Team communications in the operating room: talk patterns, sites of tension, and implications for novices

Team Relations and Role Perceptions During Anesthesia Crisis Management in Magnetic-Resonance Imaging Settings: A Mixed Methods Exploration

BACKGROUND

An increasing number of procedures are performed in non-operating room anesthesia (NORA) settings, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) suites. Patient care in NORA is accomplished by interprofessional ad hoc teams (anesthesia clinicians, imaging technologists, and others), who do not regularly work together otherwise. The authors aimed to explore team relations and role perceptions during crisis situations in MRI settings among such ad hoc teams.

METHODS

This mixed methods study used a convergent parallel design: The Relational Coordination Index (RCI) and a survey about role perceptions were administered to anesthesia and non-anesthesia personnel working in MRI settings, and semistructured interviews were conducted among a purposive sample. After descriptive statistics and thematic analysis, the authors integrated quantitative and qualitative findings to identify and describe overlapping and mismatched perceptions between the two groups.

RESULTS

A total of 67 surveys (response rate 74.4%) and 17 interviews were analyzed. RCI ratings revealed moderate relational coordination between the anesthesia and non-anesthesia groups. Anesthesia and non-anesthesia respondents agreed that the anesthesia clinician assumes leadership during crisis management while non-anesthesia personnel assist. There were nuanced differences in expectations about the role of non-anesthesia personnel in calling for help, understanding specific equipment needs, and performing patient care actions. Many anesthesia clinicians felt unsure about crisis-relevant skills of their non-anesthesia colleagues. MRI technologists emphasized attention to magnetic safety as integral to their role, which was infrequently mentioned by anesthesia personnel.

CONCLUSION

Nuanced mismatches in role expectations within the interprofessional care team exist, which may hinder effective crisis management in MRI settings.

Team-based care of the thoracic surgical patient

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Although team-based care has been shown in many sectors to improve outcomes, very little work has been done with the thoracic surgical patient. This review article focuses on this and, extrapolating from other closely related surgical fields, teamwork in thoracic surgery will be reviewed for outcome efficacy and substance.

RECENT FINDINGS

The optimal team has been shown to display behaviors that allow them to model future needs, predict disaster, be adaptable to change, and promote team cohesiveness all with a positive effect on perioperative outcome. The suboptimal team will have transactional leadership, poor communication, ineffective conflict resolution, and hold rigid beliefs about other team members.

SUMMARY

To improve outcome, the thoracic surgical team, centered on the anesthesiologist and surgeon, will display the 'Big 5' attributes of highly effective teams. There are attributes of poor teams, which the dyad should avoid in order to increase the team's function and thus outcome.

Factors influencing teamwork in healthcare applicable to interventional and diagnostic radiology

Teamwork in healthcare has been analysed extensively in the literature, mainly in acute healthcare settings such as the operating room, emergency room, and intensive care unit, with limited evidence related to diagnostic and interventional radiology. Multiple factors that affect teamwork in different domains have been described, such as communication, hierarchy, and distractions. Teamwork is an important patient safety, job satisfaction and patient outcome determinant, with interprofessional and interdisciplinary healthcare education playing a relevant role in the different domains affecting team performance. The aim of this article is to review the literature to describe domains and specific factors that influence teamwork in diagnostic and interventional radiology practice. This is of particular interest for radiologist involved in quality improvement and/or patient safety initiatives development and implementation. The review will conclude with a summary table highlighting the most important factors that, according to the authors, appear relevant to the radiology practice.

Emotions and team communication in the operating room: a scoping review

Training in healthcare team communication has largely focused on strategies to improve information transfer with less focus on interpersonal dynamics and emotional aspects of communication. The Operating Room (OR) may be one of the most emotionally charged hospital environments, and is one requiring excellent team communications. We aimed to identify literature reporting on the emotional aspects of OR team communication. Our research questions were: what are the triggers in the environment that provoke an emotional response affecting communication, and what are the emotional responses to communication between OR team members; and how do these emotional aspects of communication affect the function of the OR team? We undertook a Scoping Review of literature across relevant databases following published guidelines, and narrative synthesis of the identified studies. From the 10 included studies we identified three themes: (1) Emotional experiences in the OR and their contributors; (2) Effects of emotional experiences on team communication; and (3) Solutions to manage the emotional experiences in the OR. Theme 1 sub-themes were: (1) Range of emotions experienced in the OR; (2) Hierarchical culture and (3) Leadership expectations as contributors to negative emotions. The OR is an emotionally charged environment. The hierarchical culture can inhibit staff from speaking up, and failure of leaders to meet team expectations, e.g., through appropriate and timely communication, may cause frustration and stress. The consequences of emotions include poor team dynamics, ineffective communication and potential negative impact on patient care. Few studies described strategies to manage emotions in the OR. The studies reviewed describe an environment where emotions can run high, affecting interpersonal communications, team function and patient care. The few identified studies relevant to our research questions demonstrate a need to better understand the emotional aspects of OR team communication and the effectiveness of interventions to improve these.

Twelve tips for optimising learning for postgraduate doctors in the operating theatre

Learning in the operating theatre forms a critical part of postgraduate medical education. Postgraduate doctors present a diverse cohort of learners with a wide range of learning needs that will vary by their level of experience and curriculum requirements. With evidence of both trainee dissatisfaction with the theatre learning experience and reduced time spent in the operating theatre, which has been exacerbated by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is vital that every visit to the operating theatre is used as a learning opportunity. We have devised 12 tips aimed at both learners and surgeons to optimise learning in the operating theatre, set out into four domains: educational context, preparation, learning in theatre, feedback and reflection. These tips have been created by a process of literature review and acknowledgment of established learning theory, with further discussion amongst surgical trainees, senior surgical faculty, surgical educators and medical education faculty.

Alone Together: Is Strain Experienced Concurrently by Members of Operating Room Teams?: An Event-based Study

Objective

To identify which strain episodes are concurrently reported by several team members; to identify triggers of strain experienced by operating room (OR) team members during the intraoperative phase.

Summary

OR teams are confronted with many sources of strain. However, most studies investigate strain on a general, rather than an event-based level, which does not allow to determine if strain episodes are experienced concurrently by different team members.

Methods

We conducted an event-based, observational study, at an academic medical center in North America and included 113 operations performed in 5 surgical departments (general, vascular, pediatric, gynecology, and trauma/acute care). Strain episodes were assessed with a guided-recall method. Immediately after operations, participants mentally recalled the operation, described the strain episodes experienced and their content.

Results

Based on 731 guided recalls, 461 strain episodes were reported; these refer to 312 unique strain episodes. Overall, 75% of strain episodes were experienced by a single team member only. Among different categories of unique strain episodes, those triggered by task complexity, issues with material, or others' behaviors were typically experienced by 1 team member only. However, acute patient issues (n = 167) and observations of others' strain (n = 12) (respectively, 58.5%; P < 0.001 and 83.3%; P < 0.001) were often experienced by 2 or more team members.

Conclusions and relevance

OR team members are likely to experience strain alone, unless patient safety is at stake. This may jeopardize the building of a shared understanding among OR team members.

