Examining novice anaesthesia trainee simulation performance: a tale of two clusters.

This pilot study suggests that cluster analysis can be used to objectively identify high-performing trainees for both a technical and a non-technical skill as observed in a simulated clinical setting. Non-technical skills may be more difficult to teach and retain than purely technical ones, and there may be an association between task load and initial non-technical performance. Further study is needed to understand what factors may confer inherent performance advantages, whether these advantages translate to clinical performance and how curricula can best be designed to drive targeted improvement for individual trainees.