Improving teamwork: impact of structured interdisciplinary rounds on a hospitalist unit.

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O'Leary, Kevin J; Haviley, Corinne; Slade, Maureen E; Shah, Hiren M; Lee, Jungwha; Williams, Mark V

2011-02-01

Effective collaboration and teamwork is essential in providing safe and effective care. Research reveals deficiencies in teamwork on medical units involving hospitalists. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of an intervention, Structured Inter-Disciplinary Rounds (SIDR), on nurses' ratings of collaboration and teamwork. The study was a controlled trial involving an intervention and control hospitalist unit. The intervention, SIDR, combined a structured format for communication with a forum for regular interdisciplinary meetings. We asked nurses to rate the quality of communication and collaboration with hospitalists using a 5-point ordinal scale. We also assessed teamwork and safety climate using a validated instrument. Multivariable regression analyses were used to assess the impact on length of stay (LOS) and cost using both a concurrent and historic control. A total of 49 of 58 (84%) nurses completed surveys. A larger percentage of nurses rated the quality of communication and collaboration with hospitalists as high or very high on the intervention unit compared to the control unit (80% vs. 54%; P = 0.05). Nurses also rated the teamwork and safety climate significantly higher on the intervention unit (P = 0.008 and P = 0.03 for teamwork and safety climate, respectively). Multivariable analyses demonstrated no difference in the adjusted LOS and an inconsistent effect on cost. SIDR had a positive effect on nurses' ratings of collaboration and teamwork on a hospitalist unit, yet no impact on LOS and cost. Further study is required to assess the impact of SIDR on patient safety measures. Copyright © 2010 Society of Hospital Medicine.

Nurse perceptions of safety climate in Australian acute hospitals: a cross-sectional survey.

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Soh, Sze-Ee; Morello, Renata; Rifat, Sheral; Brand, Caroline; Barker, Anna

2017-03-16

Objectives The aim of the present study was to explore nurse perceptions of safety climate in acute Australian hospitals. Methods Participants included 420 nurses who have worked on 24 acute wards from six Australian hospitals. The Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) Short Form was used to quantify nurse perceptions of safety climate and benchmarked against international data. Generalised linear mixed models were used to explore factors that may influence safety climate. Results On average, 53.5% of nurses held positive attitudes towards job satisfaction followed by teamwork climate (50.5%). There was variability in SAQ domain scores across hospitals. The safety climate and perceptions of hospital management domains also varied across wards within a hospital. Nurses who had worked longer at a hospital were more likely to have poorer perceptions of hospital management (β=-5.2; P=0.014). Overall, nurse perceptions of safety climate appeared higher than international data. Conclusions The perceptions of nurses working in acute Victorian and New South Wales hospitals varied between hospitals as well as across wards within each hospital. This highlights the importance of surveying all hospital wards and examining the results at the ward level when implementing strategies to improve patient safety and the culture of safety in organisations. What is known about the topic? Prior studies in American nursing samples have shown that hospitals with higher levels of safety climate have a lower relative incidence of preventable patient complications and adverse events. Developing a culture of safety in hospitals may be useful in targeting efforts to improve patient safety. What does this paper add? This paper has shown that the perceptions of safety climate among nurses working in acute Australian hospitals varied between hospitals and across wards within a hospital. Only half the nurses also reported positive attitudes towards job satisfaction and teamwork climate. What are

Examination of the relationship between management and clinician perception of patient safety climate and patient satisfaction.

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Mazurenko, Olena; Richter, Jason; Kazley, Abby Swanson; Ford, Eric

2017-04-25

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between managers and clinicians' agreement on deeming the patient safety climate as high or low and the patients' satisfaction with those organizations. We used two secondary data sets: the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (2012) and the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (2012). We used ordinary least squares regressions to analyze the relationship between the extent of agreement between managers and clinicians' perceptions of safety climate in relationship to patient satisfaction. The dependent variables were four Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems patient satisfaction scores: communication with nurses, communication with doctors, communication about medicines, and discharge information. The main independent variables were four groups that were formed based on the extent of managers and clinicians' agreement on four patient safety climate domains: communication openness, feedback and communication about errors, teamwork within units, and teamwork across units. After controlling for hospital and market-level characteristics, we found that patient satisfaction was significantly higher if managers and clinicians reported that patient safety climate is high or if only clinicians perceived the climate as high. Specifically, manager and clinician agreement on high levels of communication openness (β = 2.25, p = .01; β = 2.46, p = .05), feedback and communication about errors (β = 3.0, p = .001; β = 2.89, p = .01), and teamwork across units (β = 2.91, p = .001; β = 3.34, p = .01) was positively and significantly associated with patient satisfaction with discharge information and communication about medication. In addition, more favorable perceptions about patient safety climate by clinicians only yielded similar findings. Organizations should measure and examine patient safety climate from multiple perspectives and be aware that individuals

Underlying influence of perception of management leadership on patient safety climate in healthcare organizations - A mediation analysis approach.

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Weng, Shao-Jen; Kim, Seung-Hwan; Wu, Chieh-Liang

2017-02-01

We aim to draw insights on how medical staff's perception of management leadership affects safety climate with key safety related dimensions-teamwork climate, job satisfaction and working conditions. A cross-sectional survey using Safety Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ) was performed in a medical center in Taichung City, Taiwan. The relationships among the dimensions in SAQ were then analyzed by structural equation modeling with a mediation analysis. 2205 physicians and nurses of the medical center participated in the survey. Because not all questions in the survey are suitable for entire hospital staff, only the valid responses (n = 1596, response rate of 72%) were extracted for analysis. Key measures are the direct and indirect effects of teamwork climate, job satisfaction, perception of management leadership, and working conditions on safety climate. Outcomes show that effect of perception of management leadership on safety climate is significant (standardized indirect effect of 0.892 with P-value 0.002) and fully mediated by other dimensions, where 66.9% is mediated through teamwork climate, 24.1% through working conditions and 9.0% through job satisfaction. Our findings point to the importance of management leadership and the mechanism of its influence on safety climate. To improve safety climate, the implication is that commitment by management on leading safety improvement needs to be demonstrated when it implements daily supportive actions for other safety dimensions. For future improvement, development of a management system that can facilitate two-way trust between management and staff over the long term is recommended. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the teamwork climate scale

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Mariana Charantola Silva

2016-01-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To adapt and validate the Team Climate Inventory scale, of teamwork climate measurement, for the Portuguese language, in the context of primary health care in Brazil. METHODS Methodological study with quantitative approach of cross-cultural adaptation (translation, back-translation, synthesis, expert committee, and pretest and validation with 497 employees from 72 teams of the Family Health Strategy in the city of Campinas, SP, Southeastern Brazil. We verified reliability by the Cronbach’s alpha, construct validity by the confirmatory factor analysis with SmartPLS software, and correlation by the job satisfaction scale. RESULTS We problematized the overlap of items 9, 11, and 12 of the “participation in the team” factor and the “team goals” factor regarding its definition. The validation showed no overlapping of items and the reliability ranged from 0.92 to 0.93. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated suitability of the proposed model with distribution of the 38 items in the four factors. The correlation between teamwork climate and job satisfaction was significant. CONCLUSIONS The version of the scale in Brazilian Portuguese was validated and can be used in the context of primary health care in the Country, constituting an adequate tool for the assessment and diagnosis of teamwork.

Operating room teamwork among physicians and nurses: teamwork in the eye of the beholder.

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Makary, Martin A; Sexton, J Bryan; Freischlag, Julie A; Holzmueller, Christine G; Millman, E Anne; Rowen, Lisa; Pronovost, Peter J

2006-05-01

Teamwork is an important component of patient safety. In fact, communication errors are the most common cause of sentinel events and wrong-site operations in the US. Although efforts to improve patient safety through improving teamwork are growing, there is no validated tool to scientifically measure teamwork in the surgical setting. Operating room personnel in 60 hospitals were surveyed using the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire. Surgeons, anesthesiologists, certified registered nurse anesthetists, and operating room nurses rated their own peers and each other using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = very low, 5 = very high). Overall response rate was 77.1% (2,135 of 2,769). Ratings of teamwork differed substantially by operating room caregiver type, with the greatest differences in ratings shown by physicians: surgeons (F[4, 2058] = 41.73, p teamwork exist in the operating room, with physicians rating the teamwork of others as good, but at the same time, nurses perceive teamwork as mediocre. Given the importance of communication and collaboration in patient safety, health care organizations should measure teamwork using a scientifically valid method. The Safety Attitudes Questionnaire can be used to measure teamwork, identify disconnects between or within disciplines, and evaluate interventions aimed at improving patient safety.

Improving teamwork, trust and safety: an ethnographic study of an interprofessional initiative.

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Jones, Aled; Jones, Delyth

2011-05-01

This study explored the perceptions of staff in an interprofessional team based on a medical rehabilitation ward for older people, following the introduction of a service improvement programme designed to promote better teamworking. The study aimed to address a lack of in-depth qualitative research that could explain the day-to-day realities of interprofessional teamworking in healthcare. All members of the team participated, (e.g. nurses, doctors, physiotherapists, social worker, occupational therapists), and findings suggest that interprofessional teamworking improved over the 12-month period. Four themes emerged from the data offering insights into the development and effects of better interprofessional teamworking: the emergence of collegial trust within the team, the importance of team meetings and participative safety, the role of shared objectives in conflict management and the value of autonomy within the team. Reductions in staff sickness/absence levels and catastrophic/major patient safety incidents were also detected following the introduction of the service improvement programme.

Teamwork and Safety in the Maritime Industry: A SWOT Approach

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Vestad, Anne-Lise

2010-01-01

Abstract The past few decades the use of teams has increased, also in complex sociotechnical systems such as the maritime industry. Safety issues involve a wide range of elements, including human factors, and pose a number of challenges to organisations in the shipping industry. The primary aim of this study was to examine the Big Five of teamwork model and its ability to capture teamwork aspects of all kinds of teams, independent of team type, organisational level and domain. The collect...

Do safety checklists improve teamwork and communication in the operating room? A systematic review.

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Russ, Stephanie; Rout, Shantanu; Sevdalis, Nick; Moorthy, Krishna; Darzi, Ara; Vincent, Charles

2013-12-01

The aim of this systematic review was to assess the impact of surgical safety checklists on the quality of teamwork and communication in the operating room (OR). Safety checklists have been shown to impact positively on patient morbidity and mortality following surgery, but it is unclear whether this clinical improvement is related to an improvement in OR teamwork and communication. A systematic search strategy of MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Google Scholar, and the Cochrane Database for Systematic Reviews was undertaken to obtain relevant articles. After de-duplication and the addition of limits, 315 articles were screened for inclusion by 2 researchers and all articles meeting a set of prespecified inclusion criteria were retained. Information regarding the type of checklist, study design, assessment tools used, outcomes, and study limitations was extracted. Twenty articles formed the basis of this systematic review. All articles described an empirical study relating to a case-specific safety checklist for surgery as the primary intervention, with some measure of change/improvement in teamwork and/or communication relating to its use. The methods for assessing teamwork and communication varied greatly, including surveys, observations, interviews, and 360° assessments. The evidence suggests that safety checklists improve the perceived quality of OR teamwork and communication and reduce observable errors relating to poor team skills. This is likely to function through establishing an open platform for communication at the start of a procedure: encouraging the sharing of critical case-related information, promoting team coordination and decision making, flagging knowledge gaps, and enhancing team cohesion. However, the evidence would also suggest that when used suboptimally or when individuals have not bought in to the process, checklists may conversely have a negative impact on the function of the team. Safety checklists are beneficial for OR teamwork and

Hospital safety climate and safety behavior: A social exchange perspective.

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Ancarani, Alessandro; Di Mauro, Carmela; Giammanco, Maria D

Safety climate is considered beneficial to the improvement of hospital safety outcomes. Nevertheless, the relations between two of its key constituents, namely those stemming from leader-subordinate relations and coworker support for safety, are still to be fully ascertained. This article uses the theoretical lens of Social Exchange Theory to study the joint impact of leader-member exchange in the safety sphere and coworker support for safety on safety-related behavior at the hospital ward level. Social exchange constructs are further related to the existence of a shame-/blame-free environment, seen as a potential antecedent of safety behavior. A cross-sectional study including 166 inpatients in hospital wards belonging to 10 public hospitals in Italy was undertaken to test the hypotheses developed. Hypothesized relations have been analyzed through a fully mediated multilevel structural equation model. This methodology allows studying behavior at the individual level, while keeping into account the heterogeneity among hospital specialties. Results suggest that the linkage between leader support for safety and individual safety behavior is mediated by coworker support on safety issues and by the creation of a shame-free environment. These findings call for the creation of a safety climate in which managerial efforts should be directed not only to the provision of new safety resources and the enforcement of safety rules but also to the encouragement of teamwork and freedom to report errors as ways to foster the capacity of the staff to communicate, share, and learn from each other.

Moving Toward Improved Teamwork in Cancer Care: The Role of Psychological Safety in Team Communication.

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Jain, Anshu K; Fennell, Mary L; Chagpar, Anees B; Connolly, Hannah K; Nembhard, Ingrid M

2016-11-01

Effective communication is a requirement in the teamwork necessary for improved coordination to deliver patient-centered, value-based cancer care. Communication is particularly important when care providers are geographically distributed or work across organizations. We review organizational and teams research on communication to highlight psychological safety as a key determinant of high-quality communication within teams. We first present the concept of psychological safety, findings about its communication effects for teamwork, and factors that affect it. We focus on five factors applicable to cancer care delivery: familiarity, clinical hierarchy-related status differences, geographic dispersion, boundary spanning, and leader behavior. To illustrate how these factors facilitate or hinder psychologically safe communication and teamwork in cancer care, we review the case of a patient as she experiences the treatment-planning process for early-stage breast cancer in a community setting. Our analysis is summarized in a key principle: Teamwork in cancer care requires high-quality communication, which depends on psychological safety for all team members, clinicians and patients alike. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of psychological safety in clinical care and suggestions for future research.

Relationship Between Operating Room Teamwork, Contextual Factors, and Safety Checklist Performance.

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Singer, Sara J; Molina, George; Li, Zhonghe; Jiang, Wei; Nurudeen, Suliat; Kite, Julia G; Edmondson, Lizabeth; Foster, Richard; Haynes, Alex B; Berry, William R

2016-10-01

Studies show that using surgical safety checklists (SSCs) reduces complications. Many believe SSCs accomplish this by enhancing teamwork, but evidence is limited. Our study sought to relate teamwork to checklist performance, understand how they relate, and determine conditions that affect this relationship. Using 2 validated tools for observing and coaching operating room teams, we evaluated the association between checklist performance with surgeon buy-in and 4 domains of surgical teamwork: clinical leadership, communication, coordination, and respect. Hospital staff in 10 South Carolina hospitals observed 207 procedures between April 2011 and January 2013. We calculated levels of checklist performance, buy-in, and measures of teamwork, and evaluated their relationship, controlling for patient and case characteristics. Few teams completed most or all SSC items. Teams more often completed items considered procedural "checks" than conversation "prompts." Surgeon buy-in, clinical leadership, communication, a summary measure of teamwork overall, and observers' teamwork ratings positively related to overall checklist completion (multivariable model estimates from 0.04, p < 0.05 for communication to 0.17, p < 0.01 for surgeon buy-in). All measures of teamwork and surgeon buy-in related positively to completing more conversation prompts; none related significantly to procedural checks (estimates from 0.10, p < 0.01 for communication to 0.27, p < 0.001 for surgeon buy-in). Patient age was significantly associated with completing the checklist and prompts (p < 0.05); only case duration was positively associated with performing more checks (p < 0.10). Surgeon buy-in and surgical teamwork characterized by shared clinical leadership, open communication, active coordination, and mutual respect were critical in prompting case-related conversations, but not in completing procedural checks. Findings highlight the importance of surgeon engagement and high-quality, consistent

Teamwork and communication.

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Pfrimmer, Dale

2009-07-01

Effective teamwork and communication is critical to the delivery of safe and reliable patient care. Communication breakdowns account for the overwhelming majority of sentinel events. Effective teamwork and communication can help prevent mistakes and decrease patient risk. The implementation of simple tools and behaviors can greatly enhance patient safety and improve perceptions of teamwork.

The evaluation of a multifaceted intervention to promote "speaking up" and strengthen interprofessional teamwork climate perceptions.

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Ginsburg, Liane; Bain, Lorna

2017-03-01

Communication failure is a leading cause of error and is often due to inhibition of individuals to speak up in interprofessional healthcare environments. The present study sought to evaluate the impact of a multifaceted intervention designed to promote speaking up on teamwork climate in one clinical department of a large community hospital based in Canada. The multifaceted intervention included a role-playing simulation workshop, teamwork climate data feedback and facilitated discussion with the interprofessional team (discussion briefings), and other department-led initiatives to promote trust, teamwork, and speaking up among interprofessional team members. A quasi-experiment (pretest-posttest control group design, using two posttests several months apart) was used to evaluate the impact of the complete intervention on individual teamwork climate perceptions. The intervention was implemented with an intact interprofessional team (the Emergency Department-ED) in 2014. The intensive care unit (ICU) was used as the control unit. Survey response rates were the highest at time 1 (83/102 = 81% for the ED and 29/31 = 94% for the ICU) and the lowest at time 3 (38/105 = 36% for the ED and 14/30 = 47% for the ICU). The results obtained from paired and unpaired analyses suggest that this type of multifaceted approach can improve staff perceptions of teamwork climate. The teamwork climate score in the ED was significantly higher at follow-up (Mt2 = 3.42, SD = 0.66) compared to baseline (Mt1 = 3.13, SD = 0.72), (F(1, 34) = 12.2, p = .001, eta 2 p = .263), while baseline and follow-up scores were not significantly different between baseline and follow-up for the ICU group (Mt1 = 4.12, SD = 0.60; Mt2 = 4.15, SD = 0.56; F(1, 34) = 0.06, p = .806, eta 2 p = .002). Sustaining high levels of participation in interprofessional initiatives and engaging physicians remain challenging when interventions are used in context. Improving team

Causal Relationship Analysis of the Patient Safety Culture Based on Safety Attitudes Questionnaire in Taiwan

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Zeng, Pei-Shan; Huang, Chih-Hsuan

2018-01-01

This study uses the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory method to identify critical dimensions of the safety attitudes questionnaire in Taiwan in order to improve the patient safety culture from experts' viewpoints. Teamwork climate, stress recognition, and perceptions of management are three causal dimensions, while safety climate, job satisfaction, and working conditions are receiving dimensions. In practice, improvements on effect-based dimensions might receive little effects when a great amount of efforts have been invested. In contrast, improving a causal dimension not only improves itself but also results in better performance of other dimension(s) directly affected by this particular dimension. Teamwork climate and perceptions of management are found to be the most critical dimensions because they are both causal dimensions and have significant influences on four dimensions apiece. It is worth to note that job satisfaction is the only dimension affected by the other dimensions. In order to effectively enhance the patient safety culture for healthcare organizations, teamwork climate, and perceptions of management should be closely monitored. PMID:29686825

Causal Relationship Analysis of the Patient Safety Culture Based on Safety Attitudes Questionnaire in Taiwan

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Yii-Ching Lee

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This study uses the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory method to identify critical dimensions of the safety attitudes questionnaire in Taiwan in order to improve the patient safety culture from experts’ viewpoints. Teamwork climate, stress recognition, and perceptions of management are three causal dimensions, while safety climate, job satisfaction, and working conditions are receiving dimensions. In practice, improvements on effect-based dimensions might receive little effects when a great amount of efforts have been invested. In contrast, improving a causal dimension not only improves itself but also results in better performance of other dimension(s directly affected by this particular dimension. Teamwork climate and perceptions of management are found to be the most critical dimensions because they are both causal dimensions and have significant influences on four dimensions apiece. It is worth to note that job satisfaction is the only dimension affected by the other dimensions. In order to effectively enhance the patient safety culture for healthcare organizations, teamwork climate, and perceptions of management should be closely monitored.

The Surgical Safety Checklist and Teamwork Coaching Tools: a study of inter-rater reliability.

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Huang, Lyen C; Conley, Dante; Lipsitz, Stu; Wright, Christopher C; Diller, Thomas W; Edmondson, Lizabeth; Berry, William R; Singer, Sara J

2014-08-01

To assess the inter-rater reliability (IRR) of two novel observation tools for measuring surgical safety checklist performance and teamwork. Data surgical safety checklists can promote adherence to standards of care and improve teamwork in the operating room. Their use has been associated with reductions in mortality and other postoperative complications. However, checklist effectiveness depends on how well they are performed. Authors from the Safe Surgery 2015 initiative developed a pair of novel observation tools through literature review, expert consultation and end-user testing. In one South Carolina hospital participating in the initiative, two observers jointly attended 50 surgical cases and independently rated surgical teams using both tools. We used descriptive statistics to measure checklist performance and teamwork at the hospital. We assessed IRR by measuring percent agreement, Cohen's κ, and weighted κ scores. The overall percent agreement and κ between the two observers was 93% and 0.74 (95% CI 0.66 to 0.79), respectively, for the Checklist Coaching Tool and 86% and 0.84 (95% CI 0.77 to 0.90) for the Surgical Teamwork Tool. Percent agreement for individual sections of both tools was 79% or higher. Additionally, κ scores for six of eight sections on the Checklist Coaching Tool and for two of five domains on the Surgical Teamwork Tool achieved the desired 0.7 threshold. However, teamwork scores were high and variation was limited. There were no significant changes in the percent agreement or κ scores between the first 10 and last 10 cases observed. Both tools demonstrated substantial IRR and required limited training to use. These instruments may be used to observe checklist performance and teamwork in the operating room. However, further refinement and calibration of observer expectations, particularly in rating teamwork, could improve the utility of the tools. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already

Organisational culture: variation across hospitals and connection to patient safety climate.

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Speroff, T; Nwosu, S; Greevy, R; Weinger, M B; Talbot, T R; Wall, R J; Deshpande, J K; France, D J; Ely, E W; Burgess, H; Englebright, J; Williams, M V; Dittus, R S

2010-12-01

Bureaucratic organisational culture is less favourable to quality improvement, whereas organisations with group (teamwork) culture are better aligned for quality improvement. To determine if an organisational group culture shows better alignment with patient safety climate. Cross-sectional administration of questionnaires. Setting 40 Hospital Corporation of America hospitals. 1406 nurses, ancillary staff, allied staff and physicians. Competing Values Measure of Organisational Culture, Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ), Safety Climate Survey (SCSc) and Information and Analysis (IA). The Cronbach alpha was 0.81 for the group culture scale and 0.72 for the hierarchical culture scale. Group culture was positively correlated with SAQ and its subscales (from correlation coefficient r = 0.44 to 0.55, except situational recognition), ScSc (r = 0.47) and IA (r = 0.33). Hierarchical culture was negatively correlated with the SAQ scales, SCSc and IA. Among the 40 hospitals, 37.5% had a hierarchical dominant culture, 37.5% a dominant group culture and 25% a balanced culture. Group culture hospitals had significantly higher safety climate scores than hierarchical culture hospitals. The magnitude of these relationships was not affected after adjusting for provider job type and hospital characteristics. Hospitals vary in organisational culture, and the type of culture relates to the safety climate within the hospital. In combination with prior studies, these results suggest that a healthcare organisation's culture is a critical factor in the development of its patient safety climate and in the successful implementation of quality improvement initiatives.

Design and evaluation of simulation scenarios for a program introducing patient safety, teamwork, safety leadership, and simulation to healthcare leaders and managers.

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Cooper, Jeffrey B; Singer, Sara J; Hayes, Jennifer; Sales, Michael; Vogt, Jay W; Raemer, Daniel; Meyer, Gregg S

2011-08-01

We developed a training program to introduce managers and informal leaders of healthcare organizations to key concepts of teamwork, safety leadership, and simulation to motivate them to act as leaders to improve safety within their sphere of influence. This report describes the simulation scenario and debriefing that are core elements of that program. Twelve teams of clinician and nonclinician managers were selected from a larger set of volunteers to participate in a 1-day, multielement training program. Two simulation exercises were developed: one for teams of nonclinicians and the other for clinicians or mixed groups. The scenarios represented two different clinical situations, each designed to engage participants in discussions of their safety leadership and teamwork issues immediately after the experience. In the scenarios for nonclinicians, participants conducted an anesthetic induction and then managed an ethical situation. The scenario for clinicians simulated a consulting visit to an emergency room that evolved into a problem-solving challenge. Participants in this scenario had a limited time to prepare advice for hospital leadership on how to improve observed safety and cultural deficiencies. Debriefings after both types of scenarios were conducted using principles of "debriefing with good judgment." We assessed the relevance and impact of the program by analyzing participant reactions to the simulation through transcript data and facilitator observations as well as a postcourse questionnaire. The teams generally reported positive perceptions of the relevance and quality of the simulation with varying types and degrees of impact on their leadership and teamwork behaviors. These kinds of clinical simulation exercises can be used to teach healthcare leaders and managers safety leadership and teamwork skills and behaviors.

The Patient Safety Attitudes among the Operating Room Personnel

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Cherdsak Iramaneerat

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Background: The first step in cultivating the culture of safety in the operating room is the assessment of safety culture among operating room personnel. Objective: To assess the patient safety culture of operating room personnel at the Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, and compare attitudes among different groups of personnel, and compare them with the international standards. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of safety attitudes among 396 operating room personnel, using a short form of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ. The SAQ employed 30 items to assess safety culture in six dimensions: teamwork climate, safety climate, stress recognition, perception of hospital management, working conditions, and job satisfaction. The subscore of each dimension was calculated and converted to a scale score with a full score of 100, where higher scores indicated better safety attitudes. Results: The response rate was 66.4%. The overall safety culture score of the operating room personnel was 65.02, higher than an international average (61.80. Operating room personnel at Siriraj Hospital had safety attitudes in teamwork climate, safety climate, and stress recognition lower than the international average, but had safety attitudes in the perception of hospital management, working conditions, and job satisfaction higher than the international average. Conclusion: The safety culture attitudes of operating room personnel at the Department of Surgery, Siriraj Hospital were comparable to international standards. The safety dimensions that Siriraj Hospital operating room should try to improve were teamwork climate, safety climate, and stress recognition.

Teamwork, communication and safety climate: a systematic review of interventions to improve surgical culture.

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Sacks, Greg D; Shannon, Evan M; Dawes, Aaron J; Rollo, Johnathon C; Nguyen, David K; Russell, Marcia M; Ko, Clifford Y; Maggard-Gibbons, Melinda A

2015-07-01

To define the target domains of culture-improvement interventions, to assess the impact of these interventions on surgical culture and to determine whether culture improvements lead to better patient outcomes and improved healthcare efficiency. Healthcare systems are investing considerable resources in improving workplace culture. It remains unclear whether these interventions, when aimed at surgical care, are successful and whether they are associated with changes in patient outcomes. PubMed, Cochrane, Web of Science and Scopus databases were searched from January 1980 to January 2015. We included studies on interventions that aimed to improve surgical culture, defined as the interpersonal, social and organisational factors that affect the healthcare environment and patient care. The quality of studies was assessed using an adapted tool to focus the review on higher-quality studies. Due to study heterogeneity, findings were narratively reviewed. The 47 studies meeting inclusion criteria (4 randomised trials and 10 moderate-quality observational studies) reported on interventions that targeted three domains of culture: teamwork (n=28), communication (n=26) and safety climate (n=19); several targeted more than one domain. All moderate-quality studies showed improvements in at least one of these domains. Two studies also demonstrated improvements in patient outcomes, such as reduced postoperative complications and even reduced postoperative mortality (absolute risk reduction 1.7%). Two studies reported improvements in healthcare efficiency, including fewer operating room delays. These findings were supported by similar results from low-quality studies. The literature provides promising evidence for various strategies to improve surgical culture, although these approaches differ in terms of the interventions employed as well as the techniques used to measure culture. Nevertheless, culture improvement appears to be associated with other positive effects, including

Integrating teamwork, clinician occupational well-being and patient safety - development of a conceptual framework based on a systematic review.

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Welp, Annalena; Manser, Tanja

2016-07-19

There is growing evidence that teamwork in hospitals is related to both patient outcomes and clinician occupational well-being. Furthermore, clinician well-being is associated with patient safety. Despite considerable research activity, few studies include all three concepts, and their interrelations have not yet been investigated systematically. To advance our understanding of these potentially complex interrelations we propose an integrative framework taking into account current evidence and research gaps identified in a systematic review. We conducted a literature search in six major databases (Medline, PsycArticles, PsycInfo, Psyndex, ScienceDirect, and Web of Knowledge). Inclusion criteria were: peer reviewed papers published between January 2000 and June 2015 investigating a statistical relationship between at least two of the three concepts; teamwork, patient safety, and clinician occupational well-being in hospital settings, including practicing nurses and physicians. We assessed methodological quality using a standardized rating system and qualitatively appraised and extracted relevant data, such as instruments, analyses and outcomes. The 98 studies included in this review were highly diverse regarding quality, methodology and outcomes. We found support for the existence of independent associations between teamwork, clinician occupational well-being and patient safety. However, we identified several conceptual and methodological limitations. The main barrier to advancing our understanding of the causal relationships between teamwork, clinician well-being and patient safety is the lack of an integrative, theory-based, and methodologically thorough approach investigating the three concepts simultaneously and longitudinally. Based on psychological theory and our findings, we developed an integrative framework that addresses these limitations and proposes mechanisms by which these concepts might be linked. Knowledge about the mechanisms underlying the

Teams, tribes and patient safety: overcoming barriers to effective teamwork in healthcare.