How to enrich team research in healthcare by considering five theoretical perspectives

The aim of this paper is to inspire team research to apply diverse and unconventional perspectives to study team dynamics and performance in healthcare settings. To illustrate that using multiple perspectives can yield valuable insights, we examine a segment of a team interaction during a heart-surgery, using five distinct interdisciplinary perspectives known from small group research: the psychodynamic, functional, conflict-power-status, temporal, and social identity perspectives. We briefly describe each theoretical perspective, discuss its application to study healthcare teams, and present possible research questions for the segment at hand using the respective perspective. We also highlight the benefits and challenges associated with employing these diverse approaches and explore how they can be integrated to analyze team processes in health care. Finally, we offer our own insights and opinions on the integration of these approaches, as well as the types of data required to conduct such analyses. We also point to further research avenues and highlight the benefits associated with employing these diverse approaches. Finally, we offer our own insights and opinions on the integration of these approaches, as well as the types of data required to conduct such analyses.

Experiential Learning of Interdisciplinary Care Skills in Surgery Assessed From Student Reflections

INTRODUCTION

Interdisciplinary healthcare collaboration improves patient outcomes, increases workplace satisfaction, and reduces costs. Our medical school utilizes an experiential learning tool for teaching interprofessionalism known as the Longitudinal Patient Project (LPP). Medical students are directed to identify a surgical patient to establish continuity with by observing them throughout preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative periods, and follow-up with the patient after their procedure. Students then write reflections on their LPP experience. This study examines the LPP as an interprofessionalism teaching tool using qualitative analysis of student reflections.

METHODS

NVivo 12 was used to code reflections. One researcher coded reflections for subject, depth, temporality, and confidence. Depth was assessed using Mezirow's Critical Reflection Theory, with students receiving titles of "content," "process," or "premise" reflectors based on the deepest level of reflection exhibited. Confidence was assessed by labeling reflective statements as "concrete" or "verbal." Data were coded by a second researcher for validation. Consensus was reached, the remainder of the dataset was updated to reflect codebook changes, and trends were assessed.

RESULTS

Inter-rater agreement was 83%. All students achieved "content" level reflection. Ninety-seven percent of students reached "process" reflection. Ninety-three percent of students reached "premise" reflection. Students provided more concrete indicators of knowledge gained from the LPP than from prior experiences. Subjects included communication, team dynamics, patient impact, and student experience. Increased depth and breadth of reflection on communication and team dynamics were observed from the LPP.

CONCLUSIONS

The LPP illustrates the importance of interdisciplinary care in surgery. Future iterations should emphasize the impact on patients and their families.

Improving patient safety: Did we learn from the story of Jean-Pierre Adams?

The safety of surgery and anesthesia has seen many advances over the last several decades; however, the frequency of complications experienced by patients undergoing surgical operations remains high. Most of these complications are avoidable, with a considerable portion of surgical patient injuries originating from human factors. Telling stories and assessing what went wrong and why for lessons to be learned are proven methods used to improve patient safety in anesthesia. In this narrative, we revisited a case of an anesthesia mishap that occurred in 1982, leaving the victim in a coma for nearly four decades until his death in September 2021. The patient reported for his operation, but a number of the hospital's staff were on strike. His operation, however, went ahead and the reduction in anesthesia care team members and its consequential increase in workload resulted in a series of avoidable errors. Decades after this event, many of the issues identified still remain a challenge in anesthesia care; there are still lessons to learn. We identified and discussed three major issues of concern: the non-cancellation of his procedure amid a strike action, giving a delicate anesthetic duty to a trainee without active supervision, and poor coordination and teamwork among team members in the operating room.

What factors affect team members' evaluation of collaboration in medical teams?

Introduction

Perceived teamwork quality is associated with numerous work-related outcomes, ranging from team effectiveness to job satisfaction. This study explored what situational and stable factors affect the perceived quality of teamwork during a specific team task: when a medical team comprising a senior (supervisor) and a junior (trainee) physician diagnoses a patient.

Methods

During a field study in an emergency department, multisource data describing the patients, the diagnosing physicians, and the context were collected, including physicians' ratings of their teamwork. The relationships between perceived teamwork quality and situational (e.g., workload) and stable (e.g., seniority) factors were estimated in a latent regression model using the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach.

Results

Across the N = 495 patients included, SEM analyses revealed that the patient-specific case clarity and urgency influenced the perceived teamwork quality positively, whereas the work experience of the supervisor influenced the perceived teamwork quality of both supervisor and trainee negatively, albeit to different degrees.

Discussion

Our findings shed light on the complex underpinnings of perceived teamwork quality, a performance-relevant factor that may influence work and organizational effectiveness in healthcare settings.

'Us versus them': A social identity perspective of internal medicine trainees

INTRODUCTION

Silos and group boundaries in the clinical workplace can result in interprofessional conflict which can be a source of anxiety for doctors in training. The social identity perspective (SIP) incorporates theories of social identity and self-categorisation, and may provide a useful lens to understand the socialisation and identity development of doctors. This study aimed to determine if and how the SIP may provide insight into intergroup relations as experienced by internal medicine (IM) trainees in Scotland.

METHODS

Interprofessional communication workshops hosted as part of an IM boot camp between August 2020 and March 2021 were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Subsequent individual interviews with consenting trainees further explored social identity and intergroup relations. Data analysis employed template analysis and deductive independent coding with the SIP informing the initial coding template and new codes added inductively.

RESULTS

Seventeen workshops, involving 100 trainees, and ten subsequent individual interviews were included. Trainees related to the social identity of an IM doctor and to stereotypes within the workplace. They described intergroup tensions resulting from a perception of differing priorities. They experienced outgroup derogation and the impact of role modelling those in their social group during their identity development.

DISCUSSION

The SIP provides a useful lens to understand the social phenomena at play for IM trainees. It confirms the expectation of conflict between specialties and negative perceptions of outgroups. There is a need to consider the hidden curriculum of socialisation in the workplace during training and the influence of the learning environment on identity development.

Interprofessional teamwork in healthcare: Observations and the road ahead

In this effort we draw from the literature on interprofessional teamwork in high reliability organizations from different fields of study, including healthcare, industrial/organizational psychology, and management. We combine this literature with our collective experience to offer five observations on future needs for the field of team science research and practice. These themes include: (1) exploration of nonclinical teams, (2) evaluation of multi-team systems in healthcare, (3) the study of dyad leadership of teams, (4) the proliferation of virtual healthcare teams, and (5) the continuing integration of organizational and team science into the study of interprofessional teams. By presenting these observations, we argue why each is critical to the overall understanding of interprofessional teamwork in healthcare and provide areas for future scholarly advancement that will inform healthcare practice.

Dynamic and distributed exchanges: an interview study of interprofessional communication in rehabilitation

PURPOSE

Interprofessional communication (IPC) in rehabilitation is important for patient care yet it has been shown to be variable and challenging. Existing research does not address the complexity of IPC in this setting. Understanding the influence of contextual factors on IPC may guide improvements to increase the effectiveness of communication within interprofessional teams.

METHODS

From July 2020 to February 2021 semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 healthcare professionals across Australia and New Zealand. Cultural Historical Activity Theory provided a guiding theoretical and analytical framework for this qualitative study.

RESULTS

Participants described engaging in IPC through evolving interactions, piecing together information that underpinned patient care. Meetings occurred frequently, however communication extended well beyond formalised interactions, often requiring individuals to balance clinical workload with communication tasks. IPC reportedly relied on communication tools, however navigating information from multiple sources was demanding.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results indicate that IPC contributes significantly to the workload of healthcare professionals in rehabilitation. IPC was integral in the provision of cohesive patient care, however it proved time consuming, effortful and at times frustrating and potentially erroneous. Our findings promote the need for rigorous examination of communication practices to ensure they are meeting the needs of an increasingly interprofessional workforce. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONHealthcare professionals should recognise that time spent communicating within their team is a legitimate and important part of patient care.Rehabilitation teams should consider how they allocate resources for communication tasks.Teams should reconsider how they can use communication more effectively to save time by reducing repetition and errors.

