULTS
614 clinical staff (74.5%) responded. While over 90% felt confident that the appropriate clinical staff would respond to emergencies, more than half reported that other clinical staff members were confused about their role during emergencies. Over 84% were confident that emergency drills or simulation-based team training would improve performance.


CONCLUSIONS
Clinical staff who respond to obstetric emergencies in their practice reported feeling confident that the qualified personnel would respond to an emergency; however, they were less confident that the responders would perform well as a team. They reported that simulation and team training may improve their preparedness and confidence in responding to emergencies.
Department of Emergency Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon 97239, USA. guisej@ohsu.edu
Jeanne-Marie
JM
Guise
Sally Y
SY
Segel
Kristine
K
Larison
Sarah
S
M Jump
Marion
M
Constable
Hong
H
Li
Patricia
P
Osterweil
Dieter Zimmer
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control; D009922:Oregon; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000592:standards*; D011247:Pregnancy; D017751:Safety Management