Resource Center

OBJECTIVE: Human factors and teamwork are major contributors to sentinel events. A major limitation to improving human factors and teamwork is the paucity of objective validated measurement tools. Our goal was to develop a brief tool that could be used to objectively evaluate teamwork in the field during short clinical team simulations and in everyday clinical care.

Collaborative practice is receiving increased attention as a model of healthcare delivery that positively influences the effectiveness and efficiency of patient care while improving the work environment of healthcare providers. The collaborative practice assessment tool (CPAT) was developed from the literature to enable interprofessional teams to assess their collaborative practice.

OBJECTIVE: To create and test a reproducible method for measuring emotional climate, surgical team skills, and threats to patient outcome by conducting an observational study to assess the impact of a surgical team skills and communication improvement intervention on these measurements.

DESIGN: Observational study.

SETTING: Operating rooms in a high-volume thoracic surgery center from September 5, 2007, through June 30, 2008.

PARTICIPANTS: Thoracic surgery operating room teams.

AIMS: This article is a report of a study to determine the effect of an educational programme and to follow up weekly meetings on nurses and medical resident's attitudes towards positive communication and collaboration.

BACKGROUND: Improving communication and collaboration among doctors and nurses can improve satisfaction among participants and improve patients' satisfaction and quality of care.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of a multidisciplinary intervention on communication and collaboration among doctors and nurses on an acute inpatient medical unit.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to measure the degree of similarity of attitudes on collaboration between nurses and junior doctors (known as residents in the United States) in the ICU.

BACKGROUND: Existing research shows that nurses and physicians view the amount of teamwork they experience in the ICU differently though the attitudes of junior doctors and critical care nurses on collaboration remain unknown.

Residency training in physical medicine and rehabilitation may not contain a formal curriculum in geriatric patient care. A multidimensional geriatric curriculum to third and fourth year physical medicine and rehabilitation residents was implemented to enhance their knowledge in and attitude toward geriatrics. The curriculum consisted of a 12-wk clinical rotation at various sites of geriatric care including outpatient geriatric clinic, skilled nursing facility, continuing care retirement community, and home visits.

Summary Findings from an exploratory factor analysis on the 21 item 'attitudes towards health care teams' (Heinemann et al. , 1999) are reported. Using data collected as part of an innovative educational program on geriatric team training program in the United States we report an exploratory factor analyses for 913 student trainees. The geriatric interdisciplinary team training (GITT) program funded by a United States philanthropic foundation, The John A. Hartford Foundation of New York City, requires medicine, nursing, and social work students to learn about geriatric teams.

BACKGROUND: The PELICAN Multidisciplinary Team Total Mesorectal Excision (MDT-TME) Development Programme aimed to improve clinical outcomes for rectal cancer by educating colorectal cancer teams in precision surgery and related aspects of multidisciplinary care. The Programme reached almost all colorectal cancer teams across England. We took the opportunity to assess the impact of participating in this novel team-based Development Programme on the working lives of colorectal cancer team members.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a new tool to assess emergency physicians' non-technical skills.