Human Performance of Three Hands in Unimanual, Bimanual and Trimanual Tasks

Trimanual operation using a robotic supernumerary limb is a new and challenging mechanism for human operators that could enable a single user to perform tasks requiring more than two hands. Foot-controlled interfaces have previously proven able to be intuitively controlled, enabling simple tasks to be performed. However, the effect of going from unimanual to bimanual and then to trimanual tasks on subjects performance and coordination is not well understood. In this paper, unimanual, bimanual and trimanual teleoperation tasks were performed in a virtual reality scene to evaluate the impact of extending to trimanual actions. 15 participants were required to move their limbs together in a coordinated reaching activity. The results show that the addition of another hand resulted in an increase in operating time, where the time increased in going from unimanual to bimanual operation and then increased further when going from bimanual to trimanual. Moreover, the success rate for performing bimanual and trimanual tasks was strongly influenced by the subject's performance in ipsilateral hand-foot activities, where the ipsilateral combination had a lower success rate than contralateral limbs. The addition of a hand did not affect any two-hand coordination rate and even in some cases reduced coordination deviations. Clinical relevance - This work can contribute to build efficient training and learning framework on human multiple limbs motion control and coordination for both rehabilitation and augmentation.

Building Communication and Conflict Management Awareness in Surgical Education

OBJECTIVE

A group of surgeons and a medical educator constructed a curriculum to strengthen communication and emotional intelligence skills in the surgical setting.

DESIGN

The curriculum consisted of a small group discussion series occurring during medical students' eight-week surgery clerkship. The curriculum targeted the following objectives: building team rapport, exploring self-management strategies in team communication, recognizing communication styles, diagnosing conflict, identifying opportunities in professional and personal development, and discussing professionalism in medicine. Students completed pre-post Likert style tests about their knowledge and understanding of the above-mentioned topics.

SETTING

Texas A&M University College of Medicine, Surgical Clerkship at Baylor Scott and White Medical Center, a level 1 trauma center, in Temple, TX.

PARTICIPANTS

Twenty-four students in their third year of medical school completed the communication curriculum.

RESULTS

Wilcoxon sign test was used to analyze the non-parametric data and multiple repeat tests required the significance level (p-Value) be adjusted to 0.003. Students showed significant increase in understanding of conflict management, their ability to communicate effectively, and their awareness of communication preferences (p < 0.001). In addition, they recognized better ways to engage with other students, residents, and staff on their rotation (p = 0.002) and felt more confident in their ability to handle feedback (p = 0.001). Open-ended responses on the post-test had overwhelmingly positive feedback with themes of awareness, psychological safety, and team rapport. Finally, students requested that the curriculum be taught longitudinally throughout their third-year clerkships.

CONCLUSIONS

Our curriculum enabled students to improve their awareness of communication, conflict management, team dynamics, and professionalism. These important competencies will support students throughout their training and in their practice as future surgeons.

Designing an evidence‐based free‐flap pathway in head and neck reconstruction

Background

The use of autologous free‐tissue transfer is an increasingly utilized tool in the ladder of reconstructive options to preserve and restore function in patients with head and neck cancer. This article focuses on the evidence surrounding perioperative care that optimizes surgical outcomes and describes one tertiary center's approach to standardized free‐flap care.

Data Sources

This article examines English literature from PubMed and offers expert opinion on perioperative free‐flap care for head and neck oncology.

Conclusion

Free‐flap reconstruction for head and neck cancer is a process that, while individualized for each patient, is best supported by a comprehensive and standardized care pathway. Surgical optimization begins in the preoperative phase and a thoughtful approach to intraprofessional communication and evidence‐based practice is rewarded with improved outcomes.

The teamwork structure, process, and context of a paediatric cardiac surgery team in Mongolia: A mixed-methods approach

Introduction

Effective teamwork in paediatric cardiac surgery is known to improve team performance and surgical outcomes. However, teamwork in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs), including Mongolia, is understudied. We examined multiple dimensions of teamwork to inform a team‐based training programme to strengthen paediatric cardiac surgical care in Mongolia.

Methods

We used a mixed‐methods approach, combining social network analysis and in‐depth interviews with medical staff, to explore the structure, process, quality, and context of teamwork at a single medical centre. We conceptualised the team's structure based on communication frequency among the members (n = 24) and explored the process, quality, and context of teamwork via in‐depth interviews with select medical staff (n = 9).

Results

The team structure was highly dense and decentralised, but the intensive care unit nurses showed high betweenness‐centrality. In the quality and process domain of teamwork, we did not find a regular joint decision‐making process, leading to the absence of common goals among the team members. Although role assignment among the medical staff was explicit, those strictly defined roles hindered active communication about patient information and responsibility‐sharing. Most interviewees did not agree with the organisational policies that limited discussions among team members; therefore, medical staff continued to share training and work experiences with each other, leading to strong and trustworthy relationships.

Conclusion

The findings of this study underscore the importance of well‐structured and goal‐oriented communication between medical staff, as well as the management of the quality of collaboration within a team to increase teamwork effectiveness in paediatric cardiac surgery teams in LMICs.

Team‐based training interventions have been feasible and effective in low‐ and middle‐income countries.

Although ICU nurses are a central part of the paediatric cardiac surgery care team, there are no formal post‐operative or training activities that can facilitate the joint decision‐making and common goal‐sharing process.

Resource sharing, clear role assignment, and conflict resolution rules are lacking and organisational support is key to improving teamwork.

Building trust between hospital administrators and team leadership is needed.

Objective Measures of Surgeon Non-Technical Skills in Surgery: A Scoping Review

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to identify, synthesize, and discuss objective behavioral or physiological metrics of surgeons' nontechnical skills (NTS) in the literature.

BACKGROUND

NTS, or interpersonal or cognitive skills, have been identified to contribute to safe and efficient surgical performance; however, current assessments are subjective, checklist-based tools. Intraoperative skill evaluation, such as technical skills, has been previously utilized as an objective measure to address such limitations.

METHODS

Five databases in engineering, behavioral science, and medicine were searched following PRISMA reporting guidelines. Eligibility criteria included studies with NTS objective measurements, surgeons, and took place within simulated or live operations.

RESULTS

Twenty-three articles were included in this review. Objective metrics included communication metrics and measures from physiological responses such as changes in brain activation and motion of the eye. Frequencies of content-coded communication in surgery were utilized in 16 studies and were associated with not only the communication construct but also cognitive constructs of situation awareness and decision making. This indicates the underlying importance of communication in evaluating the NTS constructs. To synthesize the scoped literature, a framework based on the one-way communication model was used to map the objective measures to NTS constructs.

CONCLUSION

Objective NTS measurement of surgeons is still preliminary, and future work on leveraging objective metrics in parallel with current assessment tools is needed.

APPLICATION

Findings from this work identify objective NTS metrics for measurement applications in a surgical environment.

Widening how we see the impact of culture on learning, practice and identity development in clinical environments

As part of this State of the Science series on Self, Society and Situation, we focus on how we might see the situation of the workplace as a learning environment in the future. Research to date into how health professionals learn while working in clinical workplace environments has mostly focused on the supervisor-trainee relationship or on the interaction between the affordances of a workplace and the receptiveness of trainees. However, the wider environment has not received as much focus-though frequently mentioned, it is seldom investigated. We suggest there is a need to embrace the wider institution factors, recognise and acknowledge an organisation's values and culture as they impact on clinical learning in order to work with these, not around them or ignore them, to make what may be tacit visible through reflection and observation and to embrace a range of perspectives on culture.