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Weller, Jennifer; Boyd, Matt; Cumin, David

2014-03-01

Modern healthcare is delivered by multidisciplinary, distributed healthcare teams who rely on effective teamwork and communication to ensure effective and safe patient care. However, we know that there is an unacceptable rate of unintended patient harm, and much of this is attributed to failures in communication between health professionals. The extensive literature on teams has identified shared mental models, mutual respect and trust and closed-loop communication as the underpinning conditions required for effective teams. However, a number of challenges exist in the healthcare environment. We explore these in a framework of educational, psychological and organisational challenges to the development of effective healthcare teams. Educational interventions can promote a better understanding of the principles of teamwork, help staff understand each other's roles and perspectives, and help develop specific communication strategies, but may not be sufficient on their own. Psychological barriers, such as professional silos and hierarchies, and organisational barriers such as geographically distributed teams, can increase the chance of communication failures with the potential for patient harm. We propose a seven-step plan to overcome the barriers to effective team communication that incorporates education, psychological and organisational strategies. Recent evidence suggests that improvement in teamwork in healthcare can lead to significant gains in patient safety, measured against efficiency of care, complication rate and mortality. Interventions to improve teamwork in healthcare may be the next major advance in patient outcomes.

Evaluation of PCMH Model Adoption on Teamwork and Impact on Patient Access and Safety.

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Khanna, Niharika; Shaya, Fadia T; Gaitonde, Priyanka; Abiamiri, Andrea; Steffen, Ben; Sharp, David

2017-04-01

Each of the participating patient-centered medical home (PCMH) received coaching and participated in learning collaborative for improving teamwork. The objective of the study was to assess the impact of trainings on patient-centered teamwork. The Teamwork Perception Questionnaire (TPQ) was administered once in spring 2014 and then in fall 2015. The TPQ consists of 35 questions across 5 domains: mutual support, situation monitoring, communication, team structure, and leadership. Based on our objective we compared the frequencies of strongly agree/agree by domain. The difference was tested using chi-square test. We compared the scores on each domain (strongly agree/agree = 1; maximum score = 7) via Wilcoxon rank sum test. The response rate for this survey was n = 29 (80.6%) in spring 2014, and n = 31 (86.1%) in fall 2015. We found that the practice members significantly ( P safety.

THE REGRESSION MODEL OF IRAN LIBRARIES ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE.

Science.gov (United States)

Jahani, Mohammad Ali; Yaminfirooz, Mousa; Siamian, Hasan

2015-10-01

The purpose of this study was to drawing a regression model of organizational climate of central libraries of Iran's universities. This study is an applied research. The statistical population of this study consisted of 96 employees of the central libraries of Iran's public universities selected among the 117 universities affiliated to the Ministry of Health by Stratified Sampling method (510 people). Climate Qual localized questionnaire was used as research tools. For predicting the organizational climate pattern of the libraries is used from the multivariate linear regression and track diagram. of the 9 variables affecting organizational climate, 5 variables of innovation, teamwork, customer service, psychological safety and deep diversity play a major role in prediction of the organizational climate of Iran's libraries. The results also indicate that each of these variables with different coefficient have the power to predict organizational climate but the climate score of psychological safety (0.94) plays a very crucial role in predicting the organizational climate. Track diagram showed that five variables of teamwork, customer service, psychological safety, deep diversity and innovation directly effects on the organizational climate variable that contribution of the team work from this influence is more than any other variables. Of the indicator of the organizational climate of climateQual, the contribution of the team work from this influence is more than any other variables that reinforcement of teamwork in academic libraries can be more effective in improving the organizational climate of this type libraries.

The role of production and teamwork practices in construction safety: a cognitive model and an empirical case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitropoulos, Panagiotis Takis; Cupido, Gerardo

2009-01-01

In construction, the challenge for researchers and practitioners is to develop work systems (production processes and teams) that can achieve high productivity and high safety at the same time. However, construction accident causation models ignore the role of work practices and teamwork. This study investigates the mechanisms by which production and teamwork practices affect the likelihood of accidents. The paper synthesizes a new model for construction safety based on the cognitive perspective (Fuller's Task-Demand-Capability Interface model, 2005) and then presents an exploratory case study. The case study investigates and compares the work practices of two residential framing crews: a 'High Reliability Crew' (HRC)--that is, a crew with exceptional productivity and safety over several years, and an average performing crew from the same company. The model explains how the production and teamwork practices generate the work situations that workers face (the task demands) and affect the workers ability to cope (capabilities). The case study indicates that the work practices of the HRC directly influence the task demands and match them with the applied capabilities. These practices were guided by the 'principle' of avoiding errors and rework and included work planning and preparation, work distribution, managing the production pressures, and quality and behavior monitoring. The Task Demand-Capability model links construction research to a cognitive model of accident causation and provides a new way to conceptualize safety as an emergent property of the production practices and teamwork processes. The empirical evidence indicates that the crews' work practices and team processes strongly affect the task demands, the applied capabilities, and the match between demands and capabilities. The proposed model and the exploratory case study will guide further discovery of work practices and teamwork processes that can increase both productivity and safety in construction

Hospital safety culture in Taiwan: a nationwide survey using Chinese version Safety Attitude Questionnaire.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Wui-Chiang; Wung, Hwei-Ying; Liao, Hsun-Hsiang; Lo, Chien-Ming; Chang, Fei-Ling; Wang, Pa-Chun; Fan, Angela; Chen, Hsin-Hsin; Yang, Han-Chuan; Hou, Sheng-Mou

2010-08-10

Safety activities have been initiated at many hospitals in Taiwan, but little is known about the safety culture at these hospitals. The aims of this study were to verify a safety culture survey instrument in Chinese and to assess hospital safety culture in Taiwan. The Taiwan Patient Safety Culture Survey was conducted in 2008, using the adapted Safety Attitude Questionnaire in Chinese (SAQ-C). Hospitals and their healthcare workers participated in the survey on a voluntary basis. The psychometric properties of the five SAQ-C dimensions were examined, including teamwork climate, safety climate, job satisfaction, perception of management, and working conditions. Additional safety measures were asked to assess healthcare workers' attitudes toward their collaboration with nurses, physicians, and pharmacists, respectively, and perceptions of hospitals' encouragement of safety reporting, safety training, and delivery delays due to communication breakdowns in clinical areas. The associations between the respondents' attitudes to each SAQ-C dimension and safety measures were analyzed by generalized estimating equations, adjusting for the clustering effects at hospital levels. A total of 45,242 valid questionnaires were returned from 200 hospitals with a mean response rate of 69.4%. The Cronbach's alpha was 0.792 for teamwork climate, 0.816 for safety climate, 0.912 for job satisfaction, 0.874 for perception of management, and 0.785 for working conditions. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated a good model fit for each dimension and the entire construct. The percentage of hospital healthcare workers holding positive attitude was 48.9% for teamwork climate, 45.2% for perception of management, 42.1% for job satisfaction, 37.2% for safety climate, and 31.8% for working conditions. There were wide variations in the range of SAQ-C scores in each dimension among hospitals. Compared to those without positive attitudes, healthcare workers with positive attitudes to each SAQ

Patient safety culture in out-of-hours primary care services in the Netherlands: a cross-sectional survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Smits, Marleen; Keizer, Ellen; Giesen, Paul; Deilkås, Ellen Catharina Tveter; Hofoss, Dag; Bondevik, Gunnar Tschudi

2018-03-01

To examine patient safety culture in Dutch out-of-hours primary care using the safety attitudes questionnaire (SAQ) which includes five factors: teamwork climate, safety climate, job satisfaction, perceptions of management and communication openness. Cross-sectional observational study using an anonymous web-survey. Setting Sixteen out-of-hours general practitioner (GP) cooperatives and two call centers in the Netherlands. Subjects Primary healthcare providers in out-of-hours services. Main outcome measures Mean scores on patient safety culture factors; association between patient safety culture and profession, gender, age, and working experience. Overall response rate was 43%. A total of 784 respondents were included; mainly GPs (N = 470) and triage nurses (N = 189). The healthcare providers were most positive about teamwork climate and job satisfaction, and less about communication openness and safety climate. The largest variation between clinics was found on safety climate; the lowest on teamwork climate. Triage nurses scored significantly higher than GPs on each of the five patient safety factors. Older healthcare providers scored significantly higher than younger on safety climate and perceptions of management. More working experience was positively related to higher teamwork climate and communication openness. Gender was not associated with any of the patient safety factors. Our study showed that healthcare providers perceive patient safety culture in Dutch GP cooperatives positively, but there are differences related to the respondents' profession, age and working experience. Recommendations for future studies are to examine reasons for these differences, to examine the effects of interventions to improve safety culture and to make international comparisons of safety culture. Key Points Creating a positive patient safety culture is assumed to be a prerequisite for quality and safety. We found that: • healthcare providers in Dutch GP cooperatives

Measuring and benchmarking safety culture: application of the safety attitudes questionnaire to an acute medical admissions unit.

Science.gov (United States)

Relihan, E; Glynn, S; Daly, D; Silke, B; Ryder, S

2009-12-01

To assess the safety culture in an acute medical admissions unit (AMAU) of a teaching hospital in order to benchmark results against international data and guide a unit-based, integrated, risk management strategy. The safety attitudes questionnaire (SAQ), a validated instrument for the measurement of safety culture was applied to an AMAU. All AMAU healthcare staff (n = 92) were surveyed: doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants (HCAs) and allied healthcare professionals (AHPs). Safety attitude scores for the overall unit and individual caregiver types were assessed across six domains of safety culture. When compared against an international benchmark, the AMAU scored significantly higher for four of the six safety domains: p < 0.01 for 'teamwork climate', 'safety climate' and 'stress recognition' and p < 0.05 for 'job satisfaction'. The difference between nurse manager scores and the overall mean for the study group was statistically significant for the domains of 'teamwork climate' (p < 0.05) and 'safety climate' (p < 0.01). HCAs scored significantly lower relative to staff overall with regard to 'working conditions' (p < 0.05) and 'perceptions of management' (p < 0.01). The SAQ was successfully applied to an AMAU setting giving a valuable insight into staff issues of concern across the safety spectrum: employee and environmental safety, clinical risk management and medication safety.

Measurement equivalence of patient safety climate in Chinese hospitals: can we compare across physicians and nurses?

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Junya

2018-06-11

Self-report instruments have been widely used to better understand variations in patient safety climate between physicians and nurses. Research is needed to determine whether differences in patient safety climate reflect true differences in the underlying concepts. This is known as measurement equivalence, which is a prerequisite for meaningful group comparisons. This study aims to examine the degree of measurement equivalence of the responses to a patient safety climate survey of Chinese hospitals and to demonstrate how the measurement equivalence method can be applied to self-report climate surveys for patient safety research. Using data from the Chinese Hospital Survey of Patient Safety Climate from six Chinese hospitals in 2011, we constructed two groups: physicians and nurses (346 per group). We used multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses to examine progressively more stringent restrictions for measurement equivalence. We identified weak factorial equivalence across the two groups. Strong factorial equivalence was found for Organizational Learning, Unit Management Support for Safety, Adequacy of Safety Arrangements, Institutional Commitment to Safety, Error Reporting and Teamwork. Strong factorial equivalence, however, was not found for Safety System, Communication and Peer Support and Staffing. Nevertheless, further analyses suggested that nonequivalence did not meaningfully affect the conclusions regarding physician-nurse differences in patient safety climate. Our results provide evidence of at least partial equivalence of the survey responses between nurses and physicians, supporting mean comparisons of its constructs between the two groups. The measurement equivalence approach is essential to ensure that conclusions about group differences are valid.

Nurse-Physician Teamwork in the Emergency Department

OpenAIRE

Ajeigbe, David Oladipo

2012-01-01

Background: Teamwork gained momentum in the 1980s. Research studies in the military and aviation demonstrated that teamwork is essential to safety. There were limited studies dealing with the practice of teamwork between nurses and physicians in the Emergence Departments (EDs). Aims: Descriptive aim of the study was to examine differences between staff in the Interventional and Control Groups on perception of staff teamwork. The exploratory aim was to examine staff perception of job satisfac...

Repeated, Close Physician Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Teams Associated with Greater Teamwork.

Science.gov (United States)

Everson, Jordan; Funk, Russell J; Kaufman, Samuel R; Owen-Smith, Jason; Nallamothu, Brahmajee K; Pagani, Francis D; Hollingsworth, John M

2018-04-01

To determine whether observed patterns of physician interaction around shared patients are associated with higher levels of teamwork as perceived by physicians. Michigan Medicare beneficiaries who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) procedures at 24 hospitals in the state between 2008 and 2011. We assessed hospital teamwork using the teamwork climate scale in the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire. After aggregating across CABG discharges at these hospitals, we mapped the physician referral networks (including both surgeons and nonsurgeons) that served them and measured three network properties: (1) reinforcement, (2) clustering, and (3) density. We then used multilevel regression models to identify associations between network properties and teamwork at the hospitals on which the networks were anchored. In hospitals where physicians repeatedly cared for patients with the same colleagues, physicians perceived better teamwork (β-reinforcement = 3.28, p = .003). When physicians who worked together also had other colleagues in common, the reported teamwork was stronger (β clustering = 1.71, p = .001). Reported teamwork did not change when physicians worked with a higher proportion of other physicians at the hospital (β density = -0.58, p = .64). In networks with higher levels of reinforcement and clustering, physicians perceive stronger teamwork, perhaps because the strong ties between them create a shared understanding; however, sharing patients with more physicians overall (i.e., density) did not lead to stronger teamwork. Clinical and organizational leaders may consider designing the structure of clinical teams to increase interactions with known colleagues and repeated interactions between providers. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the teamwork climate scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, Mariana Charantola; Peduzzi, Marina; Sangaleti, Carine Teles; Silva, Dirceu da; Agreli, Heloise Fernandes; West, Michael A; Anderson, Neil R

2016-08-22

To adapt and validate the Team Climate Inventory scale, of teamwork climate measurement, for the Portuguese language, in the context of primary health care in Brazil. Methodological study with quantitative approach of cross-cultural adaptation (translation, back-translation, synthesis, expert committee, and pretest) and validation with 497 employees from 72 teams of the Family Health Strategy in the city of Campinas, SP, Southeastern Brazil. We verified reliability by the Cronbach's alpha, construct validity by the confirmatory factor analysis with SmartPLS software, and correlation by the job satisfaction scale. We problematized the overlap of items 9, 11, and 12 of the "participation in the team" factor and the "team goals" factor regarding its definition. The validation showed no overlapping of items and the reliability ranged from 0.92 to 0.93. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated suitability of the proposed model with distribution of the 38 items in the four factors. The correlation between teamwork climate and job satisfaction was significant. The version of the scale in Brazilian Portuguese was validated and can be used in the context of primary health care in the Country, constituting an adequate tool for the assessment and diagnosis of teamwork. Adaptar e validar a escala Team Climate Invetory, de medida do clima de trabalho em equipe, para o idioma português, no contexto da atenção primária à saúde no Brasil. Estudo metodológico com abordagem quantitativa de adaptação transcultural (tradução, retrotradução, síntese, comitê de especialistas e pré-teste) e validação com 497 trabalhadores de 72 equipes da Estratégia Saúde da Família no município de Campinas, São Paulo. Verificou-se confiabilidade pelo alfa de Cronbach, validade de construto pela análise fatorial confirmatória pelo software SmartPLS e correlação com escala de satisfação no trabalho. Foi problematizado a sobreposição dos itens 9, 11 e 12 do fator participa

Organizational culture and climate for patient safety in Intensive Care Units.

Science.gov (United States)

Santiago, Thaiana Helena Roma; Turrini, Ruth Natalia Teresa

2015-02-01

Objective To assess the perception of health professionals about patient safety climate and culture in different intensive care units (ICUs) and the relationship between scores obtained on the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) and the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ). Method A cross-sectional study conducted at a teaching hospital in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, in March and April 2014. As data gathering instruments, the HSOPSC, SAQ and a questionnaire with sociodemographic and professional information about the staff working in an adult, pediatric and neonatal ICU were used. Data analysis was conducted with descriptive statistics. Results The scales presented good reliability. Greater weaknesses in patient safety were observed in the Working conditions andPerceptions of management domains of the SAQ and in the Nonpunitive response to error domain of the HSOPSC. The strengths indicated by the SAQ wereTeamwork climate and Job satisfactionand by the HSOPC, Supervisor/manager expectations and actions promoting safety and Organizational learning-continuous improvement. Job satisfaction was higher among neonatal ICU workers when compared with the other ICUs. The adult ICU presented lower scores for most of the SAQ and HSOPSC domains. The scales presented moderate correlation between them (r=0.66). Conclusion There were differences in perception regarding patient safety among ICUs, which corroborates the existence of local microcultures. The study did not demonstrate equivalence between the SAQ and the HSOPSC.

[Interdisciplinary teamwork in the OR: Identification and measurement of teamwork in the operating room].

Science.gov (United States)

Passauer-Baierl, Stefanie; Baschnegger, Heiko; Bruns, Christiane; Weigl, Matthias

2014-01-01

Effective teamwork is one of the essentials in conducting successful and safe surgical procedures in the operating theatre (OT). The present paper aims to provide a selective review of various approaches describing effective interdisciplinary teamwork in the OT. Furthermore, it covers observational methods to assess OT teamwork with particular focus on Germany. Our definition of successful surgical teamwork is based on an already established classification system considering five criteria for effective and safe OT teams: coordination, communication, cooperation, leadership, and team monitoring. Well-defined and reliable measures are necessary to examine the quality of OT teamwork. Those methods should entail the special characteristics of the OT team. They should include all phases of the surgical procedure and incorporate all the professions involved (surgeons, surgical nurses, and anaesthetic staff). We conclude that research into methods for the assessment of OTs in Germany needs to be undertaken as a prerequisite to investigating the relationship between OT teamwork and its effects on patient safety and surgical quality. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Effective communication and teamwork promotes patient safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Gluyas, Heather

2015-08-05

Teamwork requires co-operation, co-ordination and communication between members of a team to achieve desired outcomes. In industries with a high degree of risk, such as health care, effective teamwork has been shown to achieve team goals successfully and efficiently, with fewer errors. This article introduces behaviours that support communication, co-operation and co-ordination in teams. The central role of communication in enabling co-operation and co-ordination is explored. A human factors perspective is used to examine tools to improve communication and identify barriers to effective team communication in health care.

Patient safety culture in out-of-hours primary care services in the Netherlands: a cross-sectional survey.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smits, M.; Keizer, E.; Giesen, P.; Deilkas, E.C.T.; Hofoss, D.; Bondevik, G.T

2018-01-01

Objective: To examine patient safety culture in Dutch out-of-hours primary care using the safety attitudes questionnaire (SAQ) which includes five factors: teamwork climate, safety climate, job satisfaction, perceptions of management and communication openness. Design: Cross-sectional observational

Teamwork and clinical error reporting among nurses in Korean hospitals.

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Hwang, Jee-In; Ahn, Jeonghoon

2015-03-01

To examine levels of teamwork and its relationships with clinical error reporting among Korean hospital nurses. The study employed a cross-sectional survey design. We distributed a questionnaire to 674 nurses in two teaching hospitals in Korea. The questionnaire included items on teamwork and the reporting of clinical errors. We measured teamwork using the Teamwork Perceptions Questionnaire, which has five subscales including team structure, leadership, situation monitoring, mutual support, and communication. Using logistic regression analysis, we determined the relationships between teamwork and error reporting. The response rate was 85.5%. The mean score of teamwork was 3.5 out of 5. At the subscale level, mutual support was rated highest, while leadership was rated lowest. Of the participating nurses, 522 responded that they had experienced at least one clinical error in the last 6 months. Among those, only 53.0% responded that they always or usually reported clinical errors to their managers and/or the patient safety department. Teamwork was significantly associated with better error reporting. Specifically, nurses with a higher team communication score were more likely to report clinical errors to their managers and the patient safety department (odds ratio = 1.82, 95% confidence intervals [1.05, 3.14]). Teamwork was rated as moderate and was positively associated with nurses' error reporting performance. Hospital executives and nurse managers should make substantial efforts to enhance teamwork, which will contribute to encouraging the reporting of errors and improving patient safety. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Sustaining Teamwork Behaviors Through Reinforcement of TeamSTEPPS Principles.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Soo-Hoon; Khanuja, Harpal S; Blanding, Renee J; Sedgwick, Jeanne; Pressimone, Kathleen; Ficke, James R; Jones, Lynne C

2017-10-30

Teamwork training improves short-term teamwork behaviors. However, improvements are often not sustained. The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which teamwork reinforcement activities for orthopedic surgery teams lead to sustained teamwork behaviors. Seven months after 104 staff from an orthopedic surgical unit were trained in Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety principles, 4 reinforcement activities were implemented regarding leadership and communication: lectures with videos on leadership skills for nursing staff; an online self-paced learning program on communication skills for nursing staff; a 1-page summary on leadership skills e-mailed to surgical staff; and a 1-hour perioperative grand rounds on Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety principles for anesthesia staff and new staff. Twenty-four orthopedic surgical teams were evaluated on teamwork behaviors during surgery by 2 observers before and after the reinforcement period using the Observational Teamwork Assessment for Surgery tool. After reinforcement, leadership (P = 0.022) and communication (P = 0.044) behaviors improved compared with prereinforcement levels. Specifically, nursing staff improved in leadership (P = 0.016) and communication (P = 0.028) behaviors, surgical staff improved in leadership behaviors (P = 0.009), but anesthesia staff did not improve in any teamwork behaviors. Sustained improvement in teamwork behaviors requires reinforcement. Level III, prospective pre-post cohort study.

Practice development units: a study of teamwork.

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, M; Walsh, A

In this report of a study using the Team Climate Inventory (TCI) tool, the researchers explain how the tool can be used in preparation for creating a practice development unit (PDU). The TCI provides a picture of the level and quality of teamwork in a unit using a series of Likert scales. The ward in this study was found to lack the necessary level of teamwork for successful PDU development and the researchers show how this information shaped trust plans. They recommend that units contemplating PDU accreditation should assess their level of teamwork prior to proceeding with bids.

Teamwork and Communication Skills in Cardiothoracic Surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Jennifer L; Whyte, Richard I; Gangadharan, Sidhu P; Kent, Michael S

2017-04-01

Teamwork and communication skills are essential for the safe practice of cardiothoracic surgery. In this article, we will summarize the literature on teamwork and the culture of safety, and discuss how surgeons may directly improve the outcomes of their patients by addressing these factors. Copyright © 2017 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Team Care for Patient Safety, TeamSTEPPS to Improve Nontechnical Skills and Teamwork--Actions to Become an HRO].

Science.gov (United States)

Kaito, Ken

2015-07-01

It is important to develop safer medical systems and follow manuals of medical procedures for patient safety. However, these approaches do not always result in satisfactory results because of many human factors. It is known that defects of nontechnical skills are more important than those of technical skills regarding medical accidents and incidents. So, it is necessary to improve personal nontechnical skills and compensate for each other's defects based on a team approach. For such purposes, we have implemented TeamSTEPPS to enhance performance and patient safety in our hospital. TeamSTEPPS (team strategies and tools to enhance performance and patient safety) is a useful method to improve the nontechnical skills of each member and the team. In TeamSTEPPS, leadership to share mental models among the team, continuous monitoring and awareness for team activities, mutual support for workload and knowledge, and approaches to complete communication are summarized to enhance teamwork and patient safety. Other than improving nontechnical skills and teamwork, TeamSTEPPS is also very important as a High Reliability Organization (HRO). TeamSTEPPS is worth implementing in every hospital to decrease medical errors and improve patient outcomes and satisfaction.

Teamwork assessment in internal medicine: a systematic review of validity evidence and outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Havyer, Rachel D A; Wingo, Majken T; Comfere, Nneka I; Nelson, Darlene R; Halvorsen, Andrew J; McDonald, Furman S; Reed, Darcy A

2014-06-01

Valid teamwork assessment is imperative to determine physician competency and optimize patient outcomes. We systematically reviewed published instruments assessing teamwork in undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education in general internal medicine and all medical subspecialties. We searched MEDLINE, MEDLINE In-process, CINAHL and PsycINFO from January 1979 through October 2012, references of included articles, and abstracts from four professional meetings. Two content experts were queried for additional studies. Included studies described quantitative tools measuring teamwork among medical students, residents, fellows, and practicing physicians on single or multi-professional (interprofessional) teams. Instrument validity and study quality were extracted using established frameworks with existing validity evidence. Two authors independently abstracted 30 % of articles and agreement was calculated. Of 12,922 citations, 178 articles describing 73 unique teamwork assessment tools met inclusion criteria. Interrater agreement was intraclass correlation coefficient 0.73 (95 % CI 0.63-0.81). Studies involved practicing physicians (142, 80 %), residents/fellows (70, 39 %), and medical students (11, 6 %). The majority (152, 85 %) assessed interprofessional teams. Studies were conducted in inpatient (77, 43 %), outpatient (42, 24 %), simulation (37, 21 %), and classroom (13, 7 %) settings. Validity evidence for the 73 tools included content (54, 74 %), internal structure (51, 70 %), relationships to other variables (25, 34 %), and response process (12, 16 %). Attitudes and opinions were the most frequently assessed outcomes. Relationships between teamwork scores and patient outcomes were directly examined for 13 (18 %) of tools. Scores from the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire and Team Climate Inventory have substantial validity evidence and have been associated with improved patient outcomes. Review is limited to quantitative assessments of teamwork in internal

Combining Systems and Teamwork Approaches to Enhance the Effectiveness of Safety Improvement Interventions in Surgery: The Safer Delivery of Surgical Services (S3) Program.

Science.gov (United States)

McCulloch, Peter; Morgan, Lauren; New, Steve; Catchpole, Ken; Roberston, Eleanor; Hadi, Mohammed; Pickering, Sharon; Collins, Gary; Griffin, Damian

2017-01-01

Patient safety improvement interventions usually address either work systems or team culture. We do not know which is more effective, or whether combining approaches is beneficial. To compare improvement in surgical team performance after interventions addressing teamwork culture, work systems, or both. Suite of 5 identical controlled before-after intervention studies, with preplanned analysis of pooled data for indirect comparisons of strategies. Operating theatres in 5 UK hospitals performing elective orthopedic, plastic, or vascular surgery PARTICIPANTS:: All operating theatres staff, including surgeons, nurses, anaesthetists, and others INTERVENTIONS:: 4-month safety improvement interventions, using teamwork training (TT), systems redesign and standardization (SOP), Lean quality improvement, SOP + TT combination, or Lean + TT combination. Team technical and nontechnical performance and World Health Organization (WHO) checklist compliance, measured for 3 months before and after intervention using validated scales. Pooled data analysis of before-after change in active and control groups, comparing combined versus single and systems versus teamwork interventions, using 2-way ANOVA. We studied 453 operations, (255 intervention, 198 control). TT improved nontechnical skills and WHO compliance (P teamwork training and systems rationalization are more effective than those adopting either approach alone. This has important implications for safety improvement strategies in hospitals.

