Teamwork in surgical specialties: an evaluation

Abstract

Background/Aims Teamwork is the cornerstone of patient safety, with effective communication being essential for producing fewer complications during a patient's stay in hospital. In 2018, The Royal College of Surgeons of England published ‘The High Performing Surgical Team’, which outlined the components of a high-functioning team broken down into seven attributes: individual, team, trust, conflict resolution, commitment to task, accountability and results. This study evaluated teamwork among surgical specialties in a single centre. Methods Team members completed a survey consisting of seven sections, based on the Royal College of Surgeons of England components of teamworking, scoring statements using a 4-point Likert scale. Respondents included surgical doctors (interns, residents, registrars, fellows and consultants) and nurses (ward and theatre) from 12 surgical teams. Sections with 20% of more negative answers were considered to indicate a significant negative team attribute in that area of teamworking. Results Of the 108 respondents, 73 (67.6%) doctors and 35 (35.4%) nurses noted negative team attributes across all staff grades in at least two of the seven attributes (accountability and results), except registrars, who had one (accountability) of the seven negative attributes. Interns were reported as having negative attributes in four of the attributes (conflict resolution, commitment to task, accountability and results), while residents had negative attributes in three area (commitment to task, accountability and results). Conclusions The more junior the member of the team, the more likely they are to have negative teamworking attributes. Further evaluation would be of use to investigate whether these results are generalisable to other cohorts and to provide opportunities to improve teamwork and, therefore, patient care.