Effect of Structured Briefing Prior to Patient Arrival on Interprofessional Communication and Collaboration in the Trauma Team

Abstract

Purpose: Treating a multiple trauma patient is multidisciplinary team work. The performance of the trauma team is crucial to treating the patients safely and effectively. The fundamentals of the performance are the quality of interprofessional collaboration and the communication inside the team and its efficacy for patients’ safety and team’s well being. This is a prospective interventional study. The aim of this paper was to assess interprofessional collaboration and perceived efficacy inside the trauma team and to evaluate the effects of the implementation of a trauma team briefing tool before the arrival of the patient on perceived teamwork performance. Participants and Methods: The study took place in the emergency department. Participants were members of the trauma team (emergency physicians and nurses). Two validated scales were selected that address interprofessional collaboration and team perceived efficacy: the TEAM survey (revised version) and the Mayo High Performance Teamwork Scale. A detailed and structured team briefing was used. The trauma team filled in the two scales (46 participants). Prior to every multiple trauma patient arrival, the briefing was then implemented for 3 months. At the end of the third month, the two scales were re-administered and the results analysed (31 participants). The main outcome was the variation of proportion of desirable answers. We considered significant only clearly separated confidence intervals (95% CI). Results: All items in the questionnaires had better responses in the second round. In 16 items, the differences found were statistically significant with a 95% confidence interval and p<0.05. The perceived communication and collaboration by healthcare professionals of the trauma team improved with the introduction of the tool. Conclusion: A team briefing prior to the arrival of a multiple trauma patient enhances providers’ self perception of interprofessional collaboration in the management of multiple trauma patients.