• Jennifer Weller, David Cumin, Jane Torrie, Matthew Boyd, Ian Civil, Dominic Madell, Andrew MacCormick, Nishanthi Gurisinghe, Alexander Garden, Michael Crossan, Wai Leap Ng, Sharee Johnson, Arden Corter, Tracey Lee, Ludvig Selander, Martina Cokorilo, and Alan Forbes Merry.
• Centre for Medical and Health Sciences Education, University of Auckland and Department of Anaesthesia Auckland City Hospital. j.weller@auckland.ac.nz.
• N. Z. Med. J. 2015 Jul 24;128(1418):40-51.

AimsCommunication failures in healthcare are frequent and linked to adverse events and treatment errors. Simulation-based team training has been proposed to address this. We aimed to explore the feasibility of a simulation-based course for all members of the operating room (OR) team, and to evaluate its effectiveness.MethodsMembers of experienced OR teams were invited to participate in three simulated clinical events using an integrated surgical and anesthesia model. We collected information on costs, Behavioural Marker of Risk Index (BMRI) (a measure of team information sharing) and participants' educational gains.ResultsWe successfully recruited 20 full OR teams. Set up costs were NZ$50,000. Running costs per course were NZ$4,000, excluding staff. Most participants rated the course highly. BMRI improved significantly (P = 0.04) and thematic analysis identified educational gains for participants.ConclusionWe demonstrated feasibility of multidisciplinary simulation-based training for surgeons, anesthetists, nurses and anaesthetic technicians. The course showed evidence of participant learning and we obtained useful information on cost. There is considerable potential to extend this type of team-based simulation to improve the performance of OR teams and increase safety for surgical patients.

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