Safety climate in Swiss hospital units: Swiss version of the Safety Climate Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Gehring, Katrin; Mascherek, Anna C.; Bezzola, Paula

2015-01-01

Abstract Rationale, aims and objectives Safety climate measurements are a broadly used element of improvement initiatives. In order to provide a sound and easy‐to‐administer instrument for the use in Swiss hospitals, we translated the Safety Climate Survey into German and French. Methods After translating the Safety Climate Survey into French and German, a cross‐sectional survey study was conducted with health care professionals (HCPs) in operating room (OR) teams and on OR‐related wards in 10 Swiss hospitals. Validity of the instrument was examined by means of Cronbach's alpha and missing rates of the single items. Item‐descriptive statistics group differences and percentage of ‘problematic responses’ (PPR) were calculated. Results 3153 HCPs completed the survey (response rate: 63.4%). 1308 individuals were excluded from the analyses because of a profession other than doctor or nurse or invalid answers (n = 1845; nurses = 1321, doctors = 523). Internal consistency of the translated Safety Climate Survey was good (Cronbach's alpha G erman = 0.86; Cronbach's alpha F rench = 0.84). Missing rates at item level were rather low (0.23–4.3%). We found significant group differences in safety climate values regarding profession, managerial function, work area and time spent in direct patient care. At item level, 14 out of 21 items showed a PPR higher than 10%. Conclusions Results indicate that the French and German translations of the Safety Climate Survey might be a useful measurement instrument for safety climate in Swiss hospital units. Analyses at item level allow for differentiating facets of safety climate into more positive and critical safety climate aspects. PMID:25656302

Do nurse and patient injuries share common antecedents? An analysis of associations with safety climate and working conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Jennifer A; Dominici, Francesca; Agnew, Jacqueline; Gerwin, Daniel; Morlock, Laura; Miller, Marlene R

2012-02-01

Safety climate and nurses' working conditions may have an impact on both patient outcomes and nurse occupational health, but these outcomes have rarely been examined concurrently. To examine the association of unit-level safety climate and specific nurse working conditions with injury outcomes for both nurses and patients in a single hospital. A cross-sectional study was conducted using nursing-unit level and individual-level data at an urban, level-one trauma centre in the USA. Multilevel logistic regressions were used to examine associations among injury outcomes, safety climate and working conditions on 29 nursing units, including a total of 723 nurses and 28 876 discharges. Safety climate was measured in 2004 using the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ). Working conditions included registered nursing hours per patient day (RNHPPD) and unit turnover. Patient injuries included 290 falls, 167 pulmonary embolism/deep vein thrombosis (PE/DVT), and 105 decubitus ulcers. Nurse injury was defined as a reported needle-stick, splash, slip, trip, or fall (n=78). Working conditions and outcomes were measured in 2005. The study found a negative association between two SAQ domains, Safety and Teamwork, with the odds of both decubitus ulcers and nurse injury. RNHPPD showed a negative association with patient falls and decubitus ulcers. Unit turnover was positively associated with nurse injury and PE/DVT, but negatively associated with falls and decubitus ulcers. Safety climate was associated with both patient and nurse injuries, suggesting that patient and nurse safety may actually be linked outcomes. The findings also indicate that increased unit turnover should be considered a risk factor for nurse and patient injuries.

Survey of Employees' Safety Attitude in a Teaching Hospital Tehran 2010

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Mahmmoudi

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Background and aimsThe Medical Errors and the potential unsafe actions are always regarded as a serious trouble by the managers and health care providers. Using the employees' attitude data as a measurement criterion in the evaluation of the hospitals performance in the field of the “Safety” can improve the safety level among the personnel and patients . Survey of employees' attitude about safety and its comparison with different groups of offering health services in a teaching Hospital was the main objective of present study.   MethodsIn order to specify patient safety culture in Moddares hospital, all employees including physicians, nurses, managers and employees of Para-clinic, a volume sample consisting of 212 persons were selected. Then it was used from questionnaire of safety attitude within 6 dimensions including Teamwork climate, Safety climate, perceptions of Management , Job Satisfaction, Working Conditions and Stress Recognition. At first this questionnaire was gone under assessing validity and trust. The scale of measuring, Likert was 5 grades. In order to specify difference between groups under study it was used from ANOVA test.   Results Positive safety culture within 6 dimensions including Teamwork Climate, Safety climate, Job Satisfaction, Stress Recognition, Perception of Management , Working Conditions for doctors were 3, 4.13, 17.4, 0, 4.3, and 8.7 respectively; the aforesaid Dimensions for nurses were 19, 2.6, 10.3, 7.8, 2.6 and 15.5 respectively, the aforesaid Dimensions for managers were 30.3, 6.1, 33.3, 0, 18.2 and 21.2 respectively and the aforesaid Dimensions for employees of Para-clinic Were 50, 12.5, 25, 12.5, 10 and 37.5 respectively. There was Significant difference from View Point of statistics (p<0.5 from Dimensions of Job satisfaction among managers and nurses, employees of Para-clinic and nurses this difference Were zero and 0.001. From View Point of Stress recognition among managers and employees of Para

Teamwork in the NICU setting and its association with healthcare-associated infections in very low birth weight infants

Science.gov (United States)

Profit, Jochen; Sharek, Paul J.; Kan, Peiyi; Rigdon, Joseph; Desai, Manisha; Nisbet, Courtney C.; Tawfik, Daniel S.; Thomas, Eric J.; Lee, Henry C.; Sexton, J. Bryan

2018-01-01

Background and Objective Teamwork may affect clinical care in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) setting. The objective of this study was to assess teamwork climate across NICUs and to test scale level and item level associations with healthcare-associated infection (HAI) rates in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants. Methods Cross-sectional study of the association between HAI rates, defined as any bacterial or fungal infection during the birth hospitalization, among 6663 VLBW infants cared for in 44 NICUs between 2010 and 2012. NICU HAI rates were correlated with teamwork climate ratings obtained in 2011 from 2073 of 3294 eligible (response rate 63%) NICU health professionals. The relation between HAI rates and NICU teamwork climate was assessed using logistic regression models including NICU as a random effect. Results Across NICUs, 36 to 100% (mean 66%) of respondents reported good teamwork. HAI rates were significantly and independently associated with teamwork climate (OR [95% CI] 0.82 [0.73-0.92], p = 0.005), such that the odds of an infant contracting a HAI decreased by 18% with each 10% rise in NICU respondents reporting good teamwork. Conclusion Improving teamwork may be an important element in infection control efforts. PMID:28395366

The relationship between patient safety climate and occupational safety climate in healthcare - A multi-level investigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Pousette, Anders; Larsman, Pernilla; Eklöf, Mats; Törner, Marianne

2017-06-01

Patient safety climate/culture is attracting increasing research interest, but there is little research on its relation with organizational climates regarding other target domains. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between patient safety climate and occupational safety climate in healthcare. The climates were assessed using two questionnaires: Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture and Nordic Occupational Safety Climate Questionnaire. The final sample consisted of 1154 nurses, 886 assistant nurses, and 324 physicians, organized in 150 work units, within hospitals (117units), primary healthcare (5units) and elderly care (28units) in western Sweden, which represented 56% of the original sample contacted. Within each type of safety climate, two global dimensions were confirmed in a higher order factor analysis; one with an external focus relative the own unit, and one with an internal focus. Two methods were used to estimate the covariation between the global climate dimensions, in order to minimize the influence of bias from common method variance. First multilevel analysis was used for partitioning variances and covariances in a within unit part (individual level) and a between unit part (unit level). Second, a split sample technique was used to calculate unit level correlations based on aggregated observations from different respondents. Both methods showed associations similar in strength between the patient safety climate and the occupational safety climate domains. The results indicated that patient safety climate and occupational safety climate are strongly positively related at the unit level, and that the same organizational processes may be important for the development of both types of organizational climate. Safety improvement interventions should not be separated in different organizational processes, but be planned so that both patient safety and staff safety are considered concomitantly. Copyright © 2017 National Safety

Teamwork and Clinical Error Reporting among Nurses in Korean Hospitals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jee-In Hwang, PhD

2015-03-01

Conclusions: Teamwork was rated as moderate and was positively associated with nurses' error reporting performance. Hospital executives and nurse managers should make substantial efforts to enhance teamwork, which will contribute to encouraging the reporting of errors and improving patient safety.

Assessing teamwork performance in obstetrics : a systematic search and review of validated tools

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fransen, Annemarie F.; de Boer, Liza; Kienhorst, Dieneke; Truijens, Sophie E.; van Runnard Heimel, Pieter J.; Oei, S. Guid

2017-01-01

Teamwork performance is an essential component for the clinical efficiency of multi-professional teams in obstetric care. As patient safety is related to teamwork performance, it has become an important learning goal in simulation-based education. In order to improve teamwork performance, reliable

Patient safety culture in Norwegian nursing homes.

Science.gov (United States)

Bondevik, Gunnar Tschudi; Hofoss, Dag; Husebø, Bettina Sandgathe; Deilkås, Ellen Catharina Tveter

2017-06-20

Patient safety culture concerns leader and staff interaction, attitudes, routines, awareness and practices that impinge on the risk of patient-adverse events. Due to their complex multiple diseases, nursing home patients are at particularly high risk of adverse events. Studies have found an association between patient safety culture and the risk of adverse events. This study aimed to investigate safety attitudes among healthcare providers in Norwegian nursing homes, using the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire - Ambulatory Version (SAQ-AV). We studied whether variations in safety attitudes were related to professional background, age, work experience and mother tongue. In February 2016, 463 healthcare providers working in five nursing homes in Tønsberg, Norway, were invited to answer the SAQ-AV, translated and adapted to the Norwegian nursing home setting. Previous validation of the Norwegian SAQ-AV for nursing homes identified five patient safety factors: teamwork climate, safety climate, job satisfaction, working conditions and stress recognition. SPSS v.22 was used for statistical analysis, which included estimations of mean values, standard deviations and multiple linear regressions. P-values safety factors teamwork climate, safety climate, job satisfaction and working conditions. Not being a Norwegian native speaker was associated with a significantly higher mean score for job satisfaction and a significantly lower mean score for stress recognition. Neither professional background nor work experience were significantly associated with mean scores for any patient safety factor. Patient safety factor scores in nursing homes were poorer than previously found in Norwegian general practices, but similar to findings in out-of-hours primary care clinics. Patient safety culture assessment may help nursing home leaders to initiate targeted quality improvement interventions. Further research should investigate associations between patient safety culture and the occurrence

Safety Climate, Perceived Risk, and Involvement in Safety Management

OpenAIRE

Kouabenan , Dongo Rémi; Ngueutsa , Robert ,; Safiétou , Mbaye

2015-01-01

International audience; This article examines the relationship between safety climate, risk perception and involvement in safety management by first-line managers (FLM). Sixty-three FLMs from two French nuclear plants answered a questionnaire measuring perceived workplace safety climate, perceived risk, and involvement in safety management. We hypothesized that a positive perception of safety climate would promote substantial involvement in safety management, and that this effect would be str...

Safety climate and attitude as evaluation measures of organizational safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Isla Díaz, R; Díaz Cabrera, D

1997-09-01

The main aim of this research is to develop a set of evaluation measures for safety attitudes and safety climate. Specifically it is intended: (a) to test the instruments; (b) to identify the essential dimensions of the safety climate in the airport ground handling companies; (c) to assess the quality of the differences in the safety climate for each company and its relation to the accident rate; (d) to analyse the relationship between attitudes and safety climate; and (e) to evaluate the influences of situational and personal factors on both safety climate and attitude. The study sample consisted of 166 subjects from three airport companies. Specifically, this research was centered on ground handling departments. The factor analysis of the safety climate instrument resulted in six factors which explained 69.8% of the total variance. We found significant differences in safety attitudes and climate in relation to type of enterprise.

Introducing Teamwork Challenges in Simulation Using Game Cards.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Todd P; Kwan, Karen Y; Liberman, Danica; Song, Eric; Dao, Eugene H; Chung, Dayun; Morton, Inge; Festekjian, Ara

2015-08-01

Poor teamwork and communication during resuscitations are linked to patient safety problems and poorer outcomes. We present a novel simulation-based educational intervention using game cards to introduce challenges in teamwork. This intervention uses sets of game cards that designate roles, limitations, or communication challenges designed to introduce common communication or teamwork problems. Game cards are designed to be applicable for any simulation-based scenario and are independent from patient physiology. In our example, participants were pediatric emergency medicine fellows undergoing simulation training for orientation. We describe the use of card sets in different scenarios with increasing teamwork challenge and difficulty. Both postscenario and summative debriefings were facilitated to allow participants to reflect on their performance and discover ways to apply their strategies to real resuscitations. In this article, we present our experience with the novel use of game cards to modify simulation scenarios to improve communication and teamwork skills.

Correlation between safety climate and contractor safety assessment programs in construction.

Science.gov (United States)

Sparer, Emily H; Murphy, Lauren A; Taylor, Kathryn M; Dennerlein, Jack T

2013-12-01

Contractor safety assessment programs (CSAPs) measure safety performance by integrating multiple data sources together; however, the relationship between these measures of safety performance and safety climate within the construction industry is unknown. Four hundred and one construction workers employed by 68 companies on 26 sites and 11 safety managers employed by 11 companies completed brief surveys containing a nine-item safety climate scale developed for the construction industry. CSAP scores from ConstructSecure, Inc., an online CSAP database, classified these 68 companies as high or low scorers, with the median score of the sample population as the threshold. Spearman rank correlations evaluated the association between the CSAP score and the safety climate score at the individual level, as well as with various grouping methodologies. In addition, Spearman correlations evaluated the comparison between manager-assessed safety climate and worker-assessed safety climate. There were no statistically significant differences between safety climate scores reported by workers in the high and low CSAP groups. There were, at best, weak correlations between workers' safety climate scores and the company CSAP scores, with marginal statistical significance with two groupings of the data. There were also no significant differences between the manager-assessed safety climate and the worker-assessed safety climate scores. A CSAP safety performance score does not appear to capture safety climate, as measured in this study. The nature of safety climate in construction is complex, which may be reflective of the challenges in measuring safety climate within this industry. Am. J. Ind. Med. 56:1463-1472, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Development and Validation of Performance Assessment Tools for Interprofessional Communication and Teamwork (PACT)

Science.gov (United States)

Chiu, Chia-Ju

2014-01-01

Background: Medical errors caused by breakdowns in teamwork and interprofessional communication contribute to many deaths in the United States each year. Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS®) is an evidence-based teamwork system developed to improve communication and teamwork skills among health care…

Teamwork and Collaboration for Prevention of Surgical Site Infections.

Science.gov (United States)

Dellinger, E Patchen

2016-04-01

The surgeon has been regarded as the "captain of the ship" in the operating room (OR) for many years, but cannot accomplish successful operative intervention without the rest of the team. Review of the pertinent English-language literature. Many reports demonstrate very different impressions of teamwork and communication in the OR held by different members of the surgical team. Objective measures of teamwork and communication demonstrate a reduction in complications including surgical site infections with improved teamwork and communication, with fewer distractions such as noise, and with effective use of checklists. Efforts to improve teamwork and communication and promote the effective use of checklists promote patient safety and improved outcomes for patients with reduction in surgical site infections.

Teamwork in the NICU Setting and Its Association with Health Care-Associated Infections in Very Low-Birth-Weight Infants.

Science.gov (United States)

Profit, Jochen; Sharek, Paul J; Kan, Peiyi; Rigdon, Joseph; Desai, Manisha; Nisbet, Courtney C; Tawfik, Daniel S; Thomas, Eric J; Lee, Henry C; Sexton, J Bryan

2017-08-01

Background and Objective  Teamwork may affect clinical care in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) setting. The objective of this study was to assess teamwork climate across NICUs and to test scale-level and item-level associations with health care-associated infection (HAI) rates in very low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants. Methods  Cross-sectional study of the association between HAI rates, defined as any bacterial or fungal infection during the birth hospitalization, among 6,663 VLBW infants cared for in 44 NICUs between 2010 and 2012. NICU HAI rates were correlated with teamwork climate ratings obtained in 2011 from 2,073 of 3,294 eligible NICU health professionals (response rate 63%). The relation between HAI rates and NICU teamwork climate was assessed using logistic regression models including NICU as a random effect. Results  Across NICUs, 36 to 100% (mean 66%) of respondents reported good teamwork. HAI rates were significantly and independently associated with teamwork climate (odds ratio, 0.82; 95% confidence interval, 0.73-0.92, p  = 0.005), such that the odds of an infant contracting a HAI decreased by 18% with each 10% rise in NICU respondents reporting good teamwork. Conclusion  Improving teamwork may be an important element in infection control efforts. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

The predictive validity of safety climate.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Stephen E

2007-01-01

Safety professionals have increasingly turned their attention to social science for insight into the causation of industrial accidents. One social construct, safety climate, has been examined by several researchers [Cooper, M. D., & Phillips, R. A. (2004). Exploratory analysis of the safety climate and safety behavior relationship. Journal of Safety Research, 35(5), 497-512; Gillen, M., Baltz, D., Gassel, M., Kirsch, L., & Vacarro, D. (2002). Perceived safety climate, job Demands, and coworker support among union and nonunion injured construction workers. Journal of Safety Research, 33(1), 33-51; Neal, A., & Griffin, M. A. (2002). Safety climate and safety behaviour. Australian Journal of Management, 27, 66-76; Zohar, D. (2000). A group-level model of safety climate: Testing the effect of group climate on microaccidents in manufacturing jobs. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(4), 587-596; Zohar, D., & Luria, G. (2005). A multilevel model of safety climate: Cross-level relationships between organization and group-level climates. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(4), 616-628] who have documented its importance as a factor explaining the variation of safety-related outcomes (e.g., behavior, accidents). Researchers have developed instruments for measuring safety climate and have established some degree of psychometric reliability and validity. The problem, however, is that predictive validity has not been firmly established, which reduces the credibility of safety climate as a meaningful social construct. The research described in this article addresses this problem and provides additional support for safety climate as a viable construct and as a predictive indicator of safety-related outcomes. This study used 292 employees at three locations of a heavy manufacturing organization to complete the 16 item Zohar Safety Climate Questionnaire (ZSCQ) [Zohar, D., & Luria, G. (2005). A multilevel model of safety climate: Cross-level relationships between organization and group

Development of a patient safety climate survey for Chinese hospitals: cross-national adaptation and psychometric evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Junya; Li, Liping; Zhao, Hailei; Han, Guangshu; Wu, Albert W; Weingart, Saul N

2014-10-01

Existing patient safety climate instruments, most of which have been developed in the USA, may not accurately reflect the conditions in the healthcare systems of other countries. To develop and evaluate a patient safety climate instrument for healthcare workers in Chinese hospitals. Based on a review of existing instruments, expert panel review, focus groups and cognitive interviews, we developed items relevant to patient safety climate in Chinese hospitals. The draft instrument was distributed to 1700 hospital workers from 54 units in six hospitals in five Chinese cities between July and October 2011, and 1464 completed surveys were received. We performed exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and estimated internal consistency reliability, within-unit agreement, between-unit variation, unit-mean reliability, correlation between multi-item composites, and association between the composites and two single items of perceived safety. The final instrument included 34 items organised into nine composites: institutional commitment to safety, unit management support for safety, organisational learning, safety system, adequacy of safety arrangements, error reporting, communication and peer support, teamwork and staffing. All composites had acceptable unit-mean reliabilities (≥0.74) and within-unit agreement (Rwg ≥0.71), and exhibited significant between-unit variation with intraclass correlation coefficients ranging from 9% to 21%. Internal consistency reliabilities ranged from 0.59 to 0.88 and were ≥0.70 for eight of the nine composites. Correlations between composites ranged from 0.27 to 0.73. All composites were positively and significantly associated with the two perceived safety items. The Chinese Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Climate demonstrates adequate dimensionality, reliability and validity. The integration of qualitative and quantitative methods is essential to produce an instrument that is culturally appropriate for Chinese hospitals

Guide to good practices for teamwork training and diagnostic skills development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-06-01

This guide provides assistance in the development, implementation, and improvement of training on teamwork and diagnostics. DOE and contractor representatives identified the need for teamwork and diagnostics training guidance. This need was based on the increasing emphasis of properly applying knowledge and skills to complete assigned tasks. Teamwork and diagnostic skills have become a focal point because of the impact they have on effective facility operation and safety.

Hospital safety climate surveys: measurement issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Jeanette; Sarac, Cakil; Flin, Rhona

2010-12-01

Organizational safety culture relates to behavioural norms in the workplace and is usually assessed by safety climate surveys. These can be a diagnostic indicator on the state of safety in a hospital. This review examines recent studies using staff surveys of hospital safety climate, focussing on measurement issues. Four questionnaires (hospital survey on patient safety culture, safety attitudes questionnaire, patient safety climate in healthcare organizations, hospital safety climate scale), with acceptable psychometric properties, are now applied across countries and clinical settings. Comparisons for benchmarking must be made with caution in case of questionnaire modifications. Increasing attention is being paid to the unit and hospital level wherein distinct cultures may be located, as well as to associated measurement and study design issues. Predictive validity of safety climate is tested against safety behaviours/outcomes, with some relationships reported, although effects may be specific to professional groups/units. Few studies test the role of intervening variables that could influence the effect of climate on outcomes. Hospital climate studies are becoming a key component of healthcare safety management systems. Large datasets have established more reliable instruments that allow a more focussed investigation of the role of culture in the improvement and maintenance of staff's safety perceptions within units, as well as within hospitals.

An Anesthesia Preinduction Checklist to Improve Information Exchange, Knowledge of Critical Information, Perception of Safety, and Possibly Perception of Teamwork in Anesthesia Teams.

Science.gov (United States)

Tscholl, David W; Weiss, Mona; Kolbe, Michaela; Staender, Sven; Seifert, Burkhardt; Landert, Daniel; Grande, Bastian; Spahn, Donat R; Noethiger, Christoph B

2015-10-01

An anesthesia preinduction checklist (APIC) to be performed before anesthesia induction was introduced and evaluated with respect to 5 team-level outcomes, each being a surrogate end point for patient safety: information exchange (the percentage of checklist items exchanged by a team, out of 12 total items); knowledge of critical information (the percentage of critical information items out of 5 total items such as allergies, reported as known by the members of a team); team members' perceptions of safety (the median scores given by the members of a team on a continuous rating scale); their perception of teamwork (the median scores given by the members of a team on a continuous rating scale); and clinical performance (the percentage of completed items out of 14 required tasks, e.g., suction device checked). A prospective interventional study comparing anesthesia teams using the APIC with a control group not using the APIC was performed using a multimethod design. Trained observers rated information exchange and clinical performance during on-site observations of anesthesia inductions. After the observations, each team member indicated the critical information items they knew and their perceptions of safety and teamwork. One hundred five teams using the APIC were compared with 100 teams not doing so. The medians of the team-level outcome scores in the APIC group versus the control group were as follows: information exchange: 100% vs 33% (P safety: 91% vs 84% (P improves information exchange, knowledge of critical information, and perception of safety in anesthesia teams-all parameters contributing to patient safety. There was a trend indicating improved perception of teamwork.

How Differences Between Manager and Clinician Perceptions of Safety Culture Impact Hospital Processes of Care.

Science.gov (United States)

Richter, Jason; Mazurenko, Olena; Kazley, Abby Swanson; Ford, Eric W

2017-11-04

Evidenced-based processes of care improve patient outcomes, yet universal compliance is lacking, and perceptions of the quality of care are highly variable. The purpose of this study is to examine how differences in clinician and management perceptions on teamwork and communication relate to adherence to hospital processes of care. Hospitals submitted identifiable data for the 2012 Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Hospital Compare. The dependent variable was a composite, developed from the scores on adherence to acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia process of care measures. The primary independent variables reflected 4 safety culture domains: communication openness, feedback about errors, teamwork within units, and teamwork between units. We assigned each hospital into one of 4 groups based on agreement between managers and clinicians on each domain. Each hospital was categorized as "high" (above the median) or "low" (below) for clinicians and managers in communication and teamwork. We found a positive relationship between perceived teamwork and communication climate and processes of care measures. If managers and clinicians perceived the communication openness as high, the hospital was more likely to adhere with processes of care. Similarly, if clinicians perceived teamwork across units as high, the hospital was more likely to adhere to processes of care. Manager and staff perceptions about teamwork and communications impact adherence to processes of care. Policies should recognize the importance of perceptions of both clinicians and managers on teamwork and communication and seek to improve organizational climate and practices. Clinician perceptions of teamwork across units are more closely linked to processes of care, so managers should be cognizant and try to improve their perceptions.

Introducing the individual Teamwork Observation and Feedback Tool (iTOFT): Development and description of a new interprofessional teamwork measure.

Science.gov (United States)

Thistlethwaite, Jill; Dallest, Kathy; Moran, Monica; Dunston, Roger; Roberts, Chris; Eley, Diann; Bogossian, Fiona; Forman, Dawn; Bainbridge, Lesley; Drynan, Donna; Fyfe, Sue

2016-07-01

The individual Teamwork Observation and Feedback Tool (iTOFT) was devised by a consortium of seven universities in recognition of the need for a means of observing and giving feedback to individual learners undertaking an interprofessional teamwork task. It was developed through a literature review of the existing teamwork assessment tools, a discussion of accreditation standards for the health professions, Delphi consultation and field-testing with an emphasis on its feasibility and acceptability for formative assessment. There are two versions: the Basic tool is for use with students who have little clinical teamwork experience and lists 11 observable behaviours under two headings: 'shared decision making' and 'working in a team'. The Advanced version is for senior students and junior health professionals and has 10 observable behaviours under four headings: 'shared decision making', 'working in a team', 'leadership', and 'patient safety'. Both versions include a comprehensive scale and item descriptors. Further testing is required to focus on its validity and educational impact.

[Teamwork in the operating theatre: the German Observational Teamwork Assessment for Surgery (OTAS-D) and its first application in Germany].

Science.gov (United States)

Passauer-Baierl, S; Chiapponi, C; Bruns, C J; Weigl, M

2014-12-01

The quality of surgical teamwork contributes to performance of the operating theatre team, service quality and patient safety in surgery. Observational tools are a feasible and reliable way to capture and evaluate teamwork in the operating theatre (OT). We introduce the German version of the Observational Teamwork Assessment for Surgery (OTAS-D) and present the first observational results from German OTs. Quality of surgical teamwork was assessed with observational teamwork assessment for surgery (OTAS-D). It evaluates five dimensions of OT teamwork: communication, coordination, cooperation/backup behaviour, leadership, and team monitoring/situation awareness. Each dimension is evaluated for each profession (surgical, nursing, and anaesthesia team) as well for each phase of the procedure (pre-, intra-, and post-operative). We observed n = 63 procedures, mainly in abdominal/general and orthopaedic surgery. Additionally, all OT team members scored their individual evaluation of the intra-operative teamwork (standardised 1-item questions). The OTAS-D evaluations showed meaningful results and differences for the OT professions as well as across the different phases of the procedures. Overall, a medium to good level of the OT teamwork was observed. There were no differences in regard to type of surgery (minimally invasive vs. open) or surgical specialties. With an increased coordination of the surgical team we observed a significantly increased cooperation of the nursing team (r = 0.36, p = 0.004). Concerning the OT staffs self-reports, the surgical and nursing teams reported higher scores for quality of surgical teamwork during the procedure than their anaesthesia team members. No significant relationships between observed quality of OT teamwork and self-reports were found. The German version of OTAS-D is a psychometrically robust method to capture the quality of teamwork in operating theatres. It enables the analyses of teamwork between the surgical

Safety climate practice in Korean manufacturing industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baek, Jong-Bae; Bae, Sejong; Ham, Byung-Ho; Singh, Karan P.

2008-01-01

Safety climate survey was sent to 642 plants in 2003 to explore safety climate practices in the Korean manufacturing plants, especially in hazardous chemical treating plants. Out of 642 plants contacted 195 (30.4%) participated in the surveys. Data were collected by e-mail using SQL-server and mail. The main objective of this study was to explore safety climate practices (level of safety climate and the underlying problems). In addition, the variables that may influence the level of safety climate among managers and workers were explored. The questionnaires developed by health and safety executive (HSE) in the UK were modified to incorporate differences in Korean culture. Eleven important factors were summarized. Internal reliability of these factors was validated. Number of employees in the company varied from less than 30 employees (9.2%) to over 1000 employees (37.4%). Both managers and workers showed generally high level of safety climate awareness. The major underlying problems identified were inadequate health and safety procedures/rules, pressure for production, and rule breaking. The length of employment was a significant contributing factor to the level of safety climate. In this study, participants showed generally high level of safety climate, and length of employment affected the differences in the level of safety climate. Managers' commitment to comply safety rules, procedures, and effective safety education and training are recommended

Safety climate practice in Korean manufacturing industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Baek, Jong-Bae; Bae, Sejong; Ham, Byung-Ho; Singh, Karan P

2008-11-15

Safety climate survey was sent to 642 plants in 2003 to explore safety climate practices in the Korean manufacturing plants, especially in hazardous chemical treating plants. Out of 642 plants contacted 195 (30.4%) participated in the surveys. Data were collected by e-mail using SQL-server and mail. The main objective of this study was to explore safety climate practices (level of safety climate and the underlying problems). In addition, the variables that may influence the level of safety climate among managers and workers were explored. The questionnaires developed by health and safety executive (HSE) in the UK were modified to incorporate differences in Korean culture. Eleven important factors were summarized. Internal reliability of these factors was validated. Number of employees in the company varied from less than 30 employees (9.2%) to over 1000 employees (37.4%). Both managers and workers showed generally high level of safety climate awareness. The major underlying problems identified were inadequate health and safety procedures/rules, pressure for production, and rule breaking. The length of employment was a significant contributing factor to the level of safety climate. In this study, participants showed generally high level of safety climate, and length of employment affected the differences in the level of safety climate. Managers' commitment to comply safety rules, procedures, and effective safety education and training are recommended.

