BMJ quality & safety
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BMJ quality & safety · Mar 2011
Evaluation of an instrument to measure teamwork in multidisciplinary critical care teams.
Teamwork failures contribute to adverse events causing harm to patients. Establishing and maintaining a team and managing the tasks are active processes. Medical education largely ignores teamwork skills. However, lack of robust instruments to measure teamwork limits evaluation of interventions to improve it. The authors aimed to develop and validate an instrument to measure teamwork behaviours. ⋯ The instrument performed well as an overall measure of team behaviour and reflected three dimensions of teamwork. Triangulation of information on the instrument, the factors and individual items will allow a methodical and informed approach to further development of the instrument. The ultimate goal is an instrument that can robustly evaluate interventions to improve team function in healthcare.
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BMJ quality & safety · Mar 2011
Peri-operative medical emergency team activation in liver transplantation.
The medical emergency team (MET) system functions to promptly identify acutely ill patients at-risk for deterioration. Liver transplant (LT) patients are at-risk for serious post-operative complications. ⋯ LT patients with post-operative complications prompting MET activation had higher morbidity and mortality compared with controls; however, the MET may have been under-utilised and/or delayed. Further prospective multi-centre investigation is warranted.