title: Root causes of errors in a simulated prehospital pediatric emergency.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Systematic evaluation of prehospital provider performance during actual resuscitations is difficult. Although prior studies reported pediatric drug-dosing mistakes and other types of management errors, the underlying causes of those errors were not investigated. The objective of this study was to identify causes of errors during a simulated, prehospital pediatric emergency.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two-person emergency medical services (EMS) crews from five geographically diverse agencies participated in a validated simulation of an infant with altered mental status, seizures, and respiratory arrest using their own equipment and drugs. A scoring protocol was used to identify errors. A debriefing conducted by a trained facilitator immediately after the simulated event elicited root causes of active and latent errors, which were analyzed by thematic qualitative assessment methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Forty-five crews completed the study. Clinically important themes that emerged from the data included oxygen delivery, equipment organization and use, glucose measurement, drug administration, and inappropriate cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Delay in delivery of supplemental oxygen resulted from two different automaticity errors and a 54% failure rate in using an oropharyngeal airway (OPA). Most crews struggled to locate essential pediatric equipment. Three found broken or inoperable bag/valve/masks (BVMs), resulting in delayed ventilation. Some mistrusted their intraosseous (IO) injection gun device; others used it incorrectly. Only 51% of crews measured blood glucose; some discovered that glucometers were not stored in their sealed pediatric bags. The error rate for diazepam dosing was 47%; for midazolam, it was 60%. Underlying causes of dosing errors were found in four domains (cognitive, procedural, affective, and teamwork), and they included incorrect estimates of weight, incorrect use of the Broselow pediatric emergency tape, faulty recollection of doses, difficulty with calculations under stress, mg/kg to mg to mL conversion errors, inaccurate measurement of volumes, use of the wrong end of prefilled syringes, and failure to crosscheck doses with partners.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Simulation, followed immediately by facilitated debriefing, uncovered underlying causes of active cognitive, procedural, affective, and teamwork errors, latent errors, and error-producing conditions in EMS pediatric care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Michigan State University/Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, USA. lammers@kcms.msu.edu
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lammers
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Byrwa
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fales
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000488:Allied Health Personnel; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D019300:Medical Errors; D010348:Patient Care Team; D016544:Patient Simulation; D010372:Pediatrics; D011361:Professional Competence; D012151:Resuscitation / Q000379:methods*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors