Non-technical Skills in Healthcare

AbstractNon-technical Skills (NTS) are a set of generic cognitive and social skills, exhibited by individuals and teams, that support technical skills when performing complex tasks. Typical NTS training topics include performance shaping factors, planning and preparation for complex tasks, situation awareness, perception of risk, decision-making, communication, teamwork and leadership. This chapter provides a framework for understanding these skills in theory and practice, how they interact, and how they have been applied in healthcare, as well as avenues for future research

Importance of Leadership Style towards Quality of Care Measures in Healthcare Settings: A Systematic Review

Effective leadership of healthcare professionals is critical for strengthening quality and integration of care. This study aimed to assess whether there exist an association between different leadership styles and healthcare quality measures. The search was performed in the Medline (National Library of Medicine, PubMed interface) and EMBASE databases for the time period 2004–2015. The research question that guided this review was posed as: “Is there any relationship between leadership style in healthcare settings and quality of care?” Eighteen articles were found relevant to our research question. Leadership styles were found to be strongly correlated with quality care and associated measures. Leadership was considered a core element for a well-coordinated and integrated provision of care, both from the patients and healthcare professionals

Cangrelor in Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: Current Status and Perspectives

Cangrelor is an intravenously administered P2Y12 receptor antagonist with very fast, potent, and quickly reversible action. In the CHAMPION PHOENIX trial, cangrelor provided an improved anti-ischemic protection compared with clopidogrel, without increasing the risk of severe bleeding. Cangrelor is currently approved by drug regulating authorities for patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) without prior treatment with a P2Y12 receptor antagonist and not receiving a glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor, while its use is endorsed with a class IIb recommendation by the European Society of Cardiology guidelines. Several subanalyses of CHAMPION PHOENIX trial have tried to elucidate the role of cangrelor in PCI, including its usefulness during a 2-hour landmark analysis, impact on intraprocedural stent thrombosis, and reduction in myocardial infarction (MI) rate. The influence of gender, geographic region, access site, and bivalirudin use on cangrelor’s effects has also been reported. In patients with ST elevation MI and in clinical scenarios of disturbed absorption of oral antiplatelet agents or in need of an intravenous agent, cangrelor may surpass oral agents’ drawbacks. Transitioning to an oral agent is mandatory following cangrelor infusion discontinuation, although ticagrelor may be administered earlier without any pharmacodynamic interaction. Nevertheless, the clinical role of cangrelor in conjunction with administration of prasugrel or ticagrelor remains unclear. Accruing real-life experience is expected to improve our understanding of cangrelor’s role in everyday clinical practice. © 2017, © The Author(s) 2017

Combination antiplatelet treatment in coronary artery disease patients: A necessary evil or an overzealous practice?

In seeking to improve care in coronary artery disease patients, further platelet inhibition has been occasionally applied beyond that provided by aspirin and a P2Y12 receptor antagonist. This review aims to offer insights about the rationale, the efficacy and safety of combination antiplatelet therapy, involving three or more agents. Overall, the use of glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa inhibitors did not significantly modify the treatment effect of different antiplatelet strategies, including double vs standard clopidogrel, prasugrel vs clopidogrel, ticagrelor vs clopidogrel, cangrelor vs clopidogrel, and vorapaxar vs placebo. With the caveat that the use of GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor was not randomized, adding such an agent to aspirin and a P2Y12 receptor antagonist appears to carry a significantly increased bleeding potential. Moreover, adding vorapaxar to aspirin- and clopidogrel-treated patients is associated with more bleeding events, while the bleeding potential is further exacerbated in cases of quadruplicate antiplatelet treatment including aspirin, clopidogrel, vorapaxar, and a GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor. In ST-segment elevation, myocardial infarction patients’ administration of an intravenous antiplatelet agent (GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor or cangrelor), in addition to aspirin and a P2Y12 receptor antagonist, efficiently bridges the pharmacodynamic gap of oral agents. Cilostazol on top of aspirin and clopidogrel appears to be safe, although of questionable clinical benefit. In conclusion, combination antiplatelet therapy should be reserved only for selected cases and following thoughtful consideration of the associated risk/benefit ratio

Combination antiplatelet treatment in coronary artery disease patients: A necessary evil or an overzealous practice?