Safety climate practice in Korean manufacturing industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baek, Jong-Bae [Department of Safety Engineering, Chungju National University, Chungju 380-702 (Korea, Republic of); Bae, Sejong [Department of Biostatistics, University of North Texas Health Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth, TX 76107 (United States)], E-mail: sbae@hsc.unt.edu; Ham, Byung-Ho [Department of Industrial Safety, Ministry of Labor (Korea, Republic of); Singh, Karan P. [Department of Biostatistics, University of North Texas Health Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth, TX 76107 (United States)

2008-11-15

Safety climate survey was sent to 642 plants in 2003 to explore safety climate practices in the Korean manufacturing plants, especially in hazardous chemical treating plants. Out of 642 plants contacted 195 (30.4%) participated in the surveys. Data were collected by e-mail using SQL-server and mail. The main objective of this study was to explore safety climate practices (level of safety climate and the underlying problems). In addition, the variables that may influence the level of safety climate among managers and workers were explored. The questionnaires developed by health and safety executive (HSE) in the UK were modified to incorporate differences in Korean culture. Eleven important factors were summarized. Internal reliability of these factors was validated. Number of employees in the company varied from less than 30 employees (9.2%) to over 1000 employees (37.4%). Both managers and workers showed generally high level of safety climate awareness. The major underlying problems identified were inadequate health and safety procedures/rules, pressure for production, and rule breaking. The length of employment was a significant contributing factor to the level of safety climate. In this study, participants showed generally high level of safety climate, and length of employment affected the differences in the level of safety climate. Managers' commitment to comply safety rules, procedures, and effective safety education and training are recommended.

Patient safety climate and worker safety behaviours in acute hospitals in Scotland.

Science.gov (United States)

Agnew, Cakil; Flin, Rhona; Mearns, Kathryn

2013-06-01

To obtain a measure of hospital safety climate from a sample of National Health Service (NHS) acute hospitals in Scotland and to test whether these scores were associated with worker safety behaviors, and patient and worker injuries. Data were from 1,866 NHS clinical staff in six Scottish acute hospitals. A Scottish Hospital Safety Questionnaire measured hospital safety climate (Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture), worker safety behaviors, and worker and patient injuries. The associations between the hospital safety climate scores and the outcome measures (safety behaviors, worker and patient injury rates) were examined. Hospital safety climate scores were significantly correlated with clinical workers' safety behavior and patient and worker injury measures, although the effect sizes were smaller for the latter. Regression analyses revealed that perceptions of staffing levels and managerial commitment were significant predictors for all the safety outcome measures. Both patient-specific and more generic safety climate items were found to have significant impacts on safety outcome measures. This study demonstrated the influences of different aspects of hospital safety climate on both patient and worker safety outcomes. Moreover, it has been shown that in a hospital setting, a safety climate supporting safer patient care would also help to ensure worker safety. The Scottish Hospital Safety Questionnaire has proved to be a usable method of measuring both hospital safety climate as well as patient and worker safety outcomes. Copyright © 2013 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Content Validation and Evaluation of an Endovascular Teamwork Assessment Tool.

Science.gov (United States)

Hull, L; Bicknell, C; Patel, K; Vyas, R; Van Herzeele, I; Sevdalis, N; Rudarakanchana, N

2016-07-01

To modify, content validate, and evaluate a teamwork assessment tool for use in endovascular surgery. A multistage, multimethod study was conducted. Stage 1 included expert review and modification of the existing Observational Teamwork Assessment for Surgery (OTAS) tool. Stage 2 included identification of additional exemplar behaviours contributing to effective teamwork and enhanced patient safety in endovascular surgery (using real-time observation, focus groups, and semistructured interviews of multidisciplinary teams). Stage 3 included content validation of exemplar behaviours using expert consensus according to established psychometric recommendations and evaluation of structure, content, feasibility, and usability of the Endovascular Observational Teamwork Assessment Tool (Endo-OTAS) by an expert multidisciplinary panel. Stage 4 included final team expert review of exemplars. OTAS core team behaviours were maintained (communication, coordination, cooperation, leadership team monitoring). Of the 114 OTAS behavioural exemplars, 19 were modified, four removed, and 39 additional endovascular-specific behaviours identified. Content validation of these 153 exemplar behaviours showed that 113/153 (73.9%) reached the predetermined Item-Content Validity Index rating for teamwork and/or patient safety. After expert team review, 140/153 (91.5%) exemplars were deemed to warrant inclusion in the tool. More than 90% of the expert panel agreed that Endo-OTAS is an appropriate teamwork assessment tool with observable behaviours. Some concerns were noted about the time required to conduct observations and provide performance feedback. Endo-OTAS is a novel teamwork assessment tool, with evidence for content validity and relevance to endovascular teams. Endo-OTAS enables systematic objective assessment of the quality of team performance during endovascular procedures. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The Impact of Visibility on Teamwork, Collaborative Communication, and Security in Emergency Departments: An Exploratory Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Gharaveis, Arsalan; Hamilton, D Kirk; Pati, Debajyoti; Shepley, Mardelle

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of visibility on teamwork, collaborative communication, and security issues in emergency departments (EDs). This research explored whether with high visibility in EDs, teamwork and collaborative communication can be improved while the security issues will be reduced. Visibility has been regarded as a critical design consideration and can be directly and considerably impacted by ED's physical design. Teamwork is one of the major related operational outcomes of visibility and involves nurses, support staff, and physicians. The collaborative communication in an ED is another important factor in the process of care delivery and affects efficiency and safety. Furthermore, security is a behavioral factor in ED designs, which includes all types of safety including staff safety, patient safety, and the safety of visitors and family members. This qualitative study investigated the impact of visibility on teamwork, collaborative communication, and security issues in the ED. One-on-one interviews and on-site observation sessions were conducted in a community hospital. Corresponding data analysis was implemented by using computer plan analysis, observation and interview content, and theme analyses. The findings of this exploratory study provided a framework to identify visibility as an influential factor in ED design. High levels of visibility impact productivity and efficiency of teamwork and communication and improve the chance of lowering security issues. The findings of this study also contribute to the general body of knowledge about the effect of physical design on teamwork, collaborative communication, and security.

Safety climate and accidents at work

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ajslev, Jeppe; Dastjerdi, Efat Lali; Dyreborg, Johnny

2017-01-01

Aim: Occupational safety climate is utilized as a way to measure the risk of accidents and injuries at work. This study investigates which factors are associated with safety climate and accidents at work. Methods: In the 2012 round of the Danish Work Environment and Health Study, 15,144 workers...... from the general working population of Denmark replied to questions about safety climate and accidents at work. Mutually adjusted logistic regression analyses determined the association between variables. Results: Within the last year, 5.7% had experienced an accident resulting in sickness absence....... The number of safety climate problems was progressively associated with the odds ratio (OR) for accidents. For one safety climate problem the OR for accidents was 2.01 (95% CI 1.67–2.42), for four or more safety climate problems the OR was 4.57 (95% CI 3.64–5.74). Young workers (18–24 years) had higher odds...

Railway safety climate: a study on organizational development.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Yung-Hsiang

2017-09-07

The safety climate of an organization is considered a leading indicator of potential risk for railway organizations. This study adopts the perceptual measurement-individual attribute approach to investigate the safety climate of a railway organization. The railway safety climate attributes are evaluated from the perspective of railway system staff. We identify four safety climate dimensions from exploratory factor analysis, namely safety communication, safety training, safety management and subjectively evaluated safety performance. Analytical results indicate that the safety climate differs at vertical and horizontal organizational levels. This study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence of the multilevel safety climate in a railway organization, presents possible causes of the differences under various cultural contexts and differentiates between safety climate scales for diverse workgroups within the railway organization. This information can be used to improve the safety sustainability of railway organizations and to conduct safety supervisions for the government.

Students’ Team Project Experiences and Their Attitudes Towards Teamwork

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aleksandra Rudawska

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The aim of the study is to evaluate the influence of team project experiences of students (presence and role of a leader; fairness in team projects; conditions supporting teamwork created by a university on their attitudes towards teamwork, especially the perception of teamwork effectiveness and the preference of working in teams. Methodology: In the study the quantitative research was done among master degree Polish students of Management (105 questionnaires. The measures used for the study were developed specifcally for the study referring to the previous research in the feld. Findings: Results indicate that leaders in team projects and conditions supporting teamwork are connected with the students’ perception of teamwork effectiveness, while the fairness in team projects is connected with students’ preference of working collectively. Research implications: We conclude that in order to develop a positive attitude towards teamwork, the teamwork projects should be better supported by the instructors (especially supporting the emergence of leader(s and minimising the problem of free riders and the university should create a climate that facilitates teamworking, otherwise team projects might negatively influence students’ attitude towards collective work. Value: On the labour market the teamwork skills are one of the most important skills of employees, as the team-based organizational designs are becoming the norm in work organization. The study is contributing to the understanding of the relations between student experiences and their attitudes as well as the role played by high education in the development of these attitudes. Some previous research in Anglo-Saxon culture countries indicate that team project assignments realised by students during studies might even hinder their attitudes to teamwork and their willingness to work in teams in the future.

Associations between safety climate and safety management practices in the construction industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Marín, Luz S; Lipscomb, Hester; Cifuentes, Manuel; Punnett, Laura

2017-06-01

Safety climate, a group-level measure of workers' perceptions regarding management's safety priorities, has been suggested as a key predictor of safety outcomes. However, its relationship with actual injury rates is inconsistent. We posit that safety climate may instead be a parallel outcome of workplace safety practices, rather than a determinant of workers' safety behaviors or outcomes. Using a sample of 25 commercial construction companies in Colombia, selected by injury rate stratum (high, medium, low), we examined the relationship between workers' safety climate perceptions and safety management practices (SMPs) reported by safety officers. Workers' perceptions of safety climate were independent of their own company's implementation of SMPs, as measured here, and its injury rates. However, injury rates were negatively related to the implementation of SMPs. Safety management practices may be more important than workers' perceptions of safety climate as direct predictors of injury rates. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Measuring safety climate in elderly homes.

Science.gov (United States)

Yeung, Koon-Chuen; Chan, Charles C

2012-02-01

Provision of a valid and reliable safety climate dimension brings enormous benefits to the elderly home sector. The aim of the present study was to make use of the safety climate instrument developed by OSHC to measure the safety perceptions of employees in elderly homes such that the factor structure of the safety climate dimensions of elderly homes could be explored. In 2010, surveys by mustering on site method were administered in 27 elderly homes that had participated in the "Hong Kong Safe and Healthy Residential Care Home Accreditation Scheme" organized by the Occupational Safety and Health Council. Six hundred and fifty-one surveys were returned with a response rate of 54.3%. To examine the factor structure of safety climate dimensions in our study, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using principal components analysis method was conducted to identify the underlying factors. The results of the modified seven-factor's safety climate structure extracted from 35 items better reflected the safety climate dimensions of elderly homes. The Cronbach alpha range for this study (0.655 to 0.851) indicated good internal consistency among the seven-factor structure. Responses from managerial level, supervisory and professional level, and front-line staff were analyzed to come up with the suggestion on effective ways of improving the safety culture of elderly homes. The overall results showed that managers generally gave positive responses in the factors evaluated, such as "management commitment and concern to safety," "perception of work risks and some contributory influences," "safety communication and awareness," and "safe working attitude and participation." Supervisors / professionals, and frontline level staff on the other hand, have less positive responses. The result of the lowest score in the factors - "perception of safety rules and procedures" underlined the importance of the relevance and practicability of safety rules and procedures. The modified OSHC

Interdisciplinary teamwork in hospitals: a review and practical recommendations for improvement.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Leary, Kevin J; Sehgal, Niraj L; Terrell, Grace; Williams, Mark V

2012-01-01

Recognizing the importance of teamwork in hospitals, senior leadership from the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE), the American Hospital Association (AHA), the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), and the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) established the High Performance Teams and the Hospital of the Future project. This collaborative learning effort aims to redesign care delivery to provide optimal value to hospitalized patients. With input from members of this initiative, we prepared this report which reviews the literature related to teamwork in hospitals. Teamwork is critically important to provide safe and effective hospital care. Hospitals with high teamwork ratings experience higher patient satisfaction, higher nurse retention, and lower hospital costs. Elements of effective teamwork have been defined and provide a framework for assessment and improvement efforts in hospitals. Measurement of teamwork is essential to understand baseline performance, and to demonstrate the utility of resources invested to enhance it and the subsequent impact on patient care. Interventions designed to improve teamwork in hospitals include localization of physicians, daily goals of care forms and checklists, teamwork training, and interdisciplinary rounds. Though additional research is needed to evaluate the impact on patient outcomes, these interventions consistently result in improved teamwork knowledge, ratings of teamwork climate, and better understanding of patients' plans of care. The optimal approach is implementation of a combination of interventions, with adaptations to fit unique clinical settings and local culture. Copyright © 2011 Society of Hospital Medicine.

"Teamwork in hospitals": a quasi-experimental study protocol applying a human factors approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Ballangrud, Randi; Husebø, Sissel Eikeland; Aase, Karina; Aaberg, Oddveig Reiersdal; Vifladt, Anne; Berg, Geir Vegard; Hall-Lord, Marie Louise

2017-01-01

Effective teamwork and sufficient communication are critical components essential to patient safety in today's specialized and complex healthcare services. Team training is important for an improved efficiency in inter-professional teamwork within hospitals, however the scientific rigor of studies must be strengthen and more research is required to compare studies across samples, settings and countries. The aims of the study are to translate and validate teamwork questionnaires and investigate healthcare personnel's perception of teamwork in hospitals (Part 1). Further to explore the impact of an inter-professional teamwork intervention in a surgical ward on structure, process and outcome (Part 2). To address the aims, a descriptive, and explorative design (Part 1), and a quasi-experimental interventional design will be applied (Part 2). The study will be carried out in five different hospitals (A-E) in three hospital trusts in Norway. Frontline healthcare personnel in Hospitals A and B, from both acute and non-acute departments, will be invited to respond to three Norwegian translated teamwork questionnaires (Part 1). An inter-professional teamwork intervention in line with the TeamSTEPPS recommend Model of Change will be implemented in a surgical ward at Hospital C. All physicians, registered nurses and assistant nurses in the intervention ward and two control wards (Hospitals D and E) will be invited to to survey their perception of teamwork, team decision making, safety culture and attitude towards teamwork before intervention and after six and 12 months. Adult patients admitted to the intervention surgical unit will be invited to survey their perception of quality of care during their hospital stay before intervention and after six and 12 month. Moreover, anonymous patient registry data from local registers and data from patients' medical records will be collected (Part 2). This study will help to understand the impact of an inter-professional teamwork

Two Hours of Teamwork Training Improves Teamwork in Simulated Cardiopulmonary Arrest Events.

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Mahramus, Tara L; Penoyer, Daleen A; Waterval, Eugene M E; Sole, Mary L; Bowe, Eileen M

2016-01-01

Teamwork during cardiopulmonary arrest events is important for resuscitation. Teamwork improvement programs are usually lengthy. This study assessed the effectiveness of a 2-hour teamwork training program. A prospective, pretest/posttest, quasi-experimental design assessed the teamwork training program targeted to resident physicians, nurses, and respiratory therapists. Participants took part in a simulated cardiac arrest. After the simulation, participants and trained observers assessed perceptions of teamwork using the Team Emergency Assessment Measure (TEAM) tool (ratings of 0 [low] to 4 [high]). A debriefing and 45 minutes of teamwork education followed. Participants then took part in a second simulated cardiac arrest scenario. Afterward, participants and observers assessed teamwork. Seventy-three team members participated-resident physicians (25%), registered nurses (32%), and respiratory therapists (41%). The physicians had significantly less experience on code teams (P teamwork scores were 2.57 to 2.72. Participants' mean (SD) scores on the TEAM tool for the first and second simulations were 3.2 (0.5) and 3.7 (0.4), respectively (P teamwork educational intervention resulted in improved perceptions of teamwork behaviors. Participants reported interactions with other disciplines, teamwork behavior education, and debriefing sessions were beneficial for enhancing the program.

Safety climate and firefighting: Focus group results.

Science.gov (United States)

DeJoy, David M; Smith, Todd D; Dyal, Mari-Amanda

2017-09-01

Firefighting is a hazardous occupation and there have been numerous calls for fundamental changes in how fire service organizations approach safety and balance safety with other operational priorities. These calls, however, have yielded little systematic research. As part of a larger project to develop and test a model of safety climate for the fire service, focus groups were used to identify potentially important dimensions of safety climate pertinent to firefighting. Analyses revealed nine overarching themes. Competency/professionalism, physical/psychological readiness, and that positive traits sometimes produce negative consequences were themes at the individual level; cohesion and supervisor leadership/support at the workgroup level; and politics/bureaucracy, resources, leadership, and hiring/promotion at the organizational level. A multi-level perspective seems appropriate for examining safety climate in firefighting. Safety climate in firefighting appears to be multi-dimensional and some dimensions prominent in the general safety climate literature also seem relevant to firefighting. These results also suggest that the fire service may be undergoing transitions encompassing mission, personnel, and its fundamental approach to safety and risk. These results help point the way to the development of safety climate measures specific to firefighting and to interventions for improving safety performance. Copyright © 2017 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Factors related to teamwork performance and stress of operating room nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Sonoda, Yukio; Onozuka, Daisuke; Hagihara, Akihito

2018-01-01

To evaluate operating room nurses' perception of teamwork performance and their level of mental stress and to identify related factors. Little is known about the factors affecting teamwork and the mental stress of surgical nurses, although the performance of the surgical team is essential for patient safety. The questionnaire survey for operation room nurses consisted of simple questions about teamwork performance and mental stress. Multivariate analyses were used to identify factors causing a sense of teamwork performance or mental stress. A large number of surgical nurses had a sense of teamwork performance, but 30-40% of operation room nurses were mentally stressed during surgery. Neither the patient nor the operation factors were related to the sense of teamwork performance in both types of nurses. Among scrub nurses, endoscopic and abdominal surgery, body mass index, blood loss and the American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status class were related to their mental stress. Conversely, circulating nurses were stressed about teamwork performance. The factors related to teamwork performance and mental stress during surgery differed between scrub and circulating nurses. Increased support for operation room nurses is necessary. The increased support leads to safer surgical procedures and better patient outcomes. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Safety climate and safety behaviors in the construction industry: The importance of co-workers commitment to safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwatka, Natalie V; Rosecrance, John C

2016-06-16

There is growing empirical evidence that as safety climate improves work site safety practice improve. Safety climate is often measured by asking workers about their perceptions of management commitment to safety. However, it is less common to include perceptions of their co-workers commitment to safety. While the involvement of management in safety is essential, working with co-workers who value and prioritize safety may be just as important. To evaluate a concept of safety climate that focuses on top management, supervisors and co-workers commitment to safety, which is relatively new and untested in the United States construction industry. Survey data was collected from a cohort of 300 unionized construction workers in the United States. The significance of direct and indirect (mediation) effects among safety climate and safety behavior factors were evaluated via structural equation modeling. Results indicated that safety climate was associated with safety behaviors on the job. More specifically, perceptions of co-workers commitment to safety was a mediator between both management commitment to safety climate factors and safety behaviors. These results support workplace health and safety interventions that build and sustain safety climate and a commitment to safety amongst work teams.

Do Leadership Style, Unit Climate, and Safety Climate Contribute to Safe Medication Practices?

Science.gov (United States)

Farag, Amany; Tullai-McGuinness, Susan; Anthony, Mary K; Burant, Christopher

2017-01-01

This study aims at: examining if leadership style and unit climate predict safety climate; and testing the direct, indirect, and total effect of leadership style, unit climate, and safety climate on nurses' safe medication practices. The Institute of Medicine and nursing scholars propose that safety climate is a prerequisite to safety practices. However, there is limited empirical evidence about factors contributing to the development of safety climate and about the association with nurses' safe medication practices. This cross-sectional study used survey data from 246 RNs working in a Magnet® hospital. Leadership style and unit climate predicted 20% to 50% of variance on all safety climate dimensions. Model testing revealed the indirect impact of leadership style and unit climate on nurses' safe medication practices. Our hypothesized model explained small amount of the variance on nurses' safe medication practices. This finding suggests that nurses' safe medication practices are influenced by multiple contextual and personal factors that should be further examined.

A systematic review of teamwork in the intensive care unit: what do we know about teamwork, team tasks, and improvement strategies?

Science.gov (United States)

Dietz, Aaron S; Pronovost, Peter J; Mendez-Tellez, Pedro Alejandro; Wyskiel, Rhonda; Marsteller, Jill A; Thompson, David A; Rosen, Michael A

2014-12-01

Teamwork is essential for ensuring the quality and safety of health care delivery in the intensive care unit (ICU). This article addresses what we know about teamwork, team tasks, and team improvement strategies in the ICU to identify the strengths and limitations of the existing knowledge base to guide future research. A keyword search of the PubMed database was conducted in February 2013. Keyword combinations focused on 3 areas: (1) teamwork, (2) the ICU, and (3) training/quality improvement interventions. All studies that investigated teamwork, team tasks, or team interventions within the ICU (ie, intradepartment) were selected for inclusion. Teamwork has been investigated across an array of research contexts and task types. The terminology used to describe team factors varied considerably across studies. The most common team tasks involved strategy and goal formulation. Team training and structured protocols were the most widely implemented quality improvement strategies. Team research is burgeoning in the ICU, yet low-hanging fruit remains that can further advance the science of teams in the ICU if addressed. Constructs must be defined, and theoretical frameworks should be referenced. The functional characteristics of tasks should also be reported to help determine the extent to which study results might generalize to other contexts of work. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Safety climate and self-reported injury: assessing the mediating role of employee safety control.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; Ho, Michael; Smith, Gordon S; Chen, Peter Y

2006-05-01

To further reduce injuries in the workplace, companies have begun focusing on organizational factors which may contribute to workplace safety. Safety climate is an organizational factor commonly cited as a predictor of injury occurrence. Characterized by the shared perceptions of employees, safety climate can be viewed as a snapshot of the prevailing state of safety in the organization at a discrete point in time. However, few studies have elaborated plausible mechanisms through which safety climate likely influences injury occurrence. A mediating model is proposed to link safety climate (i.e., management commitment to safety, return-to-work policies, post-injury administration, and safety training) with self-reported injury through employees' perceived control on safety. Factorial evidence substantiated that management commitment to safety, return-to-work policies, post-injury administration, and safety training are important dimensions of safety climate. In addition, the data support that safety climate is a critical factor predicting the history of a self-reported occupational injury, and that employee safety control mediates the relationship between safety climate and occupational injury. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating organizational factors and workers' characteristics in efforts to improve organizational safety performance.

Multilevel model of safety climate for furniture industries.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodrigues, Matilde A; Arezes, Pedro M; Leão, Celina P

2015-01-01

Furniture companies can analyze their safety status using quantitative measures. However, the data needed are not always available and the number of accidents is under-reported. Safety climate scales may be an alternative. However, there are no validated Portuguese scales that account for the specific attributes of the furniture sector. The current study aims to develop and validate an instrument that uses a multilevel structure to measure the safety climate of the Portuguese furniture industry. The Safety Climate in Wood Industries (SCWI) model was developed and applied to the safety climate analysis using three different scales: organizational, group and individual. A multilevel exploratory factor analysis was performed to analyze the factorial structure. The studied companies' safety conditions were also analyzed. Different factorial structures were found between and within levels. In general, the results show the presence of a group-level safety climate. The scores of safety climates are directly and positively related to companies' safety conditions; the organizational scale is the one that best reflects the actual safety conditions. The SCWI instrument allows for the identification of different safety climates in groups that comprise the same furniture company and it seems to reflect those groups' safety conditions. The study also demonstrates the need for a multilevel analysis of the studied instrument.

Climate and climate-related issues for the safety assessment SR-Site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-12-01

The purpose of this report is to document current scientific knowledge on climate and climate-related conditions, relevant to the long-term safety of a KBS-3 repository, to a level required for an adequate treatment in the safety assessment SR-Site. The report also presents a number of dedicated studies on climate and selected climate-related processes of relevance for the assessment of long term repository safety. Based on this information, the report presents a number of possible future climate developments for Forsmark, the site selected for building a repository for spent nuclear fuel in Sweden (Figure 1-1). The presented climate developments are used as basis for the selection and analysis of SR-Site safety assessment scenarios in the SR-Site main report /SKB 2011/. The present report is based on research conducted and published by SKB as well as on research reported in the general scientific literature

Climate and climate-related issues for the safety assessment SR-Site

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2010-12-15

The purpose of this report is to document current scientific knowledge on climate and climate-related conditions, relevant to the long-term safety of a KBS-3 repository, to a level required for an adequate treatment in the safety assessment SR-Site. The report also presents a number of dedicated studies on climate and selected climate-related processes of relevance for the assessment of long term repository safety. Based on this information, the report presents a number of possible future climate developments for Forsmark, the site selected for building a repository for spent nuclear fuel in Sweden (Figure 1-1). The presented climate developments are used as basis for the selection and analysis of SR-Site safety assessment scenarios in the SR-Site main report /SKB 2011/. The present report is based on research conducted and published by SKB as well as on research reported in the general scientific literature

Climate and climate-related issues for the safety assessment SR-Can

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naeslund, Jens-Ove

2006-11-01

The purpose of this report is to document current scientific knowledge of the climate-related conditions and processes relevant to the long-term safety of a KBS-3 repository to a level required for an adequate treatment in the safety assessment SR-Can. The report also includes a concise background description of the climate system. The report includes three main chapters: A description of the climate system (Chapter 2); Identification and discussion of climate-related issues (Chapter 3); and, A description of the evolution of climate-related conditions for the safety assessment (Chapter 4). Chapter 2 includes an overview of present knowledge of the Earth climate system and the climate conditions that can be expected to occur in Sweden on a 100,000 year time perspective. Based on this, climate-related issues relevant for the long-term safety of a KBS-3 repository are identified. These are documented in Chapter 3 'Climate-related issues' to a level required for an adequate treatment in the safety assessment. Finally, in Chapter 4, 'Evolution of climate-related conditions for the safety assessment' an evolution for a 120,000 year period is presented, including discussions of identified climate-related issues of importance for repository safety. The documentation is from a scientific point of view not exhaustive, since such a treatment is neither necessary for the purposes of the safety assessment nor possible within the scope of a safety assessment. As further described in the SR-Can Main Report and in the Features Events and Processes report, the content of the present report has been audited by comparison with FEP databases compiled in other assessment projects. This report follows as far as possible the template for documentation of processes regarded as internal to the repository system. However, the term processes is not used in this report, instead the term issue has been used. Each issue includes a set of processes together resulting in the behaviour of a

Climate and climate-related issues for the safety assessment SR-Can

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Naeslund, Jens-Ove (comp.)

2006-11-15

The purpose of this report is to document current scientific knowledge of the climate-related conditions and processes relevant to the long-term safety of a KBS-3 repository to a level required for an adequate treatment in the safety assessment SR-Can. The report also includes a concise background description of the climate system. The report includes three main chapters: A description of the climate system (Chapter 2); Identification and discussion of climate-related issues (Chapter 3); and, A description of the evolution of climate-related conditions for the safety assessment (Chapter 4). Chapter 2 includes an overview of present knowledge of the Earth climate system and the climate conditions that can be expected to occur in Sweden on a 100,000 year time perspective. Based on this, climate-related issues relevant for the long-term safety of a KBS-3 repository are identified. These are documented in Chapter 3 'Climate-related issues' to a level required for an adequate treatment in the safety assessment. Finally, in Chapter 4, 'Evolution of climate-related conditions for the safety assessment' an evolution for a 120,000 year period is presented, including discussions of identified climate-related issues of importance for repository safety. The documentation is from a scientific point of view not exhaustive, since such a treatment is neither necessary for the purposes of the safety assessment nor possible within the scope of a safety assessment. As further described in the SR-Can Main Report and in the Features Events and Processes report, the content of the present report has been audited by comparison with FEP databases compiled in other assessment projects. This report follows as far as possible the template for documentation of processes regarded as internal to the repository system. However, the term processes is not used in this report, instead the term issue has been used. Each issue includes a set of processes together resulting in the

Safety climate and culture: Integrating psychological and systems perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Casey, Tristan; Griffin, Mark A; Flatau Harrison, Huw; Neal, Andrew

2017-07-01

Safety climate research has reached a mature stage of development, with a number of meta-analyses demonstrating the link between safety climate and safety outcomes. More recently, there has been interest from systems theorists in integrating the concept of safety culture and to a lesser extent, safety climate into systems-based models of organizational safety. Such models represent a theoretical and practical development of the safety climate concept by positioning climate as part of a dynamic work system in which perceptions of safety act to constrain and shape employee behavior. We propose safety climate and safety culture constitute part of the enabling capitals through which organizations build safety capability. We discuss how organizations can deploy different configurations of enabling capital to exert control over work systems and maintain safe and productive performance. We outline 4 key strategies through which organizations to reconcile the system control problems of promotion versus prevention, and stability versus flexibility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Does Employee Safety Matter for Patients Too? Employee Safety Climate and Patient Safety Culture in Health Care.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohr, David C; Eaton, Jennifer Lipkowitz; McPhaul, Kathleen M; Hodgson, Michael J

2015-04-22

We examined relationships between employee safety climate and patient safety culture. Because employee safety may be a precondition for the development of patient safety, we hypothesized that employee safety culture would be strongly and positively related to patient safety culture. An employee safety climate survey was administered in 2010 and assessed employees' views and experiences of safety for employees. The patient safety survey administered in 2011 assessed the safety culture for patients. We performed Pearson correlations and multiple regression analysis to examine the relationships between a composite measure of employee safety with subdimensions of patient safety culture. The regression models controlled for size, geographic characteristics, and teaching affiliation. Analyses were conducted at the group level using data from 132 medical centers. Higher employee safety climate composite scores were positively associated with all 9 patient safety culture measures examined. Standardized multivariate regression coefficients ranged from 0.44 to 0.64. Medical facilities where staff have more positive perceptions of health care workplace safety climate tended to have more positive assessments of patient safety culture. This suggests that patient safety culture and employee safety climate could be mutually reinforcing, such that investments and improvements in one domain positively impacts the other. Further research is needed to better understand the nexus between health care employee and patient safety to generalize and act upon findings.

