gms | German Medical Science

Background: The aim of the project “Development and Evaluation of a complex interprofessional Training Program to improve Patient Safety (KOMPAS)” is to develop a complex multimodal inter-professional training program to improve patient safety and to implement and evaluate it in practice. KOMPAS uses a multicenter randomized control trial design. A combined intervention (eLearning and team training) is tested in comparison to a single eLearning and no intervention in the first place. Primary outcomes are safety-related behavior and basic competencies. In the sense of a flipped classroom, the theoretical contents of the three basic competencies teamwork, error management and patient participation in team presence training conveyed in eLearning are supplemented and applied by behavioral exercises. The study population consists of physicians and nurses of 39 teams in German acute hospitals. Survey data is collected in 2018 and 2019 at a total of three measurement points (pre, post and follow up). In addition, a formative evaluation of the two intervention measures is carried out.

Aim: The aim is to identify the barriers and facilitators of implementing the complex intervention and to examine the feasibility of such an inter-professional training intervention in the real setting.

Methods: Objectives and guiding questions for social and behavior intervention feasibility studies, developed by Gael I. Orsmond and Ellen S. Cohn (2015) will be used to reply to the question “can it work?”. Along with guiding questions structured in five objectives (e.g. evaluation of recruitment capability and resulting sample characteristics), we will evaluate whether the intervention can be successfully implemented. In order to answer the question, we will use data through formative evaluation, and protocols on development as well as conduction of the complex intervention.

Results: Internal motivation was an important facilitator to the implementation of the complex intervention. Nevertheless, barriers such as recruiting teams willing to complete a six and a half hour intervention (3 h eLearning and 3,5 h team training) and the acceptance to participate, can occur. Beyond that, the eLearning intervention does not work on smartphones, which makes mobile editing in the clinic or at home more difficult, since a stationary computer is necessary.

Discussion: The first results suggest that especially the acceptability and suitability of the intervention can be difficult under current working conditions and need to be adapted especially to limited time and electronic resources in hospitals.

Practical implications: The necessity to deal with patient safety related topics such as teamwork, error management and patient participation in the inter-professional team is given. However, there is a need for extra time and workspace as well as electronic access possibilities to be effectively trained as an inter-professional team.