Human factors affecting intraoperative patient safety

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

This review addresses the importance of some of the human factors for intraoperative patient safety with particular focus on the active failures. These are the mishaps or sentinel events related to decisons taken and actions performed by the individual at the delivery end of a system. Such sentinel events may greatly affect intraoperative patient safety.

RECENT FINDINGS

Intimidating, aggressive and disruptive communication is a cause of adverse staff interaction, which may then represent an important patient safety threat. Also, anaesthesiologist's physical and mental state and limitations may interfere with patient safety.

SUMMARY

The concept of physician well being is multidimensional and includes factors related to each physician as an individual as well as to the working environment. Creating optimal safe conditions for patients, therefore, requires actions at both the personal level and the working conditions. Also, initiatives to ban rude and dismissive communication should be implemented in order to further improve intraoperative patient safety.

Honesty and Transparency, Indispensable to the Clinical Mission-Part I: How Tiered Professionalism Interventions Support Teamwork and Prevent Adverse Events

At the foundation of clinical medicine is the relationship among patients, families, and health care professionals. Implicit to that social contract, professionals pledge to bring clinical excellence to advance their patients' wellness and healing-and to prevent harm. Patients trust that those privileged to deliver care will do so unwaveringly in service of patients' best interests; however, the incentives and infrastructure surrounding health care delivery can promote or undermine individual performance, teamwork, and patient safety. Modeling professionalism and identifying slips and lapses supports pursuit of high reliability. Part 1, Promoting Professionalism, introduces the first of 3 pillars of advancing the clinical mission.

Influence of hierarchy on risk communication during robot-assisted surgery: a preliminary study

INTRODUCTION

A hierarchical structure is where all individuals are organized according to importance and are subordinate to a single person. In the operating room (OR), this structure may negatively impact the quality of communication and jeopardize patient safety. We examined how the surgical team's hierarchical relationships affect the frequency and timing of risk communication, and their influence on situational awareness (SA) in the OR.

METHODS

Overhead cameras and lapel microphones were used to record the OR environment. Recordings and transcriptions of 10 robot-assisted prostatectomies were examined for risk utterances among team members. Utterances were classified by sender-recipient exchange, timing (determined by phrasing to be proactive or reactive to an error/negative event), and the Oxford Non-Technical Skills (NOTECHS) SA score. Surgeon's and trainee surgeon's utterances were classified by their on-console status. Chi-square tests were used to determine associations between dependent factors, and ANOVAs were used to evaluate the effect of hierarchy and timing on NOTECHS score.

RESULTS

Of 4,583 examined utterances, 329 (7%) were risk-related. There was no significant difference in utterance frequency based on hierarchical status of sender and recipient (p = 0.16). Utterances made by the surgeon or trainee surgeon had higher NOTECHS scores when off versus on the console (scores: 1.8 vs 2.4, p < 0.01). These utterances were more reactive on the console (32%) and proactive off the console (28%). Proactive utterances had higher NOTECHS scores than reactive utterances (scores: 2.5 vs 1.8, p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

The surgical hierarchy significantly impacted the frequency of risk communication within the OR. Timing and on-console status further influenced the efficacy of risk communication.

Prevalence of incivility between ophthalmology and emergency medicine residents during interdepartmental consultations

OBJECTIVES

Since incivility is linked to adverse effects in patient care and health care worker well-being, evaluation of the prevalence of incivility during the formative years of residency training is warranted. The aim of this study was to determine the perceived presence and degree of incivility between emergency medicine (EM) and ophthalmology residents during emergency department (ED) consultations.

METHODS

We conducted a single-site, survey-based study, targeted to ophthalmology and EM residents. The survey we distributed included questions adapted from validated and widely used surveys measuring incivility in the workplace (Workplace Incivility Scale) and incivility within the ED.

RESULTS

Ophthalmology (13/15, 86.7%) and EM (42/48, 87.5%) residents participated, with an overall response rate of 55 of 63 (87.3%). Most residents (47/55, 85.5%) reported some degree of incivility during consultations, with a greater proportion of females reporting incivility (100%) than males (77.4%, p = 0.033). A total of 52.7% of respondents reported occurrence of incivility on a quarterly basis; 21.8% reported monthly, 10.9% weekly, and none daily. Incivilities were reported most commonly during nonurgent consults (85.5%). The two most common incivilities reported by trainees were when the other party paid little attention to their statements or opinions (80% of residents) or doubted their professional judgment (74.5% of residents). More female trainees reported jokes being told at their expense compared to males (15.8% vs. 0%, p = 0.049). Residents most often attributed incivility to stress (78.2%), loss of empathy/burnout (63.6%), or attempts to shift responsibility to another party (60.0%). Among EM residents surveyed, incivility was identified as occurring most often during consultations with surgical specialties.

CONCLUSIONS

Incivility during interdepartmental consultations between EM and ophthalmology is commonly reported by physicians-in-training. It occurs more often during consultations deemed as nonurgent and is more commonly reported by females. Given its associations with adverse outcomes, interventions to decrease incivility early in training may be warranted.

The impact of power on health care team performance and patient safety: a review of the literature

Communication failure within health care teams is a major cause of patient harm across health care settings. Factors which contribute to communication failure include actual or perceived 'power'. Whilst a great deal of ergonomics research has focussed on teamwork in health care, the role of power in relation to measurable patient safety and performance outcomes remains relatively unknown. This article presents the findings from a review of the literature on power within multidisciplinary health care team settings. Following a systematic literature search, nineteen studies were evaluated in terms of research design, methods and analyses across the included studies. The main impacts resulting from power imbalances include negative effects on team collaboration, decision-making, communication and overall performance. Wider patient safety research, and more specifically the ergonomics discipline, is encouraged to address the complex interplay between power and teamwork in the health care sector.Practitioner Statement: We conducted a review of studies focussed on the influence of power on teamwork in health care. The findings show that power can have negative impacts on collaboration, decision-making, communication, and team performance. We conclude that power represents an important area for ergonomics, both in health care and other settings.Abbreviations: CRM: crew resource management; TEM: threat and error management; SNA: social network analysis; EAST: event analysis of systemic teamwork.

Recognizing the Role of Language in the Hidden Curriculum of Undergraduate Medical Education: Implications for Equity in Medical Training

Medical education involves a transition from "outsider" to "insider" status, which entails both rigorous formal training and an inculturation of values and norms via a hidden curriculum. Within this transition, the ability to "talk the talk" designates an individual as an insider, and learning to talk this talk is a key component of professional socialization. This Article uses the framework of "patterns of medical language" to explore the role of language in the hidden curriculum of medical education, exploring how students must learn to recognize and participate fluently within patterns of medical language to be acknowledged and evaluated as competent trainees. The authors illustrate this by reframing the Association of American Medical Colleges' Core Entrustable Professional Activities for Entering Residency as a series of overlapping patterns of medical language that students are expected to master before residency. The authors propose that many of these patterns of medical language are learned through trial and error, taught via a hidden curriculum rather than through explicit instruction. Medical students come from increasingly diverse backgrounds and therefore begin medical training further from or closer to insider status. Thus, evaluative practices based on patterns of medical language, which are not explicitly taught, may exacerbate and perpetuate existing inequities in medical education. This Article aims to bring awareness to the importance of medical language within the hidden curriculum of medical education, to the role of medical language as a marker of insider status, and to the centrality of medical language in evaluative practices. The authors conclude by offering possible approaches to ameliorate the inequities that may exist due to current evaluative practices.

