This week, we have Sabina Hunziker, University Hospital Basel, give a talk in the Social, Economic, and Decision Psychology Colloquium (title and abstract follow). 

Communication in emergency situations

An acute emergency situation, such as the cardiopulmonary resuscitation is challenging, and needs good teamwork and communication skills.  In the last 10 years, our research group has focused on communication on the team level and between patients, relatives and health care workers in this difficult situation.  Using simulator-based study designs as well as real life observational studies, we found strong evidence, that proactive communication has influence on both, rescue team performance and psychological wellbeing of relatives. Based on these results, the current American Heart Association guidelines include recommendations for communication and teamwork teachings in the resuscitation training.