Assessment of anesthetist’s non-technical skills in Iranian hospitals

Safe performance and patient safety are two important issues in the delivery of healthcare services. Non-technical skills are necessary for safe performance of anesthesiologists in the operating room. This study aimed to assess the anesthetists’ non-technical skills in Iranian hospitals. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 38 anesthetists working in orthopedic surgery wards of two hospitals in 2019. The data were collected using the Anesthetist’s Non-Technical Skills (ANTS) system, which included four domains, namely task management, teamwork, situation awareness, and decision-making. The anesthetists were assessed by a trained observer via observing and recording the events during surgeries. The mean score of ANTS was 10.12±1.66 out of 16. Among the four skills, the highest and lowest mean scores were related to “task management” (2.94 out of 4) and “decision-making” (2.26 out of 4), respectively. Work experience showed a significant positive relationship with “decision-making” (p=0.008, r=0.974). However, higher education level was not associated with improved anesthesiology skills. The quality of non-technical skills was below the acceptable level in the studied anesthetists. Thus, it is recommended that the anesthetists’ skills should be improved through educational and political interventions.