Is simulation-based team training performed by personnel in accordance with the INACSL Standards of Best Practice: Simulation(SM)?—a qualitative interview study

BACKGROUND: Anesthesia personnel was among the first to implement simulation and team training including non-technical skills (NTS) in the field of healthcare. Within anesthesia practice, NTS are critically important in preventing harmful undesirable events. To our best knowledge, there has been little documentation of the extent to which anesthesia personnel uses recommended frameworks like the Standards of Best Practice: Simulation(SM) to guide simulation and thereby optimize learning. The aim of our study was to explore how anesthesia personnel in Norway conduct simulation-based team training (SBTT) with respect to outcomes and objectives, facilitation, debriefing, and participant evaluation. METHODS: Individual qualitative interviews with healthcare professionals, with experience and responsible for SBTT in anesthesia, from 51 Norwegian public hospitals were conducted from August 2016 to October 2017. A qualitative deductive content analysis was performed. RESULTS: The use of objectives and educated facilitators was common. All participants participated in debriefings, and almost all conducted evaluations, mainly formative. Preparedness, structure, and time available were pointed out as issues affecting SBTT. CONCLUSIONS: Anesthesia personnel’s SBTT in this study met the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL) Standard of Best Practice: Simulation(SM) framework to a certain extent with regard to objectives, facilitators’ education and skills, debriefing, and participant evaluation. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s41077-021-00186-w.