Human performance in three-hands tasks

The successful completion of complex tasks like hanging a picture or laparoscopic surgery requires coordinated motion of more than two limbs. User-controlled supernumerary robotic limbs (SL) have been proposed to bypass the need for coordination with a partner in such tasks. However, neither the capability to control multiple limbs alone relative to collaborative control with partners, nor how that capability varies across different tasks, is well understood. In this work, we present an investigation of tasks requiring three-hands where the foot was used as an additional source of motor commands. We considered: (1) how does simultaneous control of three hands compare to a cooperating dyad; (2) how this relative performance was altered by the existence of constraints emanating from real or virtual physical connections (mechanical constraints) or from cognitive limits (cognitive constraints). It was found that a cooperating dyad outperformed a single user in all scenarios in terms of task score, path efficiency and motion smoothness. However, while the participants were able to reach more targets with increasing mechanical constraints/decreasing number of simultaneous goals, the relative difference in performance between a dyad and a participant performing trimanual activities decreased, suggesting further potential for SLs in this class of scenario.

A narrative synthesis of learners' experiences of barriers and facilitators related to effective interprofessional simulation

Interprofessional simulation has been linked to improved self-efficacy, communication, knowledge and teamwork skills in healthcare teams. However, there are few studies that synthesize learners' perceptions of interprofessional simulation-based approaches and barriers or facilitators they encounter in such learning approaches. The aim of this review was to explore these issues through synthesis of the published literature on healthcare staff engaging in interprofessional simulation to inform enhancement of instructional design processes. Searches of four major databases resulted in the retrieval of 2,727 studies. Following screening and full-text review, a total of 13 studies were included in the final review and deductive content analysis was used to collate the findings, which were then synthesized using a narrative approach. Three categories of barriers and facilitators were identified: characteristics of the simulation learning process, outcomes of interprofessional simulation, and interprofessional dynamics. Related to the latter, the findings indicate the instructional design of interprofessional simulation-based approaches may benefit from a greater focus on the context of healthcare teams that prioritizes teamwork. Furthermore, greater emphasis on designing realistic clinical situations promotes effectiveness of simulation. It is important to recognize the perspectives of healthcare team members engaging in these learning approaches and how they may affect clinical performance and influence patient outcomes.

Toward the Development of the Perfect Medical Team: Critical Components for Adaptation

OBJECTIVE

Medical teams play a vital role in the delivery of safe and effective patient care. Toward the goal of becoming a high-reliability health system, the authors posit that the "perfect" medical team is one that develops their attitudes, behaviors, and cognitions (ABCs) to facilitate adaptation.

METHODS

The authors synthesized the literature (frameworks, measures, and conceptual models) on teamwork in healthcare (k = 161) to develop an evidence-based model of ABCs, which current evidence suggests, are requisite for medical team adaptation. Clinical vignettes were garnered from the media and other sources to illustrate how these ABCs-or failure in using these ABCs-can lead to positive or negative events in healthcare.

RESULTS

The resulting model contains the most frequently included ABCs in healthcare teamwork models, measures, and frameworks: psychological safety (41, 25.5%), situation assessment (66, 41.0%), shared mental models (56, 34.8%), team leadership behaviors (78, 48.4%), role awareness (64, 39.7%), team decision-making (61, 37.9%) and planning (41, 25.5%), conflict management (51, 31.7%), task coordination (71, 44.1%), adaptation (46, 28.6%), and backup behavior (54, 33.5%). The authors posit that communication and organizational conditions-other highly cited components-(141, 87.6%, and 90, 55.9%, respectively) serve as moderators of these relationships.

CONCLUSIONS

The authors argue that each of these ABCs is critical for enhancing team adaptation and subsequently increasing patient safety. A list of practical tools and educational strategies that teams and organizations can use to improve their performance on each of these ABCs is provided.

Varying perceptions of the role of "nurse as teacher" for medical trainees: A qualitative study

INTRODUCTION

The informal curriculum-an essential complement to the formal curriculum-is delivered to medical trainees through learning outside the classroom. We sought to explore nurse-mediated aspects of trainee education in the informal curriculum in obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN), as well as nursing perceptions of their role in medical trainee education.

METHODS

Naturalistic, non-participant observations (40 h) were performed on a tertiary care birthing unit (BU) to document teaching and learning interactions. Insights gleaned from observations informed subsequent semi-structured interviews with BU nurses (n = 10) and focus group discussions with third-year medical students who had completed an OBGYN rotation (n = 10). Thematic analysis was conducted across data sets.

RESULTS

Conceptions of nurse-mediated education differed considerably between nurses and trainees. Nurses were widely acknowledged as gatekeepers and patient advocates by both groups, although this role was sometimes perceived by trainees as impacting on learning. Interest and engagement were noted as mediators of teaching, with enhanced access to educational opportunities reported by trainees who modelled openness and enthusiasm for learning. Nurse-driven education was frequently tailored to the learner's level, with nurses feeling well positioned to share procedural knowledge or hard skills, soft skills (i.e. bedside manners), and clinical insights gained from bedside practice.

DISCUSSION

Nurses are instrumental in the education of medical trainees; however, divergence was noted in how this role is enacted in practice. Given the valuable teaching resource BU nurses present, more emphasis should be placed on interprofessional co-learning and the actualization of this role within the informal curriculum.

SAVE 2.0: Identifying and strengthening resident leadership skills through simulation based team training

BACKGROUND

The "Surgery for Abdomino-thoracic ViolencE (SAVE)" animate lab engages surgical residents in the management of penetrating injuries in a team setting. Senior residents, representing postgraduate year (PGY) 3-5, assume the role of team leader and facilitate the junior residents, PGY1-2, in operative management of simulated penetrating wounds. Residents completed five scenarios with increasing level of difficulty within set time limits. Senior residents were evaluated on their team's ability to "SAVE" their patient within the time allotted, as well as their communication and leadership skills.

METHODS

General, vascular, urology, and plastic surgery residents (n = 79) were divided into 25 teams of three to four residents by "resident scores" (R scores, the sum of the team members' PGY) to create balanced teams with comparable years of clinical experience. Residents completed assessments of their senior resident's leadership ability and style.

RESULTS

Evaluation of a resident's desired learning style changed across PGY with junior residents preferring more hands-on guidance compared with senior residents preferring only verbal correction. Resident leadership evaluations demonstrated that team leaders of varied resident years achieved the highest scores. Greater differences in the mismatch between autonomy provided to and desired by junior residents correlated to greater junior resident discomfort in expressing their opinion, confidence, and leadership ratings of senior residents. However, greater autonomy mismatch also correlated to more rapid time to task completion.

CONCLUSION

Different from our expectations, clinical experience alone did not define team leader success. Leadership is a powerful influence on the outcome of team performance and may be a skill, which can transcend overall clinical experience. A match between desired and provided resident autonomy and team cohesion may demonstrate a stronger effect on team success in stressful operative situations, such as trauma resuscitation. Enhancement of leadership skills early in residency training may represent an important focus for trauma surgery education.

Episodes of strain experienced in the operating room: impact of the type of surgery, the profession and the phase of the operation

Background

Strain episodes, defined as phases of higher workload, stress or negative emotions, occur everyday in the operating room (OR). Accurate knowledge of when strain is most intense for the different OR team members is imperative for developing appropriate interventions. The primary goal of the study was to investigate temporal patterns of strain across surgical phases for different professionals working in the OR, for different types of operations.