Effects of a multicentre teamwork and communication programme on patient outcomes: results from the Triad for Optimal Patient Safety (TOPS) project.

Science.gov (United States)

Auerbach, Andrew D; Sehgal, Niraj L; Blegen, Mary A; Maselli, Judith; Alldredge, Brian K; Vittinghoff, Eric; Wachter, Robert M

2012-02-01

Improving communication between caregivers is an important approach to improving safety. To implement teamwork and communication interventions and evaluate their impact on patient outcomes. A prospective, interrupted time series of a three-phase a run-in period (phase 1), during which a training programme was given to providers and staff on each unit; phase 2, which focused on unit-based safety teams to identify and address care problems using skills from phase 1; and phase 3, which focused on engaging patients in communication efforts. General medical inpatient units at three northern California hospitals. Administrative data were collected from all adults admitted to the target units, and a convenience sample of patients interviewed during and after hospitalisation. Readmission, length of stay and patient reports of teamwork, problems with care, and overall satisfaction. 10 977 patients were admitted; 581 patients (5.3% of total sample) were interviewed in hospital, and 313 (2.9% overall, 53.8% of interviewed patients) completed 1-month surveys. No phase of the study was associated with adjusted differences in readmission or length of stay. The phase 2 intervention appeared to be associated with improvement in reports of whether physicians treated them with respect, whether nurses treated them with respect or understood their needs (pcommunication may improve patients' perception of team functions, but may also increase patients' perception of safety gaps.

Evaluation of safety climate and employee injury rates in healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Jacqueline M; Slade, Martin D; Cantley, Linda F; Sakr, Carine J

2016-09-01

Safety climates that support safety-related behaviour are associated with fewer work-related injuries, and prior research in industry suggests that safety knowledge and motivation are strongly related to safety performance behaviours; this relationship is not well studied in healthcare settings. We performed analyses of survey results from a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Safety Barometer employee perception survey, conducted among VHA employees in 2012. The employee perception survey assessed 6 safety programme categories, including management participation, supervisor participation, employee participation, safety support activities, safety support climate and organisational climate. We examined the relationship between safety climate from the survey results on VHA employee injury and illness rates. Among VHA facilities in the VA New England Healthcare System, work-related injury rate was significantly and inversely related to overall employee perception of safety climate, and all 6 safety programme categories, including employee perception of employee participation, management participation, organisational climate, supervisor participation, safety support activities and safety support climate. Positive employee perceptions of safety climate in VHA facilities are associated with lower work-related injury and illness rates. Employee perception of employee participation, management participation, organisational climate, supervisor participation, safety support activities and safety support climate were all associated with lower work-related injury rates. Future implications include fostering a robust safety climate for patients and healthcare workers to reduce healthcare worker injuries. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Teamwork Assessment Tools in Obstetric Emergencies: A Systematic Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Onwochei, Desire N; Halpern, Stephen; Balki, Mrinalini

2017-06-01

Team-based training and simulation can improve patient safety, by improving communication, decision making, and performance of team members. Currently, there is no general consensus on whether or not a specific assessment tool is better adapted to evaluate teamwork in obstetric emergencies. The purpose of this qualitative systematic review was to find the tools available to assess team effectiveness in obstetric emergencies. We searched Embase, Medline, PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Google Scholar for prospective studies that evaluated nontechnical skills in multidisciplinary teams involving obstetric emergencies. The search included studies from 1944 until January 11, 2016. Data on reliability and validity measures were collected and used for interpretation. A descriptive analysis was performed on the data. Thirteen studies were included in the final qualitative synthesis. All the studies assessed teams in the context of obstetric simulation scenarios, but only six included anesthetists in the simulations. One study evaluated their teamwork tool using just validity measures, five using just reliability measures, and one used both. The most reliable tools identified were the Clinical Teamwork Scale, the Global Assessment of Obstetric Team Performance, and the Global Rating Scale of performance. However, they were still lacking in terms of quality and validity. More work needs to be conducted to establish the validity of teamwork tools for nontechnical skills, and the development of an ideal tool is warranted. Further studies are required to assess how outcomes, such as performance and patient safety, are influenced when using these tools.

[Analysis and modelling of safety culture in a Mexican hospital by Markov chains].

Science.gov (United States)

Velázquez-Martínez, J D; Cruz-Suárez, H; Santos-Reyes, J

2016-01-01

The objective of this study was to analyse and model the safety culture with Markov chains, as well as predicting and/or prioritizing over time the evolutionary behaviour of the safety culture of the health's staff in one Mexican hospital. The Markov chain theory has been employed in the analysis, and the input data has been obtained from a previous study based on the Safety Attitude Questionnaire (CAS-MX-II), by considering the following 6 dimensions: safety climate, teamwork, job satisfaction, recognition of stress, perception of management, and work environment. The results highlighted the predictions and/or prioritisation of the approximate time for the possible integration into the evolutionary behaviour of the safety culture as regards the "slightly agree" (Likert scale) for: safety climate (in 12 years; 24.13%); teamwork (8 years; 34.61%); job satisfaction (11 years; 52.41%); recognition of the level of stress (8 years; 19.35%); and perception of the direction (22 years; 27.87%). The work environment dimension was unable to determine the behaviour of staff information, i.e. no information cultural roots were obtained. In general, it has been shown that there are weaknesses in the safety culture of the hospital, which is an opportunity to suggest changes to the mandatory policies in order to strengthen it. Copyright © 2016 SECA. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Safety climate and injuries: an examination of theoretical and empirical relationships.

Science.gov (United States)

Beus, Jeremy M; Payne, Stephanie C; Bergman, Mindy E; Arthur, Winfred

2010-07-01

Our purpose in this study was to meta-analytically address several theoretical and empirical issues regarding the relationships between safety climate and injuries. First, we distinguished between extant safety climate-->injury and injury-->safety climate relationships for both organizational and psychological safety climates. Second, we examined several potential moderators of these relationships. Meta-analyses revealed that injuries were more predictive of organizational safety climate than safety climate was predictive of injuries. Additionally, the injury-->safety climate relationship was stronger for organizational climate than for psychological climate. Moderator analyses revealed that the degree of content contamination in safety climate measures inflated effects, whereas measurement deficiency attenuated effects. Additionally, moderator analyses showed that as the time period over which injuries were assessed lengthened, the safety climate-->injury relationship was attenuated. Supplemental meta-analyses of specific safety climate dimensions also revealed that perceived management commitment to safety is the most robust predictor of occupational injuries. Contrary to expectations, the operationalization of injuries did not meaningfully moderate safety climate-injury relationships. Implications and recommendations for future research and practice are discussed.

The influence of authentic leadership on safety climate in nursing.

Science.gov (United States)

Dirik, Hasan Fehmi; Seren Intepeler, Seyda

2017-07-01

This study analysed nurses' perceptions of authentic leadership and safety climate and examined the contribution of authentic leadership to the safety climate. It has been suggested and emphasised that authentic leadership should be used as a guidance to ensure quality care and the safety of patients and health-care personnel. This predictive study was conducted with 350 nurses in three Turkish hospitals. The data were collected using the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire and the Safety Climate Survey and analysed using hierarchical regression analysis. The mean authentic leadership perception and the safety climate scores of the nurses were 2.92 and 3.50, respectively. The percentage of problematic responses was found to be less than 10% for only four safety climate items. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that authentic leadership significantly predicted the safety climate. Procedural and political improvements are required in terms of the safety climate in institutions, where the study was conducted, and authentic leadership increases positive perceptions of safety climate. Exhibiting the characteristics of authentic leadership, or improving them and reflecting them on to personnel can enhance the safety climate. Planning information sharing meetings to raise the personnel's awareness of safety climate and systemic improvements can contribute to creating safe care climates. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Dimensions of Safety Climate among Iranian Nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Konjin, Z Naghavi; Shokoohi, Y; Zarei, F; Rahimzadeh, M; Sarsangi, V

2015-10-01

Workplace safety has been a concern of workers and managers for decades. Measuring safety climate is crucial in improving safety performance. It is also a method of benchmarking safety perception. To develop and validate a psychometrics scale for measuring nurses' safety climate. Literature review, subject matter experts and nurse's judgment were used in items developing. Content validity and reliability for new tool were tested by content validity index (CVI) and test-retest analysis, respectively. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with varimax rotation was used to improve the interpretation of latent factors. A 40-item scale in 6 factors was developed, which could explain 55% of the observed variance. The 6 factors included employees' involvement in safety and management support, compliance with safety rules, safety training and accessibility to personal protective equipment, hindrance to safe work, safety communication and job pressure, and individual risk perception. The proposed scale can be used in identifying the needed areas to implement interventions in safety climate of nurses.

Assessing Interprofessional Teamwork in Inpatient Medical Oncology Units.

Science.gov (United States)

Weaver, A Charlotta; Callaghan, Mary; Cooper, Abby L; Brandman, James; O'Leary, Kevin J

2015-01-01

Teamwork is important to providing safe and effective care for hospitalized patients with cancer; however, few studies have evaluated teamwork in this setting. We surveyed all nurses, residents, hospitalists, and oncology physicians in oncology units at a large urban teaching hospital from September to November 2012. Respondents rated teamwork using a validated instrument (Safety Attitudes Questionnaire; scale, 0 to 100) and rated the quality of collaboration they had experienced with other professionals using a 5-point ordinal response scale (1, very low quality; 5, very high quality). Respondents also rated potential barriers to collaboration using a 4-point ordinal response scale (1, not at all a barrier; 4, major barrier). We compared ratings by professionals using analysis of variance (ANOVA). Overall, 129 (67%) of 193 eligible participants completed the survey. Teamwork scores differed across professional types, with nurses providing the lowest ratings (69.7) and residents providing the highest (81.9; ANOVA P = .01). Ratings of collaboration with nurses were high across all types of professionals. Ratings of collaboration with physicians varied significantly by professional type (P ≤ .02), with nurses giving lower ratings of collaboration with all physician types. Similarly, perceived barriers to collaboration differed by professional type, with nurses perceiving the biggest barrier to be negative attitudes regarding the importance of communication. Oncologists did not perceive any of the listed options as major barriers to collaboration. In inpatient oncology units, discrepancies exist between nurses' and physicians' ratings of teamwork and collaboration. Oncologists seem to be unaware that teamwork is suboptimal in this setting. Copyright © 2015 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Disentangling the roles of safety climate and safety culture: Multi-level effects on the relationship between supervisor enforcement and safety compliance.

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Petitta, Laura; Probst, Tahira M; Barbaranelli, Claudio; Ghezzi, Valerio

2017-02-01

Despite increasing attention to contextual effects on the relationship between supervisor enforcement and employee safety compliance, no study has yet explored the conjoint influence exerted simultaneously by organizational safety climate and safety culture. The present study seeks to address this literature shortcoming. We first begin by briefly discussing the theoretical distinctions between safety climate and culture and the rationale for examining these together. Next, using survey data collected from 1342 employees in 32 Italian organizations, we found that employee-level supervisor enforcement, organizational-level safety climate, and autocratic, bureaucratic, and technocratic safety culture dimensions all predicted individual-level safety compliance behaviors. However, the cross-level moderating effect of safety climate was bounded by certain safety culture dimensions, such that safety climate moderated the supervisor enforcement-compliance relationship only under the clan-patronage culture dimension. Additionally, the autocratic and bureaucratic culture dimensions attenuated the relationship between supervisor enforcement and compliance. Finally, when testing the effects of technocratic safety culture and cooperative safety culture, neither safety culture nor climate moderated the relationship between supervisor enforcement and safety compliance. The results suggest a complex relationship between organizational safety culture and safety climate, indicating that organizations with particular safety cultures may be more likely to develop more (or less) positive safety climates. Moreover, employee safety compliance is a function of supervisor safety leadership, as well as the safety climate and safety culture dimensions prevalent within the organization. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Predictors of Likelihood of Speaking Up about Safety Concerns in Labour and Delivery

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Lyndon, Audrey; Sexton, J. Bryan; Simpson, Kathleen Rice; Rosenstein, Alan; Lee, Kathryn A.; Wachter, Robert M.

2011-01-01

Background Despite widespread emphasis on promoting “assertive communication” by caregivers as essential to patient safety improvement efforts, fairly little is known about when and how clinicians speak up to address safety concerns. In this cross-sectional study we use a new measure of speaking up to begin exploring this issue in maternity care. Methods We developed a scenario-based measure of clinician’s assessment of potential harm and likelihood of speaking up in response to perceived harm. We embedded this scale in a survey with measures of safety climate, teamwork climate, disruptive behaviour, work stress, and personality traits of bravery and assertiveness. The survey was distributed to all registered nurses and obstetricians practicing in two US Labour & Delivery units. Results The response rate was 54% (125 of 230 potential respondents). Respondents were experienced clinicians (13.7 ± 11 years in specialty). Higher perception of harm, respondent role, specialty experience, and site predicted likelihood of speaking up when controlling for bravery and assertiveness. Physicians rated potential harm in common clinical scenarios lower than nurses did (7.5 vs. 8.4 on 2–10 scale; p<0.001). Some participants (12%) indicated they were unlikely to speak up despite perceiving high potential for harm in certain situations. Discussion This exploratory study found nurses and physicians differed in their harm ratings, and harm rating was a predictor of speaking up. This may partially explain persistent discrepancies between physicians and nurses in teamwork climate scores. Differing assessments of potential harms inherent in everyday practice may be a target for teamwork intervention in maternity care. PMID:22927492

Multidisciplinary teamwork and communication training.

Science.gov (United States)

Deering, Shad; Johnston, Lindsay C; Colacchio, Kathryn

2011-04-01

Every delivery is a multidisciplinary event, involving nursing, obstetricians, anesthesiologists, and pediatricians. Patients are often in labor across multiple provider shifts, necessitating numerous handoffs between teams. Each handoff provides an opportunity for errors. Although a traditional approach to improving patient outcomes has been to address individual knowledge and skills, it is now recognized that a significant number of complications result from team, rather than individual, failures. In 2004, a Sentinel Alert issued by the Joint Commission revealed that most cases of perinatal death and injury are caused by problems with an organization's culture and communication failures. It was recommended that hospitals implement teamwork training programs in an effort to improve outcomes. Instituting a multidisciplinary teamwork training program that uses simulation offers a risk-free environment to practice skills, including communication, role clarification, and mutual support. This experience should improve patient safety and outcomes, as well as enhance employee morale. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Teamwork management in a creative organization

OpenAIRE

Preikšaitytė, Agnė

2016-01-01

Teamwork Management in a Creative Organization Problem of Thesis - lack of researches investigating teamwork resolution, management specificity and interferences in cultural organizations. Aim – to analyze features of teamwork management in cultural organization. Tasks: 1. To define the concept of teamwork; 2. To disclose features of teamwork forming process; 3. To analyze features of teamwork management. 4. To examine factors of teamwork management in cultural organization; 5. To investigate...

Comparing safety climate in naval aviation and hospitals: implications for improving patient safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Singer, Sara J; Rosen, Amy; Zhao, Shibei; Ciavarelli, Anthony P; Gaba, David M

2010-01-01

Evidence of variation in safety climate suggests the need for improvement among at least some hospitals. However, comparisons only among hospitals may underestimate the improvement required. Comparison of hospitals with analogous industries may provide a broader perspective on the safety status of our nation's hospitals. The purpose of this study was to compare safety climate among hospital workers with personnel from naval aviation, an organization that operates with high reliability despite intrinsically hazardous conditions. We surveyed a random sample of health care workers in 67 U.S. hospitals and, for generalizability, 30 veterans affairs hospitals using questions comparable with those posed at approximately the same time (2007) to a census of personnel from 35 squadrons of U.S. naval aviators. We received 13,841 (41%) completed surveys in U.S. hospitals, 5,511 (50%) in veterans affairs hospitals, and 14,854 (82%) among naval aviators. We examined differences in respondents' perceptions of safety climate at their institution overall and for 16 individual items. Safety climate was three times better on average among naval aviators than among hospital personnel. Naval aviators perceived a safer climate (up to seven times safer) than hospital personnel with respect to each of the 16 survey items. Compared with hospital managers, naval commanders perceived climate more like frontline personnel did. When contrasting naval aviators with hospital personnel working in comparably hazardous areas, safety climate discrepancies increased rather than decreased. One individual hospital performed as well as naval aviation on average, and at least one hospital outperformed the Navy benchmark for all but three individual survey items. Results suggest that hospitals have not sufficiently created a uniform priority of safety. However, if each hospital performed as well as the top-performing hospital in each area measured, hospitals could achieve safety climate levels comparable

Interventions to improve teamwork and communications among healthcare staff.

Science.gov (United States)

McCulloch, P; Rathbone, J; Catchpole, K

2011-04-01

Concern over the frequency of unintended harm to patients has focused attention on the importance of teamwork and communication in avoiding errors. This has led to experiments with teamwork training programmes for clinical staff, mostly based on aviation models. These are widely assumed to be effective in improving patient safety, but the extent to which this assumption is justified by evidence remains unclear. A systematic literature review on the effects of teamwork training for clinical staff was performed. Information was sought on outcomes including staff attitudes, teamwork skills, technical performance, efficiency and clinical outcomes. Of 1036 relevant abstracts identified, 14 articles were analysed in detail: four randomized trials and ten non-randomized studies. Overall study quality was poor, with particular problems over blinding, subjective measures and Hawthorne effects. Few studies reported on every outcome category. Most reported improved staff attitudes, and six of eight reported significantly better teamwork after training. Five of eight studies reported improved technical performance, improved efficiency or reduced errors. Three studies reported evidence of clinical benefit, but this was modest or of borderline significance in each case. Studies with a stronger intervention were more likely to report benefits than those providing less training. None of the randomized trials found evidence of technical or clinical benefit. The evidence for technical or clinical benefit from teamwork training in medicine is weak. There is some evidence of benefit from studies with more intensive training programmes, but better quality research and cost-benefit analysis are needed. Copyright © 2011 British Journal of Surgery Society Ltd. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Dimensions of Safety Climate among Iranian Nurses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z Naghavi Konjin

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Background: Workplace safety has been a concern of workers and managers for decades. Measuring safety climate is crucial in improving safety performance. It is also a method of benchmarking safety perception. Objective: To develop and validate a psychometrics scale for measuring nurses' safety climate. Methods: Literature review, subject matter experts and nurse's judgment were used in items developing. Content validity and reliability for new tool were tested by content validity index (CVI and test-retest analysis, respectively. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA with varimax rotation was used to improve the interpretation of latent factors. Results: A 40-item scale in 6 factors was developed, which could explain 55% of the observed variance. The 6 factors included employees' involvement in safety and management support, compliance with safety rules, safety training and accessibility to personal protective equipment, hindrance to safe work, safety communication and job pressure, and individual risk perception. Conclusion: The proposed scale can be used in identifying the needed areas to implement interventions in safety climate of nurses.

Measuring Safety Culture on Ships Using Safety Climate: A Study among Indian Officers

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Yogendra Bhattacharya

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Workplace safety continues to be an area of concern in the maritime industry due to the international nature of the operations. The effectiveness of extensive legislation to manage shipboard safety remains in doubt. The focus must therefore shift towards the human element - seafarers and their perceptions of safety. The study aims to understand the alignment that exists between safety culture and safety climate on board ships as perceived by seafarers. The underlying factors of safety climate were identified using factor analysis which isolated seven factors - Support on Safety, Organizational Support, Resource Availability, Work Environment, Job Demands, ‘Just’ Culture, and Safety Compliance. The perception of safety level of seafarers was found to be low indicating the existence of misalignments between safety culture values and the actual safety climate. The study also reveals that the safety perceptions of officers employed directly by ship owners and those by managers do not differ significantly, nor do they differ between senior and junior officers. A shift in perspective towards how seafarers themselves feel towards safety might provide more effective solutions – instead of relying on regulations - and indeed aid in reducing incidents on board. This paper details practical suggestions on how to identify the factors that contribute towards a better safety climate on board ships.

Safety-Culture Exploration in Taiwan’s Metal Industries: Identifying the Workers’ Background Influence on Safety Climate

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Shu-Chiang Lin

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The present study aims to assess the safety-climate level in Taiwan’s metal industries, as well as to identify the influence of workers’ backgrounds on the safety climate. An earlier report showed that a poor safety culture was related to the cause of accidents in Taiwan’s traditional manufacturing industries. This study surveyed a total of 839 workers who voluntarily participated and completed the safety-culture questionnaires. These workers were from a Taiwanese metal company and its five satellite companies. Three safety-climate factors, namely safety perception, safety communication and safety-management systems, were assessed. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA was conducted by developing structural equation modeling to ensure the questionnaire’s validity. The influence of workers’ backgrounds on the safety climate was identified by using one-way ANOVA. The reliability result of the questionnaire was above the acceptable level. The overall safety-climate score was 4.22 out of a five-point scale for safety perception, 4.23 for safety-management systems and 3.97 for safety communication. The scores indicate a good level of safety climate, with room for improvement in safety communication. Additionally, the influence of workers’ backgrounds on the safety climate was confirmed. Based on the validity test, it was also found that the questionnaire could be improved by reconstructing its questions in its development process in order to increase the safety-climate model’s reliability and validity, as well as its model fit.

Control Centre operations as the focus for building station teamwork - issues and resource impacts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mathews, G.; Lane, L.; Davey, E.

2006-01-01

Effective teamwork among station work groups is essential for plant production and safety in all phases of plant operation. To achieve effective teamwork, all contributing work groups must have ongoing access to and share a common perspective on station work priorities, and recognize how their individual contributions fit with and support the contributions of other groups in support of the larger station goals. Achieving and maintaining this alignment in perspective across all workgroups can be a challenge in large organizations. This paper discusses the experience at Darlington in building and maintaining station teamwork among the station workgroups in support of day-to-day plant operations. The issues encountered and the resource impacts of specific teamwork supporting practices adopted are outlined. (author)

The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Safety Climate and Individual Safety Behavior on Construction Sites

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Yuzhong Shen

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Unsafe acts contribute dominantly to construction accidents, and increasing safety behavior is essential to reduce accidents. Previous research conceptualized safety behavior as an interaction between proximal individual differences (safety knowledge and safety motivation and distal contextual factors (leadership and safety climate. However, relatively little empirical research has examined this conceptualization in the construction sector. Given the cultural background of the sample, this study makes a slight modification to the conceptualization and views transformational leadership as an antecedent of safety climate. Accordingly, this study establishes a multiple mediator model showing the mechanisms through which transformational leadership translates into safety behavior. The multiple mediator model is estimated by the structural equation modeling (SEM technique, using individual questionnaire responses from a random sample of construction personnel based in Hong Kong. As hypothesized, transformational leadership has a significant impact on safety climate which is mediated by safety-specific leader–member exchange (LMX, and safety climate in turn impacts safety behavior through safety knowledge. The results suggest that future safety climate interventions should be more effective if supervisors exhibit transformational leadership, encourage construction personnel to voice safety concerns without fear of retaliation, and repeatedly remind them about safety on the job.

The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Safety Climate and Individual Safety Behavior on Construction Sites.

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Shen, Yuzhong; Ju, Chuanjing; Koh, Tas Yong; Rowlinson, Steve; Bridge, Adrian J

2017-01-05

Unsafe acts contribute dominantly to construction accidents, and increasing safety behavior is essential to reduce accidents. Previous research conceptualized safety behavior as an interaction between proximal individual differences (safety knowledge and safety motivation) and distal contextual factors (leadership and safety climate). However, relatively little empirical research has examined this conceptualization in the construction sector. Given the cultural background of the sample, this study makes a slight modification to the conceptualization and views transformational leadership as an antecedent of safety climate. Accordingly, this study establishes a multiple mediator model showing the mechanisms through which transformational leadership translates into safety behavior. The multiple mediator model is estimated by the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique, using individual questionnaire responses from a random sample of construction personnel based in Hong Kong. As hypothesized, transformational leadership has a significant impact on safety climate which is mediated by safety-specific leader-member exchange (LMX), and safety climate in turn impacts safety behavior through safety knowledge. The results suggest that future safety climate interventions should be more effective if supervisors exhibit transformational leadership, encourage construction personnel to voice safety concerns without fear of retaliation, and repeatedly remind them about safety on the job.

The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Safety Climate and Individual Safety Behavior on Construction Sites

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Yuzhong; Ju, Chuanjing; Koh, Tas Yong; Rowlinson, Steve; Bridge, Adrian J.

2017-01-01

Unsafe acts contribute dominantly to construction accidents, and increasing safety behavior is essential to reduce accidents. Previous research conceptualized safety behavior as an interaction between proximal individual differences (safety knowledge and safety motivation) and distal contextual factors (leadership and safety climate). However, relatively little empirical research has examined this conceptualization in the construction sector. Given the cultural background of the sample, this study makes a slight modification to the conceptualization and views transformational leadership as an antecedent of safety climate. Accordingly, this study establishes a multiple mediator model showing the mechanisms through which transformational leadership translates into safety behavior. The multiple mediator model is estimated by the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique, using individual questionnaire responses from a random sample of construction personnel based in Hong Kong. As hypothesized, transformational leadership has a significant impact on safety climate which is mediated by safety-specific leader–member exchange (LMX), and safety climate in turn impacts safety behavior through safety knowledge. The results suggest that future safety climate interventions should be more effective if supervisors exhibit transformational leadership, encourage construction personnel to voice safety concerns without fear of retaliation, and repeatedly remind them about safety on the job. PMID:28067775

Work Demands-Burnout and Job Engagement-Job Satisfaction Relationships: Teamwork as a Mediator and Moderator.

Science.gov (United States)

Mijakoski, Dragan; Karadzinska-Bislimovska, Jovanka; Basarovska, Vera; Minov, Jordan; Stoleski, Sasho; Angeleska, Nada; Atanasovska, Aneta

2015-03-15

Few studies have examined teamwork as mediator and moderator of work demands-burnout and job engagement-job satisfaction relationships in healthcare workers (HCWs) in South-East Europe. To assess mediation and moderation effect of teamwork on the relationship between independent (work demands or job engagement) and dependent (burnout or job satisfaction) variables. Work demands, burnout, job engagement, and job satisfaction were measured with Hospital Experience Scale, Maslach Burnout Inventory, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, and Job Satisfaction Survey, respectively. Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture was used for assessment of teamwork. In order to examine role of teamwork as a mediating variable we fit series of regression models for burnout and job satisfaction. We also fit regression models predicting outcome (burnout or job satisfaction) from predictor (work demands or job engagement) and moderator (teamwork) variable. Teamwork was partial mediator of work demands-burnout relationship and full mediator of job engagement-job satisfaction relationship. We found that only job engagement-job satisfaction relationship was moderated by teamwork. Occupational health services should target detection of burnout in HCWs and implementation of organizational interventions in hospitals, taking into account findings that teamwork predicted reduced burnout and higher job satisfaction.

Teamwork in adventure racing

OpenAIRE

Šavrňák, Ondřej

2011-01-01

Title: Teamwork in Adventure racing Goals: The main goal is to make up the chapter about an ideal teamwork in Adventure racing. And so, to help starting teams but also help experienced teams to learn about their lacks in cooperation and to shift teamwork level above. Method: We used the method of literature retrieval from books, articles and researches. Results: It is very hard task to define ideal teamwork, we would not find same two teams in the world and therefore each team suits something...