In seeking to improve care in coronary artery disease patients, further platelet inhibition has been occasionally applied beyond that provided by aspirin and a P2Y12 receptor antagonist. This review aims to offer insights about the rationale, the efficacy and safety of combination antiplatelet therapy, involving three or more agents. Overall, the use of glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa inhibitors did not significantly modify the treatment effect of different antiplatelet strategies, including double vs standard clopidogrel, prasugrel vs clopidogrel, ticagrelor vs clopidogrel, cangrelor vs clopidogrel, and vorapaxar vs placebo. With the caveat that the use of GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor was not randomized, adding such an agent to aspirin and a P2Y12 receptor antagonist appears to carry a significantly increased bleeding potential. Moreover, adding vorapaxar to aspirin- and clopidogrel-treated patients is associated with more bleeding events, while the bleeding potential is further exacerbated in cases of quadruplicate antiplatelet treatment including aspirin, clopidogrel, vorapaxar, and a GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor. In ST-segment elevation, myocardial infarction patients’ administration of an intravenous antiplatelet agent (GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor or cangrelor), in addition to aspirin and a P2Y12 receptor antagonist, efficiently bridges the pharmacodynamic gap of oral agents. Cilostazol on top of aspirin and clopidogrel appears to be safe, although of questionable clinical benefit. In conclusion, combination antiplatelet therapy should be reserved only for selected cases and following thoughtful consideration of the associated risk/benefit ratio. © 2018 Taylor & Francis

Importance of Leadership Style towards Quality of Care Measures in Healthcare Settings: A Systematic Review

Effective leadership of healthcare professionals is critical for strengthening quality and integration of care. This study aimed to assess whether there exist an association between different leadership styles and healthcare quality measures. The search was performed in the Medline (National Library of Medicine, PubMed interface) and EMBASE databases for the time period 2004–2015. The research question that guided this review was posed as: “Is there any relationship between leadership style in healthcare settings and quality of care?” Eighteen articles were found relevant to our research question. Leadership styles were found to be strongly correlated with quality care and associated measures. Leadership was considered a core element for a well-coordinated and integrated provision of care, both from the patients and healthcare professionals

Pharmacodynamic comparison of low-dose ticagrelor to low-dose prasugrel in patients with prior myocardial infarction: the ALTIC-2 study

Given that patients with prior myocardial infarction and features of high ischemic and low bleeding risk may benefit by extending dual antiplatelet therapy beyond 1 year, we aimed of assessing platelet reactivity provided by ticagrelor 60 mg bid versus prasugrel 5 mg od in 20 such patients participating in a randomized, crossover study. The primary end point of platelet reactivity at the end of the two treatment periods (by VerifyNow, in PRU) was significantly lower for ticagrelor (31.9 PRU [95% CI 12.3–51.4]) compared with prasugrel (132.1 PRU [111.9–152.3]) with a least squares mean difference of –100.2 PRU (72.1–128.3, P < .001). This dedicated pharmacodynamic study showed that in post-myocardial infarction patients with high atherothrombotic risk and receiving P2Y12 receptor antagonist beyond 1 year, low-dose ticagrelor results in a significantly lower platelet reactivity compared to low-dose prasugrel

Pharmacodynamic comparison of low-dose ticagrelor to low-dose prasugrel in patients with prior myocardial infarction: the ALTIC-2 study

Given that patients with prior myocardial infarction and features of high ischemic and low bleeding risk may benefit by extending dual antiplatelet therapy beyond 1 year, we aimed of assessing platelet reactivity provided by ticagrelor 60 mg bid versus prasugrel 5 mg od in 20 such patients participating in a randomized, crossover study. The primary end point of platelet reactivity at the end of the two treatment periods (by VerifyNow, in PRU) was significantly lower for ticagrelor (31.9 PRU [95% CI 12.3–51.4]) compared with prasugrel (132.1 PRU [111.9–152.3]) with a least squares mean difference of –100.2 PRU (72.1–128.3, P &amp;lt;.001). This dedicated pharmacodynamic study showed that in post-myocardial infarction patients with high atherothrombotic risk and receiving P2Y12 receptor antagonist beyond 1 year, low-dose ticagrelor results in a significantly lower platelet reactivity compared to low-dose prasugrel. © 2019 Taylor &amp; Francis Group, LLC