Methods

We developed a guided recall method to assess the experience of strain from the perspective of operating room (OR) team members. The guided recall was completed by surgeons, residents, anesthesiologists, circulating nurses and scrub technicians immediately after 113 operations, performed in 5 departments of one hospital in North America. We also conducted interviews with 16 surgeons on strain moments during their specific operation types. Strain experiences were related to surgical phases and compared across different operation types separately for each profession in the OR.

Results

We analyzed 693 guided recalls. General linear modeling (GLM) showed that strain varied across the phases of the operations (defined as before incision, first third, middle third and last third) [quadratic (F = 47.85, p < 0.001) and cubic (F = 8.94, p = 0.003) effects]. Phases of operations varied across professional groups [linear (F = 4.14, p = 0.001) and quadratic (F = 14.28, p < 0.001) effects] and surgery types [only cubic effects (F = 4.92, p = 0.001)]. Overall strain was similar across surgery types (F = 1.27, p = 0.28). Surgeons reported generally more strain episodes during the first and second third of the operations; except in vascular operations, where no phase was associated with significantly higher strain levels, and emergency/trauma surgery, where strain episodes occurred primarily during the first third of the operation. Other professional groups showed different strain time patterns.

Conclusions

Members of the OR teams experience strain differently across the phases of an operation. Thus, phases with high concentration requirements may highly vary across OR team members and no single phase of an operation can be defined as a “sterile cockpit” phase for all team members.

The flip side of speaking up: a new model to facilitate positive responses to speaking up in the operating theatre

BACKGROUND

Speaking up is important for patient safety, but only if the concern raised is acknowledged and responded to appropriately. While the power to change the course of events rests with those in charge, research has focussed on supporting those in subordinate positions to speak up. We propose responsibility also rests with senior clinical staff to respond appropriately. We explored the perceptions of senior staff on being spoken up to in the operating theatre (OT), and factors moderating their response.

METHODS

We undertook interviews and focus groups of fully qualified surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses, and anaesthetic technicians working in OTs across New Zealand. We used grounded theory to analyse and interpret the data.

RESULTS

With data from 79 participants, we conceptualise three phases in the speaking up interaction: 1) the content of the speaker's message and the tone of delivery; 2) the message interpreted through the receiver's filters, including beliefs on personal fallibility and leadership, respect for the speaker, understanding the challenges of speaking up, and personal cultural and professional norms around communication; and 3) the receiver's subsequent response and its effects on the speaker, the observing OT staff, and patient care.

CONCLUSIONS

The speaking up interaction can be high stakes for the whole OT team. The receiver response can strengthen team cohesion and function, or cause distress and tension. Our grounded theory uncovers multiple influences on this interaction, with potential for re-framing and optimising the speaker/receiver interaction to improve team function and patient safety.

Perioperative nurses' experiences in relation to surgical patient safety: A qualitative study

Surgical patient safety remains a concern worldwide as, despite World Health Organization recommendations and implementation of its Surgical Safety Checklist, adverse events continue to occur. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the views and experiences of perioperative nurses regarding the factors that impact surgical patient safety. Data were collected through five focus groups involving a total of 50 perioperative nurses recruited from four public hospitals in Spain. Content analysis of the focus groups yielded four main themes: personal qualities of the perioperative nurse, the surgical environment, safety culture, and perioperative nursing care plans. One of the main findings concerned barriers to the exercise of leadership by nurses, especially regarding completion of the Surgical Safety Checklist. Some of the key factors that impacted the ability of perioperative nurses to fulfil their duties and ensure patient safety were the stress associated with working in the operating room, time pressures, and ineffective communication in the multidisciplinary team. Targeting these aspects through training initiatives could contribute to the professional development of perioperative nurses and reduce the incidence of adverse events by enhancing the surgical safety culture.

Evaluation of a Ten-Year Team-Based Collaborative Capacity-Building Program for Pediatric Cardiac Surgery in Uzbekistan: Lessons and Implications

Background

Most children who have congenital heart disease in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including Uzbekistan, do not receive adequate and timely pediatric cardiac surgical care. To strengthen the surgical capacity of a local pediatric cardiac surgery team in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the JW LEE Center for Global Medicine at Seoul National University College of Medicine has developed a team-based training program and has been collaboratively conducting surgeries and care in order to transfer on-site knowledge and skills from 2009 to 2019.

Objectives

To evaluate the long-term effects of the collaborative program on the cardiac surgical capacity of medical staff (teamwork, surgical complexity, and patients' pre-surgical weights) as well as changes in the lives of the patients and their families. To derive lessons and challenges for other pediatric cardiac surgical programs in LMICs.

Methods

To assess the effects of this ten-year long program, a mixed-methods design was developed to examine the trend of surgical complexity measured by Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery 1 score (RACHS-1) and patients' pre-surgical weights via medical record review (surgical cases: n = 107) during the decade. Qualitative data was analyzed from in-depth interviews (n = 31) with Uzbek and Korean medical staff (n = 10; n = 4) and caregivers (n = 17).

Findings

During the decade, the average RACHS-1 of the cases increased from 1.9 in 2010 to 2.78 in 2019. The average weight of patients decreased by 2.8 kg from 13 kg to 10.2 kg during the decade. Qualitative findings show that the surgical capacity, as well as attitudes toward patients and colleagues of the Uzbek medical staff, improved through the effective collaboration between the Uzbek and Korean teams. Changes in the lives of patients and their families were also found following successful surgery.

Conclusions

Team-based training of the workforce in Uzbekistan was effective in improving the surgical skills, teamwork, and attitudes of medical staff, in addition, a positive impact on the life of patients and their families was demonstrated. It can be an effective solution to facilitate improvements in pediatric cardiovascular disease in LMICs if training is sustained over a long period.

An observational study of distractions in the operating theatre

Several studies have reported on the negative impact of interruptions and distractions on anaesthetic, surgical and team performance in the operating theatre. This study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of these events and why they remain part of everyday clinical practice. We used a mixed methods observational study design. We scored each distractor and interruption according to an established scheme during induction of anaesthesia and the surgical procedure for 58 general surgical cases requiring general anaesthesia. We made field notes of observations, small conversations and meetings. We observed 64 members of staff for 148 hours and recorded 4594 events, giving a mean (SD) event rate of 32.8 (16.3) h^‐1. The most frequent events observed during induction of anaesthesia were door movements, which accounted for 869 (63%) events, giving a mean (SD) event rate of 28.1 (14.5) h^‐1. These, however, had little impact. The most common events observed during surgery were case‐irrelevant verbal communication and smartphone usage, which accounted for 1020 (32%) events, giving a mean (SD) event rate of 9.0 (4.2) h^‐1. These occurred mostly in periods of low work‐load in a sub‐team. Participants ranged from experiencing these events as severe disruption through to a welcome distraction that served to keep healthcare professionals active during low work‐load, as well as reinforcing the social connections between colleagues. Mostly, team members showed no awareness of the need for silence among other sub‐teams and did not vocalise the need for silence to others. Case‐irrelevant verbal communication and smartphone usage may serve a physical and psychological need. The extent to which healthcare professionals may feel disrupted depends on the situation and context. When a team member was disrupted, a resilient team response often lacked. Reducing disruptive social activity might be a powerful strategy to develop a habit of cross‐monitoring and mutual help across surgical and anaesthetic sub‐teams. Further research is needed on how to bridge cultural borders and develop resilient interprofessional behaviours.