Leadership, safety climate, and continuous quality improvement: impact on process quality and patient safety.

Science.gov (United States)

McFadden, Kathleen L; Stock, Gregory N; Gowen, Charles R

2014-10-01

Successful amelioration of medical errors represents a significant problem in the health care industry. There is a need for greater understanding of the factors that lead to improved process quality and patient safety outcomes in hospitals. We present a research model that shows how transformational leadership, safety climate, and continuous quality improvement (CQI) initiatives are related to objective quality and patient safety outcome measures. The proposed framework is tested using structural equation modeling, based on data collected for 204 hospitals, and supplemented with objective outcome data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The results provide empirical evidence that a safety climate, which is connected to the chief executive officer's transformational leadership style, is related to CQI initiatives, which are linked to improved process quality. A unique finding of this study is that, although CQI initiatives are positively associated with improved process quality, they are also associated with higher hospital-acquired condition rates, a measure of patient safety. Likewise, safety climate is directly related to improved patient safety outcomes. The notion that patient safety climate and CQI initiatives are not interchangeable or universally beneficial is an important contribution to the literature. The results confirm the importance of using CQI to effectively enhance process quality in hospitals, and patient safety climate to improve patient safety outcomes. The overall pattern of findings suggests that simultaneous implementation of CQI initiatives and patient safety climate produces greater combined benefits.

Survey of Safety Climate in a Petrochemical Industry in Mahshahr

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Y. Shokoohi

2012-07-01

Results and Discussion: Average score of the industry's safety climate was obtained 5.9. Of 17 studied dimensions, 9 dimensions were weak (score less than 6. Lowest score were related to Event & Accident and Change management dimensions. Highest score were related to Individual priorities and need for safety (8.65. Generally relationship between individual variables (ages, work experience, education and safety climate were not significant (P>0.05. Conclusion: Generally one can conclude that individual variables such as age, education and experience have not significant effect on safety climate. It seems that top management forms the organizational climate and consequently safety climate. It reaffirms the basic principle of senior management commitment to safety and its role in preventing accidents. Thus safety climate can be used as a good method for assessing Occupational Health and Safety Management Performance.

Got spirit? The spiritual climate scale, psychometric properties, benchmarking data and future directions.

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Doram, Keith; Chadwick, Whitney; Bokovoy, Joni; Profit, Jochen; Sexton, Janel D; Sexton, J Bryan

2017-02-11

Organizations that encourage the respectful expression of diverse spiritual views have higher productivity and performance, and support employees with greater organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Within healthcare, there is a paucity of studies which define or intervene on the spiritual needs of healthcare workers, or examine the effects of a pro-spirituality environment on teamwork and patient safety. Our objective was to describe a novel survey scale for evaluating spiritual climate in healthcare workers, evaluate its psychometric properties, provide benchmarking data from a large faith-based healthcare system, and investigate relationships between spiritual climate and other predictors of patient safety and job satisfaction. Cross-sectional survey study of US healthcare workers within a large, faith-based health system. Seven thousand nine hundred twenty three of 9199 eligible healthcare workers across 325 clinical areas within 16 hospitals completed our survey in 2009 (86% response rate). The spiritual climate scale exhibited good psychometric properties (internal consistency: Cronbach α = .863). On average 68% (SD 17.7) of respondents of a given clinical area expressed good spiritual climate, although assessments varied widely (14 to 100%). Spiritual climate correlated positively with teamwork climate (r = .434, p spiritual climate were less likely to have intentions to leave, to be burned out, or to experience disruptive behaviors in their unit and more likely to have participated in executive rounding (p spiritual climate scale exhibits good psychometric properties, elicits results that vary widely by clinical area, and aligns well with other culture constructs that have been found to correlate with clinical and organizational outcomes.

Making an "Attitude Adjustment": Using a Simulation-Enhanced Interprofessional Education Strategy to Improve Attitudes Toward Teamwork and Communication.

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Wong, Ambrose Hon-Wai; Gang, Maureen; Szyld, Demian; Mahoney, Heather

2016-04-01

Health care providers must effectively function in highly skilled teams in a collaborative manner, but there are few interprofessional training strategies in place. Interprofessional education (IPE) using simulation technology has gained popularity to address this need because of its inherent ability to impact learners' cognitive frames and promote peer-to-peer dialog. Provider attitudes toward teamwork have been directly linked to the quality of patient care. Investigators implemented a simulation-enhanced IPE intervention to improve staff attitudes toward teamwork and interprofessional communication in the emergency department setting. The 3-hour course consisted of a didactic session highlighting teamwork and communication strategies, 2 simulation scenarios on septic shock and cardiac arrest, and structured debriefing directed at impacting participant attitudes to teamwork and communication. This was a survey-based observational study. We used the TeamSTEPPS Teamwork Attitudes Questionnaire immediately before and after the session as a measurement of attitude change as well as the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture before the session and 1 year after the intervention for program impact at the behavior level. Seventy-two emergency department nurses and resident physicians participated in the course from July to September 2012. Of the 5 constructs in TeamSTEPPS Teamwork Attitudes Questionnaire, 4 had a significant improvement in scores-6.4%, 2.8%, 4.0%, and 4.0% for team structure, leadership, situation monitoring, and mutual support, respectively (P teamwork and communication showed a significant improvement-20.6%, 20.5%, and 23.9%, for frequency of event reporting, teamwork within hospital units, and hospital handoffs and transitions, respectively (P = 0.028, P = 0.035, and P = 0.024, respectively). A simulation-enhanced IPE curriculum was successful in improving participant attitudes toward teamwork and components of patient safety culture related to

Validation of a measurement tool for self-assessment of teamwork in intensive care.

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Weller, J; Shulruf, B; Torrie, J; Frengley, R; Boyd, M; Paul, A; Yee, B; Dzendrowskyj, P

2013-09-01

Teamwork is an important contributor to patient safety and a validated teamwork measurement tool could help healthcare teams identify areas for improvement and measure progress. We explored the psychometric properties of a teamwork measurement tool when used for self-assessment. We hypothesized that the tool had a valid factor structure and that scores from participants and external assessors would correlate. Forty intensive care teams (one doctor, three nurses) participated in four simulated emergencies, and each independently rated their team's performance at the end of each case using the teamwork measurement tool, without prior training in the use of the tool. We used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and compared factor structure between participants and external assessors (using previously reported data). Scores from participants and external assessors were compared using Pearson's correlation coefficient. EFA demonstrated items loaded onto three distinct factors which were supported by the CFA. We found significant correlations between external and participant scores for overall teamwork scores and the three factors. Participants agreed with external assessors on the ranking of overall team performance but scored themselves significantly higher than external assessors. The teamwork measurement tool has a valid structure when used for self-assessment. Participant and external assessor scores correlated significantly, suggesting that participants could discriminate between different levels of performance, although leniency in self-assessed scores indicated the need for calibration. This tool could help structure reflection on teamwork and potentially facilitate self-directed, workplace-based improvement in teamwork.

Teamwork during resuscitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Weinstock, Peter; Halamek, Louis P

2008-08-01

Effective resuscitation requires the integration of several cognitive, technical, and behavioral skills. Because resuscitation is performed by teams of health care professionals, these individuals must be able to work together in a coordinated and efficient manner, making teamwork a critical skill for care of patients in distress. Despite the importance of teamwork in health care, little consensus exists as to what it is, how it can most effectively be learned, and how it should be assessed. This article reviews current knowledge on the measurement, training, and importance of teamwork in pediatric resuscitation.

Teamwork in the Real World

Science.gov (United States)

Foyle, David C.; Shafto, Michael G.; Hart, Sandra G. (Technical Monitor)

1994-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is well known for its roles in the space program and in aeronautics. Because teamwork is essential for most NASA missions, NASA has experience in both research on teamwork and implementation of team projects. The purpose of this chapter is not to summarize research results on teamwork. This chapter will summarize our insight into teamwork as it applies to the large institutions and organizations with which we have been associated: University academic systems, Navy research laboratories, and NASA. These organizations represent a variety of systems in which teamwork is commonplace.

Managing emergencies and abnormal situations in air traffic control (part II): teamwork strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Malakis, Stathis; Kontogiannis, Tom; Kirwan, Barry

2010-07-01

Team performance has been studied in many safety-critical organizations including aviation, nuclear power plant, offshore oil platforms and health organizations. This study looks into teamwork strategies that air traffic controllers employ to manage emergencies and abnormal situations. Two field studies were carried out in the form of observations of simulator training in emergency and unusual scenarios of novices and experienced controllers. Teamwork strategies covered aspects of team orientation and coordination, information exchange, change management and error handling. Several performance metrics were used to rate the efficiency of teamwork and test the construct validity of a prototype model of teamwork. This is a companion study to an earlier investigation of taskwork strategies in the same field (part I) and contributes to the development of a generic model for Taskwork and Teamwork strategies in Emergencies in Air traffic Management (T(2)EAM). Suggestions are made on how to use T(2)EAM to develop training programs, assess team performance and improve mishap investigations. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Building a safety culture in global health: lessons from Guatemala.

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Rice, Henry E; Lou-Meda, Randall; Saxton, Anthony T; Johnston, Bria E; Ramirez, Carla C; Mendez, Sindy; Rice, Eli N; Aidar, Bernardo; Taicher, Brad; Baumgartner, Joy Noel; Milne, Judy; Frankel, Allan S; Sexton, J Bryan

2018-01-01

Programmes to modify the safety culture have led to lasting improvements in patient safety and quality of care in high-income settings around the world, although their use in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) has been limited. This analysis explores (1) how to measure the safety culture using a health culture survey in an LMIC and (2) how to use survey data to develop targeted safety initiatives using a paediatric nephrology unit in Guatemala as a field test case. We used the Safety, Communication, Operational Reliability, and Engagement survey to assess staff views towards 13 health climate and engagement domains. Domains with low scores included personal burnout, local leadership, teamwork and work-life balance. We held a series of debriefings to implement interventions targeted towards areas of need as defined by the survey. Programmes included the use of morning briefings, expansion of staff break resources and use of teamwork tools. Implementation challenges included the need for education of leadership, limited resources and hierarchical work relationships. This report can serve as an operational guide for providers in LMICs for use of a health culture survey to promote a strong safety culture and to guide their quality improvement and safety programmes.

Individual employee's perceptions of " Group-level Safety Climate" (supervisor referenced) versus " Organization-level Safety Climate" (top management referenced): Associations with safety outcomes for lone workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; Lee, Jin; McFadden, Anna C; Rineer, Jennifer; Robertson, Michelle M

2017-01-01

Research has shown that safety climate is among the strongest predictors of safety behavior and safety outcomes in a variety of settings. Previous studies have established that safety climate is a multi-faceted construct referencing multiple levels of management within a company, most generally: the organization level (employee perceptions of top management's commitment to and prioritization of safety) and group level (employee perceptions of direct supervisor's commitment to and prioritization of safety). Yet, no research to date has examined the potential interaction between employees' organization-level safety climate (OSC) and group-level safety climate (GSC) perceptions. Furthermore, prior research has mainly focused on traditional work environments in which supervisors and workers interact in the same location throughout the day. Little research has been done to examine safety climate with regard to lone workers. The present study aims to address these gaps by examining the relationships between truck drivers' (as an example of lone workers) perceptions of OSC and GSC, both potential linear and non-linear relationships, and how these predict important safety outcomes. Participants were 8095 truck drivers from eight trucking companies in the United States with an average response rate of 44.8%. Results showed that employees' OSC and GSC perceptions are highly correlated (r= 0.78), but notable gaps between the two were observed for some truck drivers. Uniquely, both OSC and GSC scores were found to have curvilinear relationships with safe driving behavior, and both scores were equally predictive of safe driving behavior. Results also showed the two levels of climate significantly interacted with one another to predict safety behavior such that if either the OSC or GSC scores were low, the other's contribution to safety behavior became stronger. These findings suggest that OSC and GSC may function in a compensatory manner and promote safe driving behavior even

TeamSTEPPS for health care risk managers: Improving teamwork and communication.

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Cooke, Marcia

2016-07-01

Ineffective communication among the health care team is a leading cause of errors in the patient care setting. Studies assessing training related to communication and teamwork in the clinical team are prevalent, however, teamwork training at the administrative level is lacking. This includes individuals in leadership positions such as health care risk managers. The purpose was to determine the impact of an educational intervention on the knowledge and attitudes related to communication and teamwork in the health care risk management population. The educational intervention was an adaptation of a national teamwork training program and incorporated didactic content as well as video vignettes and small group activities. Measurement of knowledge and attitudes were used to determine the impact of the education program. Knowledge and attitudes were assessed pre- and postcourse. Findings indicate that teamwork education tailored to the needs of the specific audience resulted in knowledge gained and improved attitudes toward the components of teamwork. The attitudes that most significantly improved were related to team structure and situation monitoring. There was no improvement in participants' attitudes toward leadership, mutual support, and communication. Team training has been shown to improve safety culture, patient satisfaction, and clinical outcomes. Including risk managers in training on teamwork, communication, and collaboration can serve to foster a common language among clinicians and management. In addition, a measurement related to implementation in the health care setting may yield insight into the impact of training. Qualitative measurement may allow the researcher to delve deeper into how these health care facilities are using team training interventions. © 2016 American Society for Healthcare Risk Management of the American Hospital Association.

Improving nurse-physician teamwork through interprofessional bedside rounding.

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Henkin, Stanislav; Chon, Tony Y; Christopherson, Marie L; Halvorsen, Andrew J; Worden, Lindsey M; Ratelle, John T

2016-01-01

Teamwork between physicians and nurses has a positive association with patient satisfaction and outcomes, but perceptions of physician-nurse teamwork are often suboptimal. To improve nurse-physician teamwork in a general medicine inpatient teaching unit by increasing face-to-face communication through interprofessional bedside rounds. From July 2013 through October 2013, physicians (attendings and residents) and nurses from four general medicine teams in a single nursing unit participated in bedside rounding, which involved the inclusion of nurses in morning rounds with the medicine teams at the patients' bedside. Based on stakeholder analysis and feedback, a checklist for key patient care issues was created and utilized during bedside rounds. To assess the effect of bedside rounding on nurse-physician teamwork, a survey of selected items from the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) was administered to participants before and after the implementation of bedside rounds. The number of pages to the general medicine teams was also measured as a marker of physician-nurse communication. Participation rate in bedside rounds across the four medicine teams was 58%. SAQ response rates for attendings, residents, and nurses were 36/36 (100%), 73/73 (100%), and 32/73 (44%) prior to implementation of bedside rounding and 36 attendings (100%), 72 residents (100%), and 14 (19%) nurses after the implementation of bedside rounding, respectively. Prior to bedside rounding, nurses provided lower teamwork ratings (percent agree) than residents and attendings on all SAQ items; but after the intervention, the difference remained significant only on SAQ item 2 ("In this clinical area, it is not difficult to speak up if I perceive a problem with patient care", 64% for nurses vs 79% for residents vs 94% for attendings, P=0.02). Also, resident responses improved on SAQ item 1 ("Nurse input is well received in this area", 62% vs 82%, P=0.01). Increasing face-to-face communication through

A methodological study to compare survey-based and observation-based evaluations of organisational and safety cultures and then compare both approaches with markers of the quality of care.

Science.gov (United States)

Freeth, D; Sandall, J; Allan, T; Warburton, F; Berridge, E J; Mackintosh, N; Rogers, M; Abbott, S

2012-05-01

%) within ± 0.5; one large difference]. Two commonly used scales had high levels of positive responses, suggesting positive climates or social desirability bias. Strand B: scoring on a four-point scale was feasible. Observational evaluation of teamwork culture was good but too limited for evaluating organisational culture. Strand C: a total of 359-399 cases were audited per condition. The results varied widely between different markers for the same condition, so selection matters. Each site performed well on some markers but not others, with few consistent patterns. Some national guidelines were contested. Comparisons: the comparison of safety climate (survey) and teamwork culture (observation) revealed a moderately low correlation (r = 0.316) and good agreement [SD differences 1.082; 7 (44%) within ±0.5; one large difference]. The comparison of safety climate (survey) and performance (audit) revealed lower correlation (r = 0.150, i.e. relationship not linear) but reasonably good agreement [SD differences 0.992; 9 (56%) within ± 0.5; two large differences]. Comparisons between performance (audit) and both organisational climate (survey) and teamwork culture (observation) showed negligible correlations (culture (observations) are better indicators of performance than organisational climate (surveys) or attempts to evaluate organisational culture from time-limited observations. Scoring unobtrusive, time-limited observations to evaluate teamwork culture is feasible, but the instrument developed for this study needs further testing. A refined observation-based measure would be useful to augment or replace surveys. The National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme.

The association between EMS workplace safety culture and safety outcomes.

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Weaver, Matthew D; Wang, Henry E; Fairbanks, Rollin J; Patterson, Daniel

2012-01-01

Prior studies have highlighted wide variation in emergency medical services (EMS) workplace safety culture across agencies. To determine the association between EMS workplace safety culture scores and patient or provider safety outcomes. We administered a cross-sectional survey to EMS workers affiliated with a convenience sample of agencies. We recruited these agencies from a national EMS management organization. We used the EMS Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (EMS-SAQ) to measure workplace safety culture and the EMS Safety Inventory (EMS-SI), a tool developed to capture self-reported safety outcomes from EMS workers. The EMS-SAQ provides reliable and valid measures of six domains: safety climate, teamwork climate, perceptions of management, working conditions, stress recognition, and job satisfaction. A panel of medical directors, emergency medical technicians and paramedics, and occupational epidemiologists developed the EMS-SI to measure self-reported injury, medical errors and adverse events, and safety-compromising behaviors. We used hierarchical linear models to evaluate the association between EMS-SAQ scores and EMS-SI safety outcome measures. Sixteen percent of all respondents reported experiencing an injury in the past three months, four of every 10 respondents reported an error or adverse event (AE), and 89% reported safety-compromising behaviors. Respondents reporting injury scored lower on five of the six domains of safety culture. Respondents reporting an error or AE scored lower for four of the six domains, while respondents reporting safety-compromising behavior had lower safety culture scores for five of the six domains. Individual EMS worker perceptions of workplace safety culture are associated with composite measures of patient and provider safety outcomes. This study is preliminary evidence of the association between safety culture and patient or provider safety outcomes.

Relationships among Safety Climate, Safety Behavior, and Safety Outcomes for Ethnic Minority Construction Workers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sainan Lyu

2018-03-01

Full Text Available In many countries, it is common practice to attract and employ ethnic minority (EM or migrant workers in the construction industry. This primarily occurs in order to alleviate the labor shortage caused by an aging workforce with a lack of new entrants. Statistics show that EM construction workers are more likely to have occupational fatal and nonfatal injuries than their local counterparts; however, the mechanism underlying accidents and injuries in this vulnerable population has been rarely examined. This study aims to investigate relationships among safety climate, safety behavior, and safety outcomes for EM construction workers. To this end, a theoretical research model was developed based on a comprehensive review of the current literature. In total, 289 valid questionnaires were collected face-to-face from 223 Nepalese construction workers and 56 Pakistani construction workers working on 15 construction sites in Hong Kong. Structural equation modelling was employed to validate the constructs and test the hypothesized model. Results show that there were significant positive relationships between safety climate and safety behaviors, and significant negative relationships between safety behaviors and safety outcomes for EM construction workers. This research contributes to the literature regarding EM workers by providing empirical evidence of the mechanisms by which safety climate affects safety behaviors and outcomes. It also provides insights in order to help the key stakeholders formulate safety strategies for EM workers in many areas where numerous EM workers are employed, such as in the U.S., the UK, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Middle East.

Relationships among Safety Climate, Safety Behavior, and Safety Outcomes for Ethnic Minority Construction Workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Lyu, Sainan; Hon, Carol K H; Chan, Albert P C; Wong, Francis K W; Javed, Arshad Ali

2018-03-09

In many countries, it is common practice to attract and employ ethnic minority (EM) or migrant workers in the construction industry. This primarily occurs in order to alleviate the labor shortage caused by an aging workforce with a lack of new entrants. Statistics show that EM construction workers are more likely to have occupational fatal and nonfatal injuries than their local counterparts; however, the mechanism underlying accidents and injuries in this vulnerable population has been rarely examined. This study aims to investigate relationships among safety climate, safety behavior, and safety outcomes for EM construction workers. To this end, a theoretical research model was developed based on a comprehensive review of the current literature. In total, 289 valid questionnaires were collected face-to-face from 223 Nepalese construction workers and 56 Pakistani construction workers working on 15 construction sites in Hong Kong. Structural equation modelling was employed to validate the constructs and test the hypothesized model. Results show that there were significant positive relationships between safety climate and safety behaviors, and significant negative relationships between safety behaviors and safety outcomes for EM construction workers. This research contributes to the literature regarding EM workers by providing empirical evidence of the mechanisms by which safety climate affects safety behaviors and outcomes. It also provides insights in order to help the key stakeholders formulate safety strategies for EM workers in many areas where numerous EM workers are employed, such as in the U.S., the UK, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Middle East.

Safety climate and the distracted driving experiences of truck drivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Swedler, David I; Pollack, Keshia M; Agnew, Jacqueline

2015-07-01

For truck drivers, distracted driving is a workplace behavior that increases occupational injury risk. We propose safety climate as an appropriate lens through which researchers can examine occupational distracted driving. Using a mixed methods study design, we surveyed truck drivers using the Safety Climate Questionnaire (SCQ) complemented by semi-structured interviews of experts on distracted driving and truck safety. Safety climate was assessed by using the entire SCQ as an overall climate score, followed by factor analysis that identified the following safety climate factors: Communications and Procedures; Management Commitment; and Work Pressure. In multivariate regression, the overall safety climate scale was associated with having ever experienced a crash and/or distraction-involved swerving. Interview participants described how these SCQ constructs could affect occupational distracted driving. To reduce distraction-related crashes in their organizations, management can adhere to safe policies and procedures, invest in engineering controls, and develop safer communication procedures. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Safety culture perceptions of pharmacists in Malaysian hospitals and health clinics: a multicentre assessment using the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire

Science.gov (United States)

Samsuri, Srima Elina; Pei Lin, Lua; Fahrni, Mathumalar Loganathan

2015-01-01

Objective To assess the safety attitudes of pharmacists, provide a profile of their domains of safety attitude and correlate their attitudes with self-reported rates of medication errors. Design A cross-sectional study utilising the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ). Setting 3 public hospitals and 27 health clinics. Participants 117 pharmacists. Main outcome measure(s) Safety culture mean scores, variation in scores across working units and between hospitals versus health clinics, predictors of safety culture, and medication errors and their correlation. Results Response rate was 83.6% (117 valid questionnaires returned). Stress recognition (73.0±20.4) and working condition (54.8±17.4) received the highest and lowest mean scores, respectively. Pharmacists exhibited positive attitudes towards: stress recognition (58.1%), job satisfaction (46.2%), teamwork climate (38.5%), safety climate (33.3%), perception of management (29.9%) and working condition (15.4%). With the exception of stress recognition, those who worked in health clinics scored higher than those in hospitals (psafety culture. As perceptions improved, the number of medication errors reported decreased. Group-specific interventions that target specific domains are necessary to improve the safety culture. PMID:26610761

Defining and Measuring Safety Climate: A Review of the Construction Industry Literature.

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Schwatka, Natalie V; Hecker, Steven; Goldenhar, Linda M

2016-06-01

Safety climate measurements can be used to proactively assess an organization's effectiveness in identifying and remediating work-related hazards, thereby reducing or preventing work-related ill health and injury. This review article focuses on construction-specific articles that developed and/or measured safety climate, assessed safety climate's relationship with other safety and health performance indicators, and/or used safety climate measures to evaluate interventions targeting one or more indicators of safety climate. Fifty-six articles met our inclusion criteria, 80% of which were published after 2008. Our findings demonstrate that researchers commonly defined safety climate as perception based, but the object of those perceptions varies widely. Within the wide range of indicators used to measure safety climate, safety policies, procedures, and practices were the most common, followed by general management commitment to safety. The most frequently used indicators should and do reflect that the prevention of work-related ill health and injury depends on both organizational and employee actions. Safety climate scores were commonly compared between groups (e.g. management and workers, different trades), and often correlated with subjective measures of safety behavior rather than measures of ill health or objective safety and health outcomes. Despite the observed limitations of current research, safety climate has been promised as a useful feature of research and practice activities to prevent work-related ill health and injury. Safety climate survey data can reveal gaps between management and employee perceptions, or between espoused and enacted policies, and trigger communication and action to narrow those gaps. The validation of safety climate with safety and health performance data offers the potential for using safety climate measures as a leading indicator of performance. We discuss these findings in relation to the related concept of safety culture and

Cross-validation of an employee safety climate model in Malaysia.

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Bahari, Siti Fatimah; Clarke, Sharon

2013-06-01

Whilst substantial research has investigated the nature of safety climate, and its importance as a leading indicator of organisational safety, much of this research has been conducted with Western industrial samples. The current study focuses on the cross-validation of a safety climate model in the non-Western industrial context of Malaysian manufacturing. The first-order factorial validity of Cheyne et al.'s (1998) [Cheyne, A., Cox, S., Oliver, A., Tomas, J.M., 1998. Modelling safety climate in the prediction of levels of safety activity. Work and Stress, 12(3), 255-271] model was tested, using confirmatory factor analysis, in a Malaysian sample. Results showed that the model fit indices were below accepted levels, indicating that the original Cheyne et al. (1998) safety climate model was not supported. An alternative three-factor model was developed using exploratory factor analysis. Although these findings are not consistent with previously reported cross-validation studies, we argue that previous studies have focused on validation across Western samples, and that the current study demonstrates the need to take account of cultural factors in the development of safety climate models intended for use in non-Western contexts. The results have important implications for the transferability of existing safety climate models across cultures (for example, in global organisations) and highlight the need for future research to examine cross-cultural issues in relation to safety climate. Copyright © 2013 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Positive organizational behavior and safety in the offshore oil industry: Exploring the determinants of positive safety climate.

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Hystad, Sigurd W; Bartone, Paul T; Eid, Jarle

2014-01-01

Much research has now documented the substantial influence of safety climate on a range of important outcomes in safety critical organizations, but there has been scant attention to the question of what factors might be responsible for positive or negative safety climate. The present paper draws from positive organizational behavior theory to test workplace and individual factors that may affect safety climate. Specifically, we explore the potential influence of authentic leadership style and psychological capital on safety climate and risk outcomes. Across two samples of offshore oil-workers and seafarers working on oil platform supply ships, structural equation modeling yielded results that support a model in which authentic leadership exerts a direct effect on safety climate, as well as an indirect effect via psychological capital. This study shows the importance of leadership qualities as well as psychological factors in shaping a positive work safety climate and lowering the risk of accidents.

Labor unions and safety climate: perceived union safety values and retail employee safety outcomes.

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Sinclair, Robert R; Martin, James E; Sears, Lindsay E

2010-09-01

Although trade unions have long been recognized as a critical advocate for employee safety and health, safety climate research has not paid much attention to the role unions play in workplace safety. We proposed a multiple constituency model of workplace safety which focused on three central safety stakeholders: top management, ones' immediate supervisor, and the labor union. Safety climate research focuses on management and supervisors as key stakeholders, but has not considered whether employee perceptions about the priority their union places on safety contributes contribute to safety outcomes. We addressed this gap in the literature by investigating unionized retail employee (N=535) perceptions about the extent to which their top management, immediate supervisors, and union valued safety. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that perceived union safety values could be distinguished from measures of safety training, workplace hazards, top management safety values, and supervisor values. Structural equation analyses indicated that union safety values influenced safety outcomes through its association with higher safety motivation, showing a similar effect as that of supervisor safety values. These findings highlight the need for further attention to union-focused measures related to workplace safety as well as further study of retail employees in general. We discuss the practical implications of our findings and identify several directions for future safety research. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A longitudinal study of an intervention to improve road safety climate: climate as an organizational boundary spanner.

