title: An evaluation of the use of deliberate practice and simulation to train interns in requesting blood products.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Technical or practical skills deficits upon graduation from medical school are prevalent and contribute to increasing medical error. The current study sought to evaluate the efficacy of a simulation- and deliberate practice-based learning program for requesting blood products, delivered to newly graduated interns.
  
  
  METHODS
  The requesting of blood products by a group of 27 "trained" interns was prospectively compared with that of a group of 30 "untrained" interns throughout the first 13 weeks of internship at an Irish teaching hospital.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our analysis showed that the training intervention reduced the risk of a rejected sample by 65% as compared with interns who did not receive the training. Moreover, the risk of a rejected sample for trained interns was 45% lower than for much more experienced doctors. The untrained interns required more than 2 months of clinical experience to reach an error rate that was not significantly different from that of the trained interns.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings indicate that skills acquired through deliberate practice generalized to the clinical setting led to a significant reduction in blood product prescribing errors.
authors.affiliation: From the Discipline of Surgery (K.M.J., D.B., M.J.K.), Galway University Hospital; and Discipline of General Practice (P.O.), National University of Ireland, Galway; and School of Psychology (S.M.L.), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Kenneth M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Joyce
authors.forename: Dara
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Byrne
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.forename: Sinéad M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Lydon
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kerin
mesh_terms: D001803:Blood Transfusion; D002983:Clinical Competence; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000379:methods*; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control; D000066908:Simulation Training / Q000379:methods*