Predictors and triggers of incivility within healthcare teams: a systematic review of the literature

OBJECTIVES

To explore predictors and triggers of incivility in medical teams, defined as behaviours that violate norms of respect but whose intent to harm is ambiguous.

DESIGN

Systematic literature review of quantitative and qualitative empirical studies.

DATA SOURCES

Database searches according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guideline in Medline, CINHAL, PsychInfo, Web of Science and Embase up to January 2020.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Original empirical quantitative and qualitative studies focusing on predictors and triggers of incivilities in hospital healthcare teams, excluding psychiatric care.

DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS

Of the 1397 publications screened, 53 were included (44 quantitative and 9 qualitative studies); publication date ranged from 2002 to January 2020.

RESULTS

Based on the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI) scores, the quality of the quantitative studies were relatively low overall (mean MERSQI score of 9.93), but quality of studies increased with publication year (r=0.52; p<0.001). Initiators of incivility were consistently described as having a difficult personality, yet few studies investigated their other characteristics and motivations. Results were mostly inconsistent regarding individual characteristics of targets of incivilities (eg, age, gender, ethnicity), but less experienced healthcare professionals were more exposed to incivility. In most studies, participants reported experiencing incivilities mainly within their own professional discipline (eg, nurse to nurse) rather than across disciplines (eg, physician to nurse). Evidence of specific medical specialties particularly affected by incivility was poor, with surgery as one of the most cited uncivil specialties. Finally, situational and cultural predictors of higher incivility levels included high workload, communication or coordination issues, patient safety concerns, lack of support and poor leadership.

CONCLUSIONS

Although a wide range of predictors and triggers of incivilities are reported in the literature, identifying characteristics of initiators and the targets of incivilities yielded inconsistent results. The use of diverse and high-quality methods is needed to explore the dynamic nature of situational and cultural triggers of incivility.

Operating Room Culture and Interprofessional Relations: Impact on Nurse's Retention

The purpose of this article is to describe interprofessional relations in order to better understand their impact on nurse retention, while considering the operating room culture and its specific context. A focused ethnography was performed between September and October 2017 at a university hospital in an urban center in the province of Quebec, Canada. This was a secondary analysis of 11 nurses' semistructured one-on-one interviews. Additional data were collected through 6 days of observations, informal conversations, field notes, and a journal. A thematic analysis followed. Interprofessional relations and the need for recognition are important for nurse retention. In addition, a nurse's personality appears to be an important aspect in the complex and specific context of the operating room. Nurse retention in the operating room is multifactoral, and like the need for recognition, interprofessional relations are important issues. Interventions to improve working relationships, recognition of nurses, and consideration of a nurse's personality during hiring appear to be promising avenues for improving retention in the operating room.

Understanding decision-making in interprofessional team meetings through interpretative repertoires and discursive devices

Health practitioners of the geriatrics ward in a teaching hospital participate in interprofessional team meetings to agree on treatment and discharge care plans for their patients suffering from chronic illnesses and co-morbidities and in need of coordinated assessments and care. We turn to the ideas in critical discursive psychology to grow a much-needed research area of examining the language-in-use and its effects in team decision-making. Specifically we explore how healthcare team members use language to perform collaboration or disengagement, creating different subject positionings for themselves and others out of a backcloth of discursive resources and practices. We observed and transcribed 108 case discussions and analyzed them for interpretative repertoires and discursive devices. During the first half of the team discussions, the members of various health professions employed the empiricist and lifeworld interpretative repertoires and the discursive strategy of perspective-taking, articulating these through formulations and questions. We use the notion of argumentative texture to better understand why an administrative structural support like protected turn-taking in team meetings is not enough to promote interprofessional collaboration. We conclude that health practitioners can improve their contributions and subject positionings at team meetings and consequently patient-care, by identifying habitually deployed linguistic resources depicting professional knowledge, and augmenting these with Other-oriented perspectives in their repertoires. By expanding their range of discursive repertoires and recognizing that discursive practices are embedded in the bigger context or argumentative texture of institutional and societal discourses, norms, values, beliefs and practices, interprofessional teams can work to improve communication and knowledge-sharing.

Evaluation of the effect of multidisciplinary simulation-based team training on patients, staff and organisations: protocol for a stepped-wedge cluster-mixed methods study of a national, insurer-funded initiative for surgical teams in New Zealand public hospitals

INTRODUCTION

NetworkZ is a national, insurer-funded multidisciplinary simulation-based team-training programme for all New Zealand surgical teams. NetworkZ is delivered in situ, using full-body commercial simulators integrated with bespoke surgical models. Rolled out nationally over 4 years, the programme builds local capacity through instructor training and provision of simulation resources. We aim to improve surgical patient outcomes by improving teamwork through regular simulation-based multidisciplinary training in all New Zealand hospitals.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

Our primary hypothesis is that surgical patient outcomes will improve following NetworkZ. Our secondary hypotheses are that teamwork processes will improve, and treatment injury claims will decline. In addition, we will explore factors that influence implementation and sustainability of NetworkZ and identify organisational changes following its introduction. The study uses a stepped-wedge cluster design. The intervention will roll out at yearly intervals to four cohorts of five District Health Boards. Allocation to cohort was purposive for year 1, and subsequently randomised. The primary outcome measure is Days Alive and Out of Hospital at 90 days using patient data from an existing national administrative database. Secondary outcomes measures will include analysis of postoperative complications and treatment injury claims, surveys of teamwork and safety culture, in-theatre observations and stakeholder interviews.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

We believe this is the first surgical team training intervention to be implemented on a national scale, and a unique opportunity to evaluate a nation-wide team-training intervention for healthcare teams. By using a pre-existing large administrative data set, we have the potential to demonstrate a difference to surgical patient outcomes. This will be of interest to those working in the field of healthcare teamwork, quality improvement and patient safety. New Zealand Health and Disability Ethic Committee approval (#16/NTB/143).

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ID ACTRN12617000017325 and the Universal Trial Number is U1111-1189-3992.

A Practical Approach to Artificial Intelligence in Plastic Surgery

Understanding the intersection of technology and plastic surgery has been and will be essential to positioning plastic surgeons at the forefront of surgical innovation. This account of the current and future applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in reconstructive and aesthetic surgery introduces us to the subset of issues amenable to support from this technology. It equips plastic surgeons with the knowledge to navigate technical conversations with peers, trainees, patients, and technical partners for collaboration and to usher in a new era of technology in plastic surgery. From the mathematical basis of AI to its commercially viable applications, topics introduced herein constitute a framework for design and execution of quantitative studies that will better outcomes and benefit patients. Finally, adherence to the principles of quality data collection will leverage and amplify plastic surgeons’ creativity and undoubtedly drive the field forward.

Nurses’ voice: the role of hierarchy and leadership

Purpose

Voicing concerns and suggestions is crucial for preventing medical errors and improving patient safety. Research suggests that hierarchy in health-care teams impair open communication. Hierarchy, however, can vary with changing team composition, particularly during acute care situations where more senior persons join the team later on. The purpose of this study is to investigate how changes in hierarchy and leadership were associated with nurses’ voice frequency and nurses’ time to voice during simulated acute care situations.

Design/methodology/approach

This study’s sample consisted of 78 health-care providers (i.e. nurses, residents and consultants) who worked in 39 teams performing complex clinical scenarios in the context of interprofessional, simulation-based team training. Scenarios were videotaped and communication behaviour was coded using a systematic coding scheme. To test the hypotheses, multilevel regression analyses were conducted.