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Naveh, Eitan; Katz-Navon, Tal

2015-01-01

This study presents and tests an intervention to enhance organizational climate and expands existing conceptualization of organizational climate to include its influence on employee behaviors outside the organization's physical boundaries. In addition, by integrating the literatures of climate and work-family interface, the study explored climate spillover and crossover from work to the home domain. Focusing on an applied practical problem within organizations, we investigated the example of road safety climate and employees' and their families' driving, using a longitudinal study design of road safety intervention versus control groups. Results demonstrated that the intervention increased road safety climate and decreased the number of traffic violation tickets and that road safety climate mediated the relationship between the intervention and the number of traffic violation tickets. Road safety climate spilled over to the family domain but did not cross over to influence family members' driving. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

The Spillover Effects on Employees’ Life of Construction Enterprises’ Safety Climate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiang Wu

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Organizational safety climate will produce spillover effects and thus affect the individuals’ performance in their family life. As a mainstay industry in many countries, the construction industry has a considerable number of employees and the research on the spillover effects from the safety climate of construction enterprises has important theoretical and practical significance to improve the safety behavior of construction employees in their family life. In this study, we thoroughly reviewed the literature to identify the dimensions of the safety climate spillover, obtain empirical data of the construction employees through a questionnaire survey, and use the data analysis method to study the spillover effects of the safety climate of the construction enterprises from the perspective of work–family integration, and reveal its influence mechanism. This study developed a questionnaire to measure the safety climate spillover of the construction enterprises including two dimensions, namely values and behaviors, with nine measured items. Management commitment and safety attitude in the safety climate were positively related to the spillover, and management commitment had the greatest impact on the spillover, while the other components were not significantly related to the spillover. The two forms of spillover, values and behaviors, were mutually influential, and the safety climate had a more significant impact on the values. This paper contributes to the current safety research by developing a factor structure of spillover effects of the safety climate on the lives of construction employees, thus providing a more profound interpretation of this crucial construct in the safety research domain. The spillover effects of the safety climate’s measurement questionnaire serve as an important tool for spillover among construction enterprises. Findings can facilitate improvement in both theories and practices related to the spillover effects of the

Development and initial validation of an Aviation Safety Climate Scale.

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Evans, Bronwyn; Glendon, A Ian; Creed, Peter A

2007-01-01

A need was identified for a consistent set of safety climate factors to provide a basis for aviation industry benchmarking. Six broad safety climate themes were identified from the literature and consultations with industry safety experts. Items representing each of the themes were prepared and administered to 940 Australian commercial pilots. Data from half of the sample (N=468) were used in an exploratory factor analysis that produced a 3-factor model of Management commitment and communication, Safety training and equipment, and Maintenance. A confirmatory factor analysis on the remaining half of the sample showed the 3-factor model to be an adequate fit to the data. The results of this study have produced a scale of safety climate for aviation that is both reliable and valid. This study developed a tool to assess the level of perceived safety climate, specifically of pilots, but may also, with minor modifications, be used to assess other groups' perceptions of safety climate.

Understanding safety climate in small automobile collision repair shops.

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, David L; Brosseau, Lisa M; Bejan, Anca; Skan, Maryellen; Xi, Min

2014-01-01

In the United States, approximately 236,000 people work in 37,600 auto collision-repair businesses. Workers in the collision-repair industry may be exposed to a wide range of physical and chemical hazards. This manuscript examines the relationship of safety climate as reported by collision repair shop workers and owners to: (1) an independent business safety assessment, and (2) employee self-reported work practices. The study was conducted in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. A total of 199 workers from 49 collision shops completed a survey of self-reported work practices and safety climate. Surveys were completed by an owner or manager in all but three shops. In general, self-reported work practices were poor. Workers' scores on safety climate were uniformly lower than those of owners. For workers, there was no correlation between how well the business scored on an independent audit of business safety practices and the safety climate measures they reported. For owners, however, there was a positive correlation between safety climate scores and the business safety assessment. For workers, safety rules and procedures were associated with improved work practices for those engaged in both painting-related and body technician-related activities. The enforcement of safety rules and procedures emerged as a strong factor positively affecting self-reported work practices. These findings identify a simple, cost effective path to reducing hazards in small workplaces. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Assessing teamwork performance in obstetrics: A systematic search and review of validated tools.

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Fransen, Annemarie F; de Boer, Liza; Kienhorst, Dieneke; Truijens, Sophie E; van Runnard Heimel, Pieter J; Oei, S Guid

2017-09-01

Teamwork performance is an essential component for the clinical efficiency of multi-professional teams in obstetric care. As patient safety is related to teamwork performance, it has become an important learning goal in simulation-based education. In order to improve teamwork performance, reliable assessment tools are required. These can be used to provide feedback during training courses, or to compare learning effects between different types of training courses. The aim of the current study is to (1) identify the available assessment tools to evaluate obstetric teamwork performance in a simulated environment, and (2) evaluate their psychometric properties in order to identify the most valuable tool(s) to use. We performed a systematic search in PubMed, MEDLINE, and EMBASE to identify articles describing assessment tools for the evaluation of obstetric teamwork performance in a simulated environment. In order to evaluate the quality of the identified assessment tools the standards and grading rules have been applied as recommended by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Committee on Educational Outcomes. The included studies were also assessed according to the Oxford Centre for Evidence Based Medicine (OCEBM) levels of evidence. This search resulted in the inclusion of five articles describing the following six tools: Clinical Teamwork Scale, Human Factors Rating Scale, Global Rating Scale, Assessment of Obstetric Team Performance, Global Assessment of Obstetric Team Performance, and the Teamwork Measurement Tool. Based on the ACGME guidelines we assigned a Class 3, level C of evidence, to all tools. Regarding the OCEBM levels of evidence, a level 3b was assigned to two studies and a level 4 to four studies. The Clinical Teamwork Scale demonstrated the most comprehensive validation, and the Teamwork Measurement Tool demonstrated promising results, however it is recommended to further investigate its reliability. Copyright © 2017

Positive organizational behavior and safety in the offshore oil industry: Exploring the determinants of positive safety climate

Science.gov (United States)

Hystad, Sigurd W.; Bartone, Paul T.; Eid, Jarle

2013-01-01

Much research has now documented the substantial influence of safety climate on a range of important outcomes in safety critical organizations, but there has been scant attention to the question of what factors might be responsible for positive or negative safety climate. The present paper draws from positive organizational behavior theory to test workplace and individual factors that may affect safety climate. Specifically, we explore the potential influence of authentic leadership style and psychological capital on safety climate and risk outcomes. Across two samples of offshore oil-workers and seafarers working on oil platform supply ships, structural equation modeling yielded results that support a model in which authentic leadership exerts a direct effect on safety climate, as well as an indirect effect via psychological capital. This study shows the importance of leadership qualities as well as psychological factors in shaping a positive work safety climate and lowering the risk of accidents. PMID:24454524

A study on safety climate at nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fukui, Hirokazu; Yoshida, Michio; Yoshiyama, Naohiro

2001-01-01

In the current study, we define safety climate as an organizational environment that induces members of the organization to give consideration to safety or take safety actions. It is of utmost importance that people holding managerial positions in an organization have a good understanding of the characteristics of the safety climate of the organization and implement safety promotion activities effectively. In the current research, we studied the rating scales and the characteristics of a safety climate. A survey was conducted, targeting technical engineers who belong to the three power stations of Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. The questionnaire mainly consisted of questions concerning safety measures taken by individuals and questions concerning safety measures taken by the organization, to which the individuals belong. As a result of a factor analysis of the responses, we extracted five factors, namely, 'confidence in knowledge and skill', attitude of supervisors,' 'safety education in workplace', 'clarity of tasks' and 'safety confirmation/report'. In studying the rating scales of the safety climate, we selected five items from each of the above five factors, and used the total scores of the ratings of the five items as scores of each factor. Then, we examined the correlation between scores of personal factors and scores of organizational environment factors. We treated the scores of safety confirmation/report' and 'confidence in knowledge and skill', which are personal factors, as criterion variables, and the scores of 'attitude of supervisors', 'safety education in workplace' and 'clarity of tasks', which are organizational environment factors, as predictor variables. As a result, we found that levels of 'safety confirmation/report' and 'confidence in knowledge and skill' can be deduced from the scores of 'attitude of supervisors', 'safety education in workplace' and 'clarity of tasks.' Hence, we have decided to use these three organizational environment

The development of a rubric for peer assessment of individual teamwork skills in undergraduate midwifery students.

Science.gov (United States)

Hastie, Carolyn; Fahy, Kathleen; Parratt, Jenny

2014-09-01

Poor teamwork is cited as one of the major root causes of adverse events in healthcare. Bullying, resulting in illness for staff, is an expression of poor teamwork skills. Despite this knowledge, poor teamwork persists in healthcare and teamwork skills are rarely the focus of teaching and assessment in undergraduate health courses. To develop and implement an assessment tool for use in facilitating midwifery students' learning of teamwork skills. This paper describes how the TeamUP rubric tool was developed. A review of the literature found no research reports on how to teach and assess health students' teamwork skills in standing teams. The literature, however, gives guidance about how university educators should evaluate individual students using peer assessment. The developmental processes of the rubric were grounded in the theoretical literature and feminist collaborative conversations. The rubric incorporates five domains of teamwork skills: Fostering a Team Climate; Project Planning; Facilitating Teams; Managing Conflict and Quality Individual Contribution. The process and outcomes of student and academic content validation are described. The TeamUP rubric is useful for articulating, teaching and assessing teamwork skills for health professional students. The TeamUP rubric is a robust, theoretically grounded model that defines and details effective teamwork skills and related behaviours. If these skills are mastered, we predict that graduates will be more effective in teams. Our assumption is that graduates, empowered by having these skills, are more likely to manage conflict effectively and less likely to engage in bullying behaviours. Crown Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An exploration of emergency nurses' perceptions, attitudes and experience of teamwork in the emergency department.

Science.gov (United States)

Grover, Elise; Porter, Joanne E; Morphet, Julia

2017-05-01

Teamwork may assist with increased levels of efficiency and safety of patient care in the emergency department (ED), with emergency nurses playing an indispensable role in this process. A descriptive, exploratory approach was used, drawing on principles from phenomenology and symbolic interactionism. Convenience, purposive sampling was used in a major metropolitan ED. Semi structured interviews were conducted, audio recorded, and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Three major themes emerged from the data. The first theme 'when teamwork works' supported the notion that emergency nurses perceived teamwork as a positive and effective construct in four key areas; resuscitation, simulation training, patient outcomes and staff satisfaction. The second theme 'team support' revealed that back up behaviour and leadership were critical elements of team effectiveness within the study setting. The third theme 'no time for teamwork' centred around periods when teamwork practices failed due to various contributing factors including inadequate resources and skill mix. Outcomes of effective teamwork were valued by emergency nurses. Teamwork is about performance, and requires a certain skill set not necessarily naturally possessed among emergency nurses. Building a resilient team inclusive of strong leadership and communication skills is essential to being able to withstand the challenging demands of the ED. Copyright © 2017 College of Emergency Nursing Australasia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Teamwork in obstetric critical care.

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Guise, Jeanne-Marie; Segel, Sally

2008-10-01

Whether seeing a patient in the ambulatory clinic environment, performing a delivery or managing a critically ill patient, obstetric care is a team activity. Failures in teamwork and communication are among the leading causes of adverse obstetric events, accounting for over 70% of sentinel events according to the Joint Commission. Effective, efficient and safe care requires good teamwork. Although nurses, doctors and healthcare staff who work in critical care environments are extremely well trained and competent medically, they have not traditionally been trained in how to work well as part of a team. Given the complexity and acuity of critical care medicine, which often relies on more than one medical team, teamwork skills are essential. This chapter discusses the history and importance of teamwork in high-reliability fields, reviews key concepts and skills in teamwork, and discusses approaches to training and working in teams.

The mediating role of integration of safety by activity versus operator between organizational culture and safety climate.

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Auzoult, Laurent; Gangloff, Bernard

2018-04-20

In this study, we analyse the impact of the organizational culture and introduce a new variable, the integration of safety, which relates to the modalities for the implementation and adoption of safety in the work process, either through the activity or by the operator. One hundred and eighty employees replied to a questionnaire measuring the organizational climate, the safety climate and the integration of safety. We expected that implementation centred on the activity or on the operator would mediate the relationship between the organizational culture and the safety climate. The results support our assumptions. A regression analysis highlights the positive impact on the safety climate of organizational values of the 'rule' and 'support' type, as well as of integration by the operator and activity. Moreover, integration mediates the relation between these variables. The results suggest to take into account organizational culture and to introduce different implementation modalities to improve the safety climate.

Patient safety climate profiles across time: Strength and level of safety climate associated with a quality improvement program in Switzerland—A cross-sectional survey study

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Mascherek, Anna C.

2017-01-01

Safety Climate has been acknowledged as an unspecific factor influencing patient safety. However, studies rarely provide in-depth analysis of climate data. As a helpful approach, the concept of “climate strength” has been proposed. In the present study we tested the hypotheses that even if safety climate remains stable on mean-level across time, differences might be evident in strength or shape. The data of two hospitals participating in a large national quality improvement program were analysed for differences in climate profiles at two measurement occasions. We analysed differences on mean-level, differences in percent problematic response, agreement within groups, and frequency histograms in two large hospitals in Switzerland at two measurement occasions (2013 and 2015) applying the Safety Climate Survey. In total, survey responses of 1193 individuals were included in the analyses. Overall, small but significant differences on mean-level of safety climate emerged for some subgroups. Also, although agreement was strong at both time-points within groups, tendencies of divergence or consensus were present in both hospitals. Depending on subgroup and analyses chosen, differences were more or less pronounced. The present study illustrated that taking several measures into account and describing safety climate from different perspectives is necessary in order to fully understand differences and trends within groups and to develop interventions addressing the needs of different groups more precisely. PMID:28753633

Psychosocial influences on safety climate: evidence from community pharmacies.

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Phipps, Denham L; Ashcroft, Darren M

2011-12-01

To examine the relationship between psychosocial job characteristics and safety climate. Cross-sectional survey. Community pharmacies in Great Britain. Participants A random sample of community pharmacists registered in Great Britain (n = 860). Survey instruments Effort-reward imbalance (ERI) indicator and Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ). Main outcome measures Pharmacy Safety Climate Questionnaire (PSCQ). The profile of scores from the ERI indicated a relatively high risk of adverse psychological effects. The profile of scores from the JCQ indicated both high demand on pharmacists and a high level of psychological and social resources to meet these demands. Path analysis confirmed a model in which the ERI and JCQ measures, as well as the type of pharmacy and pharmacist role, predicted responses to the PSCQ (χ(2)(36) = 111.38, p demand) accounted for the effect of job characteristics on safety climate ratings; each had differential effects on the PSCQ scales. The safety climate in community pharmacies is influenced by perceptions of job characteristics, such as the level of job demands and the resources available to meet these demands. Hence, any efforts to improve safety should take into consideration the effect of the psychosocial work environment on safety climate. In addition, there is a need to address the presence of work-related stressors, which have the potential to cause direct or indirect harm to staff and service users. The findings of the current study provide a basis for future research to improve the safety climate and well-being, both in the pharmacy profession and in other healthcare settings.

A study on safety climate at nuclear power plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fukui, Hirokazu [Institute of Nuclear Safety System Inc., Mihama, Fukui (Japan); Yoshida, Michio; Yoshiyama, Naohiro [Japan Institute for Group Dynamics, Fukuoka (Japan)

2001-09-01

In the current study, we define safety climate as an organizational environment that induces members of the organization to give consideration to safety or take safety actions. It is of utmost importance that people holding managerial positions in an organization have a good understanding of the characteristics of the safety climate of the organization and implement safety promotion activities effectively. In the current research, we studied the rating scales and the characteristics of a safety climate. A survey was conducted, targeting technical engineers who belong to the three power stations of Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. The questionnaire mainly consisted of questions concerning safety measures taken by individuals and questions concerning safety measures taken by the organization, to which the individuals belong. As a result of a factor analysis of the responses, we extracted five factors, namely, 'confidence in knowledge and skill', attitude of supervisors,' 'safety education in workplace', 'clarity of tasks' and 'safety confirmation/report'. In studying the rating scales of the safety climate, we selected five items from each of the above five factors, and used the total scores of the ratings of the five items as scores of each factor. Then, we examined the correlation between scores of personal factors and scores of organizational environment factors. We treated the scores of safety confirmation/report' and 'confidence in knowledge and skill', which are personal factors, as criterion variables, and the scores of 'attitude of supervisors', 'safety education in workplace' and 'clarity of tasks', which are organizational environment factors, as predictor variables. As a result, we found that levels of 'safety confirmation/report' and 'confidence in knowledge and skill' can be deduced from the scores of 'attitude of supervisors', 'safety

The patient safety climate in healthcare organizations (PSCHO) survey: Short-form development.

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Benzer, Justin K; Meterko, Mark; Singer, Sara J

2017-08-01

Measures of safety climate are increasingly used to guide safety improvement initiatives. However, cost and respondent burden may limit the use of safety climate surveys. The purpose of this study was to develop a 15- to 20-item safety climate survey based on the Patient Safety Climate in Healthcare Organizations survey, a well-validated 38-item measure of safety climate. The Patient Safety Climate in Healthcare Organizations was administered to all senior managers, all physicians, and a 10% random sample of all other hospital personnel in 69 private sector hospitals and 30 Veterans Health Administration hospitals. Both samples were randomly divided into a derivation sample to identify a short-form subset and a confirmation sample to assess the psychometric properties of the proposed short form. The short form consists of 15 items represented 3 overarching domains in the long-form scale-organization, work unit, and interpersonal. The proposed short form efficiently captures 3 important sources of variance in safety climate: organizational, work-unit, and interpersonal. The short-form development process was a practical method that can be applied to other safety climate surveys. This safety climate short form may increase response rates in studies that involve busy clinicians or repeated measures. Published 2017. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

The role of teamwork and communication in the emergency department: a systematic review.

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Kilner, Emily; Sheppard, Lorraine A

2010-07-01

The aim of this study was to develop a systematic review using international research to describe the role of teamwork and communication in the emergency department, and its relevance to physiotherapy practice in the emergency department. Searches were conducted of CINAHL, Academic Search Premier, Scopus, Cochrane, PEDro, Medline, Embase, Amed and PubMed. Selection criteria included full-text English language research papers related to teamwork and/or communication based directly in the emergency department, involvement of any profession in the emergency department, publication in peer-reviewed journals, and related to adult emergency services. Studies were appraised using a validated critical appraisal tool. Fourteen eligible studies, all of mid-range quality, were identified. They demonstrated high levels of staff satisfaction with teamwork training interventions and positive staff attitudes towards the importance of teamwork and communication. There is moderate evidence that the introduction of multidisciplinary teams to the ED may be successful in reducing access block, and physiotherapists may play a role in this. The need for teamwork and communication in the ED is paramount, and their roles are closely linked, with the common significant purposes of improving patient safety, reducing clinical errors, and reducing waiting times. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Perceptions of safety culture vary across the intensive care units of a single institution.

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Huang, David T; Clermont, Gilles; Sexton, J Bryan; Karlo, Crystal A; Miller, Rachel G; Weissfeld, Lisa A; Rowan, Kathy M; Angus, Derek C

2007-01-01

To determine whether safety culture factors varied across the intensive care units (ICUs) of a single hospital, between nurses and physicians, and to explore ICU nursing directors' perceptions of their personnel's attitudes. Cross-sectional surveys using the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire-ICU version, a validated, aviation industry-based safety culture survey instrument. It assesses culture across six factors: teamwork climate, perceptions of management, safety climate, stress recognition, job satisfaction, and work environment. Four ICUs in one tertiary care hospital. All ICU personnel. We conducted the survey from January 1 to April 1, 2003, and achieved a 70.2% response rate (318 of 453). We calculated safety culture factor mean and percent-positive scores (percentage of respondents with a mean score of > or =75 on a 0-100 scale for which 100 is best) for each ICU. We compared mean ICU scores by ANOVA and percent-positive scores by chi-square. Mean and percent-positive scores by job category were modeled using a generalized estimating equations approach and compared using Wald statistics. We asked ICU nursing directors to estimate their personnel's mean scores and generated ratios of their estimates to the actual scores.Overall, factor scores were low to moderate across all factors (range across ICUs: 43.4-74.9 mean scores, 8.6-69.4 percent positive). Mean and percent-positive scores differed significantly (p safety culture variation exists across ICUs of a single hospital. ICU nursing directors tend to overestimate their personnel's attitudes, particularly for teamwork. Culture assessments based on institutional level analysis or director opinion may be flawed.

Lifting strength in two-person teamwork.

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Lee, Tzu-Hsien

2016-01-01

This study examined the effects of lifting range, hand-to-toe distance, and lifting direction on single-person lifting strengths and two-person teamwork lifting strengths. Six healthy males and seven healthy females participated in this study. Two-person teamwork lifting strengths were examined in both strength-matched and strength-unmatched groups. Our results showed that lifting strength significantly decreased with increasing lifting range or hand-to-toe distance. However, lifting strengths were not affected by lifting direction. Teamwork lifting strength did not conform to the law of additivity for both strength-matched and strength-unmatched groups. In general, teamwork lifting strength was dictated by the weaker of the two members, implying that weaker members might be exposed to a higher potential danger in teamwork exertions. To avoid such overexertion in teamwork, members with significantly different strength ability should not be assigned to the same team.

Preparing suitable climate scenario data to assess impacts on local food safety

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Liu, C.; Hofstra, N.; Leemans, R.

2015-01-01

Quantification of climate change impacts on food safety requires food safety assessment with different past and future climate scenario data to compare current and future conditions. This study presents a tool to prepare climate and climate change data for local food safety scenario analysis and

Toward a definition of teamwork in emergency medicine.

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Fernandez, Rosemarie; Kozlowski, Steve W J; Shapiro, Marc J; Salas, Eduardo

2008-11-01

The patient safety literature from the past decade emphasizes the importance of teamwork skills and human factors in preventing medical errors. Simulation has been used within aviation, the military, and now health care domains to effectively teach and assess teamwork skills. However, attempts to expand and generalize research and training principles have been limited due to a lack of a well-defined, well-researched taxonomy. As part of the 2008 Academic Emergency Medicine Consensus Conference on "The Science of Simulation in Healthcare," a subset of the group expertise and group assessment breakout sections identified evidence-based recommendations for an emergency medicine (EM) team taxonomy and performance model. This material was disseminated within the morning session and was discussed both during breakout sessions and via online messaging. Below we present a well-defined, well-described taxonomy that will help guide design, implementation, and assessment of simulation-based team training programs.

An investigation of safety climate in OHSAS 18001-certified and non-certified organizations.

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Ghahramani, Abolfazl

2016-09-01

Many organizations worldwide have implemented Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) 18001 in their premises because of the assumed positive effects of this standard on safety. Few studies have analyzed the effect of the safety climate in OHSAS 18001-certified organizations. This case-control study used a new safety climate questionnaire to evaluate three OHSAS 18001-certified and three non-certified manufacturing companies in Iran. Hierarchical regression indicated that the safety climate was influenced by OHSAS implementation and by safety training. Employees who received safety training had better perceptions of the safety climate and its dimensions than other respondents within the certified companies. This study found that the implementation of OHSAS 18001 does not guarantee improvement of the safety climate. This study also emphasizes the need for high-quality safety training for employees of the certified companies to improve the safety climate.

Pre-surgery briefings and safety climate in the operating theatre.

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Allard, Jon; Bleakley, Alan; Hobbs, Adrian; Coombes, Lee

2011-08-01

In 2008, the WHO produced a surgical safety checklist against a background of a poor patient safety record in operating theatres. Formal team briefings are now standard practice in high-risk settings such as the aviation industry and improve safety, but are resisted in surgery. Research evidence is needed to persuade the surgical workforce to adopt safety procedures such as briefings. To investigate whether exposure to pre-surgery briefings is related to perception of safety climate. Three Safety Attitude Questionnaires, completed by operating theatre staff in 2003, 2004 and 2006, were used to evaluate the effects of an educational intervention introducing pre-surgery briefings. Individual practitioners who agree with the statement 'briefings are common in the operating theatre' also report a better 'safety climate' in operating theatres. The study reports a powerful link between briefing practices and attitudes towards safety. Findings build on previous work by reporting on the relationship between briefings and safety climate within a 4-year period. Briefings, however, remain difficult to establish in local contexts without appropriate team-based patient safety education. Success in establishing a safety culture, with associated practices, may depend on first establishing unidirectional, positive change in attitudes to create a safety climate.

Leadership Styles Promote Teamwork

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khater Aldoshan

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This paper will evaluate the importance of learning leadership styles and the explanation of when and how each one is used in the workforce. In this paper many experts have been cited that are well-known in the field of leadership. Also this paper will concentrate on the importance of teamwork in the workforce and there are many examples of how teamwork is effective for creating the best possible outcomes for creativity and productivity. In the television industry creativity is an essential component of the job description and inspirational leadership that promotes teamwork is essential.

Utilizing Telemedicine in the Trauma Intensive Care Unit: Does It Impact Teamwork?

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Lazzara, Elizabeth H; Benishek, Lauren E; Patzer, Brady; Gregory, Megan E; Hughes, Ashley M; Heyne, Kyle; Salas, Eduardo; Kuchkarian, Fernanda; Marttos, Antonio; Schulman, Carl

2015-08-01

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of a telemedical robot on trauma intensive care unit (TICU) clinician teamwork (i.e., team attitudes, behaviors, and cognitions) during patient rounds. Thirty-two healthcare providers who conduct rounds volunteered to take surveys assessing teamwork attitudes and cognitions at three time periods: (1) the onset of the study, (2) the end of the 30-day control period, and (3) the end of the 30-day experimental period, which immediately followed the control period. Rounds were recorded throughout the 30-day control period and 30-day experimental period to observe provider behaviors. For the initial 30 days, there was no access to telemedicine. For the final 30 days, the rounding healthcare providers had access to the RP-7 robot (Intouch Health Inc., Santa Barbara, CA), a telemedical tool that can facilitate patient rounds conducted away from bedside. Using a one-tailed, one-way repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) to compare trust at Times 1, 2, and 3, there was no significant effect on trust: F(2, 14)=1.20, p=0.16. When a one-tailed, one-way repeated-measures ANOVA to compare transactive memory systems (TMS) at Times 1, 2, and 3 was conducted, there was no significant effect on TMS: F(2, 15)=1.33, p=0.15. We conducted a one-tailed, one-way repeated-measures ANOVA to compare team psychological safety at Times 1, 2, and 3, and there was no significant effect on team psychological safety: F(2,15)=1.53, p=0.12. There was a significant difference in communication between rounds with and without telemedicine [t(25)=-1.76, p<0.05], such that there was more task-based communication during telerounds. Telemedicine increased task-based communication and did not negatively impact team trust, psychological safety, or TMS during rounds. Telemedicine may offer advantages for some teamwork competencies without sacrificing the efficacy of others and may be adopted by intact rounding teams without hindering teamwork.

Teamwork Satisfaction: Exploring the Multilevel Interaction of Teamwork Interest and Group Extraversion

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French, Kimberly A.; Kottke, Janet L.

2013-01-01

Multilevel modeling is used to examine the impact of teamwork interest and group extraversion on group satisfaction. Participants included 206 undergraduates in 65 groups who were surveyed at the beginning and end of a requisite term-length group project for an upper-division university course. We hypothesized that teamwork interest and both…

Safety culture perceptions of pharmacists in Malaysian hospitals and health clinics: a multicentre assessment using the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire.

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Samsuri, Srima Elina; Pei Lin, Lua; Fahrni, Mathumalar Loganathan

2015-11-26

To assess the safety attitudes of pharmacists, provide a profile of their domains of safety attitude and correlate their attitudes with self-reported rates of medication errors. A cross-sectional study utilising the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ). 3 public hospitals and 27 health clinics. 117 pharmacists. Safety culture mean scores, variation in scores across working units and between hospitals versus health clinics, predictors of safety culture, and medication errors and their correlation. Response rate was 83.6% (117 valid questionnaires returned). Stress recognition (73.0±20.4) and working condition (54.8±17.4) received the highest and lowest mean scores, respectively. Pharmacists exhibited positive attitudes towards: stress recognition (58.1%), job satisfaction (46.2%), teamwork climate (38.5%), safety climate (33.3%), perception of management (29.9%) and working condition (15.4%). With the exception of stress recognition, those who worked in health clinics scored higher than those in hospitals (pculture. As perceptions improved, the number of medication errors reported decreased. Group-specific interventions that target specific domains are necessary to improve the safety culture. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Effect of STOP technique on safety climate in a construction company.

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Darvishi, Ebrahim; Maleki, Afshin; Dehestaniathar, Saeed; Ebrahemzadih, Mehrzad

2015-01-01

Safety programs are a core part of safety management in workplaces that can reduce incidents and injuries. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of Safety Training Observation Program (STOP) technique as a behavior modification program on safety climate in a construction company. This cross-sectional study was carried out on workers of the Petrochemical Construction Company, western Iran. In order to improve safety climate, an unsafe behavior modification program entitled STOP was launched among workers of project during 12 months from April 2013 and April 2014. The STOP technique effectiveness in creating a positive safety climate was evaluated using the Safety Climate Assessment Toolkit. 76.78% of total behaviors were unsafe. 54.76% of total unsafe acts/ at-risk behaviors were related to the fall hazard. The most cause of unsafe behaviors was associated with habit and unavailability of safety equipment. After 12 month of continuous implementation the STOP technique, 55.8% of unsafe behaviors reduced among workers. The average score of safety climate evaluated using of the Toolkit, before and after the implementation of the STOP technique was 5.77 and 7.24, respectively. The STOP technique can be considered as effective approach for eliminating at-risk behavior, reinforcing safe work practices, and creating a positive safety climate in order to reduction incidents/injuries.

