Insights into participant’s experiences in multidisciplinary medical trauma simulation-based team training

Abstract

A transformational culture change is needed in healthcare to reduce the number of preventable medical errors resulting in patient injuries and deaths in U.S. hospitals each year. Although multidisciplinary team training is a high priority for healthcare professionals seeking to improve communication and collaboration, very few healthcare professions’ staff development programs integrate teamwork principles in their programs and few offer opportunities to practice the necessary technical and nontechnical skills that are needed for efficient communication and teamwork. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to better understand the experiences of multidisciplinary medical trauma Simulation-Based Teamwork Training (SBTT) and debriefing. The insights have important organizational implications for training of healthcare teams and patient safety implications. SBTT and debriefing, specifically to train teamwork and communication skills, are powerful methods to increase safety and effectiveness in healthcare. Keywords: crew resource management (CRM), debriefing, simulation-based-training, teamwork, teamwork