• Jennifer M Weller, David Cumin, Ian D Civil, Jane Torrie, Alexander Garden, Andrew D MacCormick, Nishanthi Gurusinghe, Matthew J Boyd, Christopher Frampton, Martina Cokorilo, Magnus Tranvik, Lisa Carlsson, Tracey Lee, Wai Leap Ng, Michael Crossan, and Alan F Merry.
• Associate Professor and Head of Centre for Medical and Health Sciences Education, University of Auckland and Anesthesiologist, Auckland City Hospital, New Zealand.
• N. Z. Med. J. 2016 Aug 5; 129 (1439): 59-67.

AimsWe ran a Multidisciplinary Operating Room Simulation (MORSim) course for 20 complete general surgical teams from two large metropolitan hospitals. Our goal was to improve teamwork and communication in the operating room (OR). We hypothesised that scores for teamwork and communication in the OR would improve back in the workplace following MORSim. We used an extended Behavioural Marker Risk Index (BMRI) to measure teamwork and communication, because a relationship has previously been documented between BMRI scores and surgical patient outcomes.MethodsTrained observers scored general surgical teams in the OR at the two study hospitals before and after MORSim, using the BMRI.ResultsAnalysis of BMRI scores for the 224 general surgical cases before and 213 cases after MORSim showed BMRI scores improved by more than 20% (0.41 v 0.32, p<0.001). Previous research suggests that this improved teamwork score would translate into a clinically important reduction in complications and mortality in surgical patients.ConclusionsWe demonstrated an improvement in scores for teamwork and communication in general surgical ORs following our intervention. These results support the use of simulation-based multidisciplinary team training for OR staff to promote better teamwork and communication, and potentially improve outcomes for general surgical patients.

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