Findings

Hierarchy and leadership had no significant effect on nurses’ voice frequency. However, there were significant relationships between nurses’ time to voice and both hierarchy (γ = 30.00, p = 0.002; 95 per cent confidence interval [CI] = 12.43; 47.92) as well as leadership (γ = 0.30, p = 0.001; 95 per cent CI = 0.12; 0.47). These findings indicate that when more physicians are present and leadership is more centralised, more time passes until the first nurses’ voice occurred.

Originality/value

This study specifies previous findings on the relationships between hierarchy, leadership and nurses’ voice. Our findings suggest that stronger hierarchy and more centralised leadership delay nurses’ voice but do not affect the overall frequency of voice.

"Disruptive behavior" in the operating room: A prospective observational study of triggers and effects of tense communication episodes in surgical teams

BACKGROUND

Tense communication and disruptive behaviors during surgery have often been attributed to surgeons' personality or hierarchies, while situational triggers for tense communication were neglected. Goals of this study were to assess situational triggers of tense communication in the operating room and to assess its impact on collaboration quality within the surgical team.

METHODS AND FINDINGS

The prospective observational study was performed in two university hospitals in Europe. Trained external observers assessed communication in 137 elective abdominal operations led by 30 different main surgeons. Objective observations were related to perceived collaboration quality by all members of the surgical team. A total of 340 tense communication episodes were observed (= 0.57 per hour); mean tensions in surgeries with tensions was 1.21 per hour. Individual surgeons accounted for 24% of the variation in tensions, while situational aspects accounted for 76% of variation. A total of 72% of tensions were triggered by coordination problems; 21.2% by task-related problems and 9.1% by other issues. More tensions were related to lower perceived teamwork quality for all team members except main surgeons. Coordination-triggered tensions significantly lowered teamwork quality for second surgeons, scrub technicians and circulators.

CONCLUSIONS

Although individual surgeons differ in their tense communication, situational aspects during the operation had a much more important influence on the occurrence of tensions, mostly triggered by coordination problems. Because tensions negatively impact team collaboration, surgical teams may profit from improving collaboration, for instance through training, or through reflexivity.

Association of a Lean Surgical Plan of the Day With Reduced Operating Room Time for Head and Neck Free Flap Reconstruction

Importance

Inefficiency in the operating room (OR) is detrimental to the patient, the hospital, and the surgeon. Head and neck procedures requiring microvascular reconstruction are complex, lengthy operations in which prolonged operative time is associated with higher complication rates and increased costs.

Objective

To use Lean methodology to identify potential OR efficiency improvement opportunities for head and neck surgical cases involving free tissue transfer, to implement an intervention, the free flap plan of the day, and to evaluate OR times after implementation.

Design, Setting, and Participants

Phase 1: In 2015, with the assistance of the Lean Promotion Office at our institution, a tertiary academic medical center, we identified efficiency-improvement opportunities for 10 patients undergoing free flap reconstruction. Phase 2: A single intervention, the free flap plan of the day, was implemented on February 1, 2016. A retrospective medical record review of head and neck free flap reconstructions beginning 2 years before the implementation of the intervention and ending 2 years after the intervention was performed from February 1, 2014 until February 1, 2018 to analyze OR times, cost, and complications. Mean OR times were compared using the t test.

Main Outcomes and Measures

In-room-to-incision time and total OR time.

Results

Phase 1: The surgical procedures of 10 patients undergoing free flap reconstruction were observed by Lean specialists, and a time study with a process map was completed. Using this framework, major opportunities for decreasing intraoperative time waste were identified. Multiple communication breakdowns were seen to drive intraoperative time waste; therefore, a free flap plan of the day was created to improve communication between team members. Phase 2: 200 patients were included in the study and were categorized into 2 groups, no plan group (n = 104) and plan group (n = 96), based on whether the plan of the day was used or not. The age and sex distributions of the study participants were not collected. Mean in-room-to-incision time was 54.3 minutes for the no plan group and 47.2 minutes for the plan group (difference, 7.1 minutes; 95% CI, 3.8-10.4 minutes). Mean total OR time was 524.1 minutes for the no plan group and 467.4 minutes for the plan group (difference, 56.7 minutes; 95% CI, 23.6-89.6 minutes).

Conclusions and Relevance

Lean methodology was used to identify efficiency-improvement opportunities for head and neck free flap reconstruction procedures and to design a focused intervention. A free flap plan of the day was used in this study to improve communication between the OR team and was found to improve efficiency and be associated with reduced OR times.

Objective Measures of Communication Behavior Predict Clinical Performance

OBJECTIVE

Effective teamwork and communication are critical to patient outcomes, and subjective assessment tools have been studied in predicting team performances. However, inherent biases remain while using subjective assessment tools. This study hypothesizes that objective communication features can assess and predict clinical performance.

DESIGN

Forty 3rd-year medical students participated in the Acute Care Trauma Simulation as the role of doctor, teaming up with a nurse confederate and a simulated patient. Participants conducted postoperative patient management, patient care diagnoses, and treatment. Audio from all team members were recorded, speech variables (e.g., speech duration, number of conversations, etc.) were extracted, and statistical analyses were performed to associate communication with clinical performance.

SETTING

This study was performed at the simulation center located at Fairbanks Hall, Indiana University School of Medicine.

PARTICIPANTS

Data from forty 3rd-year medical students were collected and analyzed.

RESULTS

Majority (67%) of the communications were initiated by student. Speech ratio, intensity, and frequency of communications differed when students communicate with nurse than with patient (e.g., student communication to patient had higher intensity than nurse). Increasing frequency of check-backs between student and nurse (p < 0.05) and speech duration from student to patient (p = 0.001) positively associated with student's clinical performance score.

CONCLUSION

Objective communication features can predict medical trainee's clinical performance and provide an objective approach for simulation-based trauma care training.

Discordance in Information Exchange Between Providers During Care Transitions for Surgical Patients

BACKGROUND

The exchange of health information between primary care providers (PCPs) and surgeons is critical during transitions of care for older patients with multiple comorbidities; however, it is unknown to what extent this process occurs. This study was designed to characterize the extent to which factors associated with older patient's recovery, such as functional status, cognitive status, social status, and emotional factors, are shared among PCPs and surgical providers during care transitions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We prospectively identified 15 patients aged over 60 y with ≥3 comorbidities referred for general and vascular surgery procedures at a Veterans Administrative and academic medical center. Semistructured Critical Decision Method interviews were conducted with patients along with their surgical providers and referring PCPs. Thematic content analysis was performed independently by five reviewers on the cognitive processes associated with functional status, cognitive status, social status, and emotional factors. Interrater reliability between providers and patients was assessed using Cohen's kappa.

RESULTS

Forty-seven Critical Decision Method interviews were conducted, which included 20 paired interviews between a PCP and a surgeon and 16 paired interviews that involved a patient and a provider. The majority of patients reported experiencing poor information exchange between their PCP and surgeon (58%) and feeling they were primarily responsible for communicating their own health information during care transitions (67%). In paired interviews between PCPs and surgeons, there was nearly perfect agreement for the shared knowledge of cognitive (kappa: 0.83) and emotional (kappa 1) factors. In contrast, there was only minimal agreement for shared knowledge of functional status (kappa 0.38) and social status (kappa: 0.34).

CONCLUSIONS

Information exchange between PCPs and surgical providers is often discordant during transitions of surgical care for medically complex older patients, particularly when it pertains to communicating their functional or social status.