Relationship of hospital organizational culture to patient safety climate in the Veterans Health Administration.

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Hartmann, Christine W; Meterko, Mark; Rosen, Amy K; Shibei Zhao; Shokeen, Priti; Singer, Sara; Gaba, David M

2009-06-01

Improving safety climate could enhance patient safety, yet little evidence exists regarding the relationship between hospital characteristics and safety climate. This study assessed the relationship between hospitals' organizational culture and safety climate in Veterans Health Administration (VA) hospitals nationally. Data were collected from a sample of employees in a stratified random sample of 30 VA hospitals over a 6-month period (response rate = 50%; n = 4,625). The Patient Safety Climate in Healthcare Organizations (PSCHO) and the Zammuto and Krakower surveys were used to measure safety climate and organizational culture, respectively. Higher levels of safety climate were significantly associated with higher levels of group and entrepreneurial cultures, while lower levels of safety climate were associated with higher levels of hierarchical culture. Hospitals could use these results to design specific interventions aimed at improving safety climate.

An integrative framework for sensor-based measurement of teamwork in healthcare.

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Rosen, Michael A; Dietz, Aaron S; Yang, Ting; Priebe, Carey E; Pronovost, Peter J

2015-01-01

There is a strong link between teamwork and patient safety. Emerging evidence supports the efficacy of teamwork improvement interventions. However, the availability of reliable, valid, and practical measurement tools and strategies is commonly cited as a barrier to long-term sustainment and spread of these teamwork interventions. This article describes the potential value of sensor-based technology as a methodology to measure and evaluate teamwork in healthcare. The article summarizes the teamwork literature within healthcare, including team improvement interventions and measurement. Current applications of sensor-based measurement of teamwork are reviewed to assess the feasibility of employing this approach in healthcare. The article concludes with a discussion highlighting current application needs and gaps and relevant analytical techniques to overcome the challenges to implementation. Compelling studies exist documenting the feasibility of capturing a broad array of team input, process, and output variables with sensor-based methods. Implications of this research are summarized in a framework for development of multi-method team performance measurement systems. Sensor-based measurement within healthcare can unobtrusively capture information related to social networks, conversational patterns, physical activity, and an array of other meaningful information without having to directly observe or periodically survey clinicians. However, trust and privacy concerns present challenges that need to be overcome through engagement of end users in healthcare. Initial evidence exists to support the feasibility of sensor-based measurement to drive feedback and learning across individual, team, unit, and organizational levels. Future research is needed to refine methods, technologies, theory, and analytical strategies. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions

Toward an Optimal Pedagogy for Teamwork.

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Earnest, Mark A; Williams, Jason; Aagaard, Eva M

2017-10-01

Teamwork and collaboration are increasingly listed as core competencies for undergraduate health professions education. Despite the clear mandate for teamwork training, the optimal method for providing that training is much less certain. In this Perspective, the authors propose a three-level classification of pedagogical approaches to teamwork training based on the presence of two key learning factors: interdependent work and explicit training in teamwork. In this classification framework, level 1-minimal team learning-is where learners work in small groups but neither of the key learning factors is present. Level 2-implicit team learning-engages learners in interdependent learning activities but does not include an explicit focus on teamwork. Level 3-explicit team learning-creates environments where teams work interdependently toward common goals and are given explicit instruction and practice in teamwork. The authors provide examples that demonstrate each level. They then propose that the third level of team learning, explicit team learning, represents a best practice approach in teaching teamwork, highlighting their experience with an explicit team learning course at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Finally, they discuss several challenges to implementing explicit team-learning-based curricula: the lack of a common teamwork model on which to anchor such a curriculum; the question of whether the knowledge, skills, and attitudes acquired during training would be transferable to the authentic clinical environment; and effectively evaluating the impact of explicit team learning.

Role of care pathways in interprofessional teamwork.

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Scaria, Minimol Kulakkottu

2016-08-24

Cohesive interprofessional teamwork is essential to successful healthcare services. Interprofessional teamwork is the means by which different healthcare professionals - with diverse knowledge, skills and talents - collaborate to achieve a common goal. Several interventions are available to improve teamwork in the healthcare setting. This article explores the role of care pathways in improving interprofessional teamwork. Care pathways enhance teamwork by promoting coordination, collaboration, communication and decision making to achieve optimal healthcare outcomes. They result in improved staff knowledge, communication, documentation and interprofessional relations. Care pathways also contribute to patient-centred care and increase patient satisfaction.

Organizational safety climate and supervisor safety enforcement: Multilevel explorations of the causes of accident underreporting.

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Probst, Tahira M

2015-11-01

According to national surveillance statistics, over 3 million employees are injured each year; yet, research indicates that these may be substantial underestimates of the true prevalence. The purpose of the current project was to empirically test the hypothesis that organizational safety climate and transactional supervisor safety leadership would predict the extent to which accidents go unreported by employees. Using hierarchical linear modeling and survey data collected from 1,238 employees in 33 organizations, employee-level supervisor safety enforcement behaviors (and to a less consistent extent, organizational-level safety climate) predicted employee accident underreporting. There was also a significant cross-level interaction, such that the effect of supervisor enforcement on underreporting was attenuated in organizations with a positive safety climate. These results may benefit human resources and safety professionals by pinpointing methods of increasing the accuracy of accident reporting, reducing actual safety incidents, and reducing the costs to individuals and organizations that result from underreporting. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Workplace injuries, safety climate and behaviors: application of an artificial neural network.

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Abubakar, A Mohammed; Karadal, Himmet; Bayighomog, Steven W; Merdan, Ethem

2018-05-09

This article proposes and tests a model for the interaction effect of the organizational safety climate and behaviors on workplace injuries. Using artificial neural network and survey data from 306 metal casting industry employees in central Anatolia, we found that an organizational safety climate mitigates workplace injuries, and safety behaviors enforce the strength of the negative impact of the safety climate on workplace injuries. The results suggest a complex relationship between the organizational safety climate, safety behavior and workplace injuries. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in light of decreasing workplace injuries in the Anatolian metal casting industry.

A relational leadership perspective on unit-level safety climate.

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Thompson, Debra N; Hoffman, Leslie A; Sereika, Susan M; Lorenz, Holly L; Wolf, Gail A; Burns, Helen K; Minnier, Tamra E; Ramanujam, Rangaraj

2011-11-01

This study compared nursing staff perceptions of safety climate in clinical units characterized by high and low ratings of leader-member exchange (LMX) and explored characteristics that might account for differences. Frontline nursing leaders' actions are critical to ensure patient safety. Specific leadership behaviors to achieve this goal are underexamined. The LMX perspective has shown promise in nonhealthcare settings as a means to explain safety climate perceptions. Cross-sectional survey of staff (n = 711) and unit directors from 34 inpatient units in an academic medical center was conducted. Significant differences were found between high and low LMX scoring units on supervisor safety expectations, organizational learning-continuous improvement, total communication, feedback and communication about errors, and nonpunitive response to errors. The LMX perspective can be used to identify differences in perceptions of safety climate among nursing staff. Future studies are needed to identify strategies to improve staff safety attitudes and behaviors. Copyright © 2011 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

The role of organizational trust in safety climate's influence on organizational outcomes.

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Kath, Lisa M; Magley, Vicki J; Marmet, Matthew

2010-09-01

Based on elements of social exchange theory and other conceptualizations of trust, a model was developed situating organizational trust as a central component to the relationship that safety climate has with organizational outcomes. Specifically, the model specified that two facets of safety climate--upward safety communication and management attitudes toward safety--would be positively related to organizational trust. Increased levels of trust would then predict increased motivation to engage in safe job-related behaviors, increased job satisfaction, and decreased turnover intentions. Another hypothesis investigated whether job safety relevance would moderate the relationship between safety climate and trust. Online survey research was conducted with 599 employees from 97 work groups across a New England grocery store chain. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated support for trust mediating the relationship between safety climate and organizational outcomes; further, the relationship between safety climate and trust was stronger within work groups where safety was more relevant. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improving patient safety through better teamwork: how effective are different methods of simulation debriefing? Protocol for a pragmatic, prospective and randomised study.

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Freytag, Julia; Stroben, Fabian; Hautz, Wolf E; Eisenmann, Dorothea; Kämmer, Juliane E

2017-06-30

Medical errors have an incidence of 9% and may lead to worse patient outcome. Teamwork training has the capacity to significantly reduce medical errors and therefore improve patient outcome. One common framework for teamwork training is crisis resource management, adapted from aviation and usually trained in simulation settings. Debriefing after simulation is thought to be crucial to learning teamwork-related concepts and behaviours but it remains unclear how best to debrief these aspects. Furthermore, teamwork-training sessions and studies examining education effects on undergraduates are rare. The study aims to evaluate the effects of two teamwork-focused debriefings on team performance after an extensive medical student teamwork training. A prospective experimental study has been designed to compare a well-established three-phase debriefing method (gather-analyse-summarise; the GAS method ) to a newly developed and more structured debriefing approach that extends the GAS method with TeamTAG (teamwork techniques analysis grid). TeamTAG is a cognitive aid listing preselected teamwork principles and descriptions of behavioural anchors that serve as observable patterns of teamwork and is supposed to help structure teamwork-focused debriefing. Both debriefing methods will be tested during an emergency room teamwork-training simulation comprising six emergency medicine cases faced by 35 final-year medical students in teams of five. Teams will be randomised into the two debriefing conditions. Team performance during simulation and the number of principles discussed during debriefing will be evaluated. Learning opportunities, helpfulness and feasibility will be rated by participants and instructors. Analyses will include descriptive, inferential and explorative statistics. The study protocol was approved by the institutional office for data protection and the ethics committee of Charité Medical School Berlin and registered under EA2/172/16. All students will

Say "Yes and" to Students Learning Teamwork! Using Improv in the College Classroom to Build Teamwork Skills

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Watland, Kathleen Hanold; Santori, David

2014-01-01

Teamwork and the ability to work collaboratively on a team are important skills in almost every industry or profession. The use of student teams in college courses is increasing and most academic programs require teamwork as part of the students' academic learning experience. While teamwork and other experiential collaborative learning…

Therapists' experiences and perceptions of teamwork in neurological rehabilitation: critical happenings in effective and ineffective teamwork.

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Suddick, Kitty M; De Souza, Lorraine H

2007-12-01

This paper reports the second part of an exploratory study into occupational therapists' and physiotherapists' perceptions and experiences of teamwork in neurological rehabilitation: the factors that were thought to influence effective and ineffective teamwork, and the meaning behind effective and ineffective teamwork in neurological rehabilitation. The study was undertaken through semi-structured interviews of 10 therapists from three different neurological rehabilitation teams based in the United Kingdom, and used the critical incident technique. Through analysis of the data, several main themes emerged regarding the perceived critical happenings in effective and ineffective teamwork. These were: team events and characteristics, team members' characteristics, shared and collaborative working practices, communication, specific organizational structures, environmental, external, and patient and family-related factors. Effective and ineffective team-work was perceived to impact on a number of levels: having implications for the team, the patient, individual team members, and the neurological rehabilitation service. The study supported the perceived value of team work within neurological rehabilitation. It also indicated the extensive and variable factors that may influence the team-working process as well as the complex and diverse nature of the process.

Collaborative Teamwork in Crossdisciplinarity

Science.gov (United States)

Laberge, Renée-Pascale

2016-01-01

Polytechnique Montréal has integrated an approach of teamwork in its twelve engineering programs, in the bachelor's degree program since 2005. Students must take a compulsory 45 hours course on teamwork and are then accompanied with team coaching throughout the four years program, in all the engineering integration projects. These integration…

Nurse-physician teamwork in the emergency department: impact on perceptions of job environment, autonomy, and control over practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Ajeigbe, David O; McNeese-Smith, Donna; Leach, Linda Searle; Phillips, Linda R

2013-03-01

Teamwork is essential to safety. Few studies focus on teamwork between nurses and physicians in emergency departments (EDs). The aim of this study was to examine differences between staff in the interventional group EDs (IGEDs) and control group EDs (CGEDs) on perception of job environment, autonomy, and control over practice. This was a comparative cross-sectional study of the impact of teamwork on perceptions of job environment, autonomy, and control over practice by registered nurses and physicians (MDs) in EDs. Staff in the IGEDs showed significant differences compared with staff who worked in the CGEDs on staff perception of job environment, autonomy, and control over practice. Active teamwork practice was associated with increased perceptions of a positive job environment, autonomy, and control over practice of both nurses and physicians.

Multilevel Safety Climate and Safety Performance in the Construction Industry: Development and Validation of a Top-Down Mechanism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ran Gao

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The character of construction projects exposes front-line workers to dangers and accidents. Safety climate has been confirmed to be a predictor of safety performance in the construction industry. This study aims to explore the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between multilevel safety climate and safety performance. An integrated model was developed to study how particular safety climate factors of one level affect those of other levels, and then affect safety performance from the top down. A questionnaire survey was administered on six construction sites in Vietnam. A total of 1030 valid questionnaires were collected from this survey. Approximately half of the data were used to conduct exploratory factor analysis (EFA and the remaining data were submitted to structural equation modeling (SEM. Top management commitment (TMC and supervisors’ expectation (SE were identified as factors to represent organizational safety climate (OSC and supervisor safety climate (SSC, respectively, and coworkers’ caring and communication (CCC and coworkers’ role models (CRM were identified as factors to denote coworker safety climate (CSC. SEM results show that OSC factor is positively related to SSC factor and CSC factors significantly. SSC factor could partially mediate the relationship between OSC factor and CSC factors, as well as the relationship between OSC factor and safety performance. CSC factors partially mediate the relationship between OSC factor and safety performance, and the relationship between SSC factor and safety performance. The findings imply that a positive safety culture should be established both at the organizational level and the group level. Efforts from all top management, supervisors, and coworkers should be provided to improve safety performance in the construction industry.

Multilevel Safety Climate and Safety Performance in the Construction Industry: Development and Validation of a Top-Down Mechanism.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Ran; Chan, Albert P C; Utama, Wahyudi P; Zahoor, Hafiz

2016-11-08

The character of construction projects exposes front-line workers to dangers and accidents. Safety climate has been confirmed to be a predictor of safety performance in the construction industry. This study aims to explore the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between multilevel safety climate and safety performance. An integrated model was developed to study how particular safety climate factors of one level affect those of other levels, and then affect safety performance from the top down. A questionnaire survey was administered on six construction sites in Vietnam. A total of 1030 valid questionnaires were collected from this survey. Approximately half of the data were used to conduct exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and the remaining data were submitted to structural equation modeling (SEM). Top management commitment (TMC) and supervisors' expectation (SE) were identified as factors to represent organizational safety climate (OSC) and supervisor safety climate (SSC), respectively, and coworkers' caring and communication (CCC) and coworkers' role models (CRM) were identified as factors to denote coworker safety climate (CSC). SEM results show that OSC factor is positively related to SSC factor and CSC factors significantly. SSC factor could partially mediate the relationship between OSC factor and CSC factors, as well as the relationship between OSC factor and safety performance. CSC factors partially mediate the relationship between OSC factor and safety performance, and the relationship between SSC factor and safety performance. The findings imply that a positive safety culture should be established both at the organizational level and the group level. Efforts from all top management, supervisors, and coworkers should be provided to improve safety performance in the construction industry.

Assessing Teamwork in Undergraduate Education: A Measurement Tool to Evaluate Individual Teamwork Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Britton, Emily; Simper, Natalie; Leger, Andrew; Stephenson, Jenn

2017-01-01

Effective teamwork skills are essential for success in an increasingly team-based workplace. However, research suggests that there is often confusion concerning how teamwork is measured and assessed, making it difficult to develop these skills in undergraduate curricula. The goal of the present study was to develop a sustainable tool for assessing…

Safety climate in OHSAS 18001-certified organisations: antecedents and consequences of safety behaviour.

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Fernández-Muñiz, Beatriz; Montes-Peón, José Manuel; Vázquez-Ordás, Camilo José

2012-03-01

The occupational health and safety standard OHSAS 18001 has gained considerable acceptance worldwide, and firms from diverse sectors and of varying sizes have implemented it. Despite this, very few studies have analysed safety management or the safety climate in OHSAS 18001-certified organisations. The current work aims to analyse the safety climate in these organisations, identify its dimensions, and propose and test a structural equation model that will help determine the antecedents and consequences of employees' safety behaviour. For this purpose, the authors carry out an empirical study using a sample of 131 OHSAS 18001-certified organisations located in Spain. The results show that management's commitment, and particularly communication, have an effect on safety behaviour and on safety performance, employee satisfaction, and firm competitiveness. These findings are particularly important for management since they provide evidence about the factors that should be encouraged to reduce risks and improve performance in this type of organisation. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Behaving safely under pressure: The effects of job demands, resources, and safety climate on employee physical and psychosocial safety behavior.

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Bronkhorst, Babette

2015-12-01

Previous research has shown that employees who experience high job demands are more inclined to show unsafe behaviors in the workplace. In this paper, we examine why some employees behave safely when faced with these demands while others do not. We add to the literature by incorporating both physical and psychosocial safety climate in the job demands and resources (JD-R) model and extending it to include physical and psychosocial variants of safety behavior. Using a sample of 6230 health care employees nested within 52 organizations, we examined the relationship between job demands and (a) resources, (b) safety climate, and (c) safety behavior. We conducted multilevel analyses to test our hypotheses. Job demands (i.e., work pressure), job resources (i.e., job autonomy, supervisor support, and co-worker support) and safety climate (both physical and psychosocial safety climate) are directly associated with, respectively, lower and higher physical and psychosocial safety behavior. We also found some evidence that safety climate buffers the negative impact of job demands (i.e., work-family conflict and job insecurity) on safety behavior and strengthens the positive impact of job resources (i.e., co-worker support) on safety behavior. Regardless of whether the focus is physical or psychological safety, our results show that strengthening the safety climate within an organization can increase employees' safety behavior. Practical implication: An organization's safety climate is an optimal target of intervention to prevent and ameliorate negative physical and psychological health and safety outcomes, especially in times of uncertainty and change. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and National Safety Council. All rights reserved.

Characteristics of the safety climate in teams with world-class safety ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

interact to deliver a project successfully in terms of cost .... small-scale accidents occurring at high frequency and from diverse ... the team dynamics of role players in a construction project and .... modified safety pyramid to measure the impact of the safety climate ...... Methodological Centre for Vocational Education and.

[Perception of safety climate in outpatient pediatric care].

Science.gov (United States)

Baldegger, Claudia; Zeller, Adelheid

2013-02-01

In ambulant pediatric care, patients situations are becoming increasingly complex, because the lenght of hospital stay is reduced since the introduction of Diagnosis Related Groups (DRG). Consequently, the patients' safety is constantly becoming more important. The patients' safety is closely associated with the nurses' awareness of risks and the safety climate within the institution. This study is investigating how nurses of a pediatric outpatient service estimate the patients' safety and how that can be optimized, if necessary. As part of a cross-sectional study, a total of 106 nurses of the pediatric outpatient service were interviewed with a modified German version of the "Patient Safety Climate Inventory (Patientensicherheitsklima-Inventar, PaSKI)". Data was analysed by a descriptive statistical method. The return rate was 80.2 percent. The results show a very high awareness of patients' safety issues as well as a high level of satisfaction concerning team collaboration. Both results have a positive influence on the safety-climate. Problems are associated mainly with the incident reporting system, e.g. with reporting critical incidents and communicating after reporting. This indicates the importance of a useable incident reporting system, which--in combination with staff training--may be an important step towards a structured risk management. Furthermore, it clarifies the importance of transparent communication after a reported incident, as also described in the literature.

Study on team evaluation (6). Relationships among technical skill proficiency, leadership, and teamwork behaviors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Misawa, Ryo; Sasou, Kunihide

2011-01-01

To maintain and improve the efficiency and safety of operations in numerous industries, it is necessary to develop programs that enhance teamwork. This can be achieved through empirical investigations that identify influential factors contributing to teamwork. This study focused on technical skill proficiency and leadership as influential factors and examined the relationships among these factors and teamwork behaviors. A series of measurements was performed on 54 operations teams with the cooperation of the training center of thermal power plants. Teamwork behaviors in training under simulated abnormal conditions were evaluated through instructors' observation using a behavior checklist. Technical skill proficiency was measured by conducting a brief survey on instructors. Leadership was measured on the basis of followers' responses on questionnaire scales. Based on the scores of technical skill proficiency and leadership, hierarchical cluster analysis revealed three types of teams: (a) F-type - the technical skills of followers are superior to those of leaders; (b) LF-type - both leaders and followers are proficient in technical skills; and (c) L-type - the technical skills of leaders are superior to those of followers. ANOVAs were conducted to examine differences in teamwork behavior for the three types of teams. The main results revealed that LF-type teams actively engaged in information gathering and that leaders played a central role in these activities. In addition, the followers of F-type teams freely exchanged their ideas and opinions regarding problems and actively discussed how to solve them. These findings suggest that teamwork behaviors can vary depending on technical skill proficiency and leadership in teams. Future research is needed to identify additional factors affecting teamwork that are not measured in this study. (author)

Teamwork: a concept analysis.

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Xyrichis, Andreas; Ream, Emma

2008-01-01

This paper is a report of an analysis of the concept of teamwork. Teamwork is seen as an important facilitator in delivering quality healthcare services internationally. However, research studies of teamwork in health care are criticized for lacking a basic conceptual understanding of what this concept represents. A universal definition for healthcare settings and professionals is missing from published literature. Walker and Avant's approach was used to guide this concept analysis. Literature searches used bibliographic databases (Medline, CINAHL, Web of Science, Proquest CSA), internet search engines (GoogleScholar), and hand searches. Literature published between 1976 and 2006 was reviewed but only material in English was included. Based on the analysis undertaken, teamwork is proposed as a dynamic process involving two or more healthcare professionals with complementary backgrounds and skills, sharing common health goals and exercising concerted physical and mental effort in assessing, planning, or evaluating patient care. This is accomplished through interdependent collaboration, open communication and shared decision-making, and generates value-added patient, organizational and staff outcomes. Praising the value of teamwork without a common understanding of what this concept represents endangers both research into this way of working and its effective utilization in practice. The proposed definition helps reconcile discrepancies between how this concept is understood by nurses and doctors, as well as allied health professionals. A common understanding can facilitate communication in educational, research and clinical settings and is imperative for improving clarity and validity of future research.

Empirical Analysis of Construction Safety Climate - A Study

OpenAIRE

S.V.S.RAJA PRASAD; K.P.REGHUNATH

2010-01-01

Safety in the construction industry has always been a major issue. Though much improvement in construction safety has been achieved, the industry still continues to lag behind most other industries with regard to safety. The safety climate of any organization consists of employee’s attitudes towards and perceptions of, health and safety behavior. Construction workers attitudes towards safety are influenced by their perceptions of risk, management, safety rulesand procedures. A measure of safe...

Profil Teamwork Skill sebagai Gambaran Kemampuan Kompetitif Mahasiswa

OpenAIRE

Chayati, Ichda; Purwanti, Sutriyati; Nugraheni, Mutiara

2014-01-01

The objectives of the study were: 1) to identify the profile of the Hospitality Engineering Education students’ teamwork skills, 2) to identify the profile of the Hospitality Engineering Students’ teamwork skills, 3) to describe the general overview of the students’ teamwork skills, 4) to identify the group of Bachelor program with the highest and the lowest teamwork skills, 5) to identify the group of the Associate program with the highest and the lowest teamwork skills. This study was a des...

Safety climate in university and college laboratories: impact of organizational and individual factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Tsung-Chih; Liu, Chi-Wei; Lu, Mu-Chen

2007-01-01

Universities and colleges serve to be institutions of education excellence; however, problems in the areas of occupational safety may undermine such goals. Occupational safety must be the concern of every employee in the organization, regardless of job position. Safety climate surveys have been suggested as important tools for measuring the effectiveness and improvement direction of safety programs. Thus, this study aims to investigate the influence of organizational and individual factors on safety climate in university and college laboratories. Employees at 100 universities and colleges in Taiwan were mailed a self-administered questionnaire survey; the response rate was 78%. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed that organizational category of ownership, the presence of a safety manager and safety committee, gender, age, title, accident experience, and safety training significantly affected the climate. Among them, accident experience and safety training affected the climate with practical significance. The authors recommend that managers should address important factors affecting safety issues and then create a positive climate by enforcing continuous improvements.

Promoting teamwork and surgical optimization: combining TeamSTEPPS with a specialty team protocol.

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Tibbs, Sheila Marie; Moss, Jacqueline

2014-11-01

This quality improvement project was a 300-day descriptive preintervention and postintervention comparison consisting of a convenience sample of 18 gynecology surgical team members. We administered the Team Strategies & Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS®) Teamwork Perception Questionnaire to measure the perception of teamwork. In addition, we collected data regarding rates of compliance (ie, huddle, time out) and measurable surgical procedure times. Results showed a statistically significant increase in the number of team members present for each procedure, 2.34 μ before compared with 2.61 μ after (P = .038), and in the final time-out (FTO) compliance as a result of a clarification of the definition of FTO, 1.05 μ before compared with 1.18 μ after (P = .004). Additionally, there was improvement in staff members' perception of teamwork. The implementation of team training, protocols, and algorithms can enhance surgical optimization, communication, and work relationships. Copyright © 2014 AORN, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Teaching teamwork in medical education.

Science.gov (United States)

Lerner, Susan; Magrane, Diane; Friedman, Erica

2009-08-01

Teamwork has become a major focus in healthcare. In part, this is the result of the Institute of Medicine report entitled To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, which details the high rate of preventable medical errors, many of which are the result of dysfunctional or nonexistent teamwork. It has been proposed that a healthcare system that supports effective teamwork can improve the quality of patient care and reduce workload issues that cause burnout among healthcare professionals. Few clear guidelines exist to help guide the implementation of all these recommendations in healthcare settings. In general, training programs designed to improve team skills are a new concept for medicine, particularly for physicians who are trained largely to be self-sufficient and individually responsible for their actions. Outside of healthcare, research has shown that teams working together in high-risk and high-intensity work environments make fewer mistakes than individuals. This evidence originates from commercial aviation, the military, firefighting, and rapid-response police activities. Commercial aviation, an industry in which mistakes can result in unacceptable loss, has been at the forefront of risk reduction through teamwork training. The importance of teamwork has been recognized by some in the healthcare industry who have begun to develop their own specialty-driven programs. The purpose of this review is to discuss the current literature on teaching about teamwork in undergraduate medical education. We describe the science of teams, analyze the work in team training that has been done in other fields, and assess what work has been done in other fields about the importance of team training (ie, aviation, nonmedical education, and business). Additionally, it is vital to assess what work has already been done in medicine to advance the skills required for effective teamwork. Much of this work has been done in fields in which medical professionals deal with crisis

Concurrent validation of CHIRP, a new instrument for measuring healthcare student attitudes towards interdisciplinary teamwork.

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Hollar, David; Hobgood, Cherri; Foster, Beverly; Aleman, Marco; Sawning, Susan

2012-01-01

Positive attitudes towards teamwork among health care professionals are critical to patient safety. The purpose of this study is to describe the development and concurrent validation of a new instrument to measure attitudes towards healthcare teamwork that is generalizable across various populations of healthcare students. The Collaborative Healthcare Interdisciplinary Planning (CHIRP) scale was validated against the Readiness for Inter-Professional Learning Scale (RIPLS). Analyses included student (n = 266) demographics, ANOVA, internal consistency, factor analysis, and Rasch analysis. The two instruments correlated at r = .582. The CHIRP showed a multifactorial structure having excellent internal consistency (alpha = .850), with 25 of the 36 scale items loading onto a single Teamwork Attitudes factor. The RIPLS likewise had strong internal consistency (alpha = .796) and a three-factor structure, supporting previous studies of the instrument. However, Rasch analyses showed 14 (38.9%) of the 36 CHIRP items, but only four (21.1%) of the 19 RIPLS items remaining within the satisfactory standardized OUTFIT zone of 2.0 standard deviation units. We propose the 14 fitting items as a new, validated teamwork attitudes scale.

Development of a measure of safety climate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. R. Barnes

1990-06-01

Full Text Available A measure of safety climate was developed to aid management in identifying safety problems and responding proactively to safety issues; to assess the general mood of the workforce to safety; and as a standard for comparison with other organizations. The measure of safety climate was based on items extracted from the Chamber of Mines "Loss Control" audit manual. Reliability analysis performed on the scale indicated consistently high reliability coefficients across three ethnic groups. Factor analysis gave support for the construct validity of the scale. Opsomming 'n Meting vir veiligheidsklimaat is ontwikkel ten einde bestuur in staat te stel om veiligheidsprobleme te identifiseer en om pro-aktiefop te tree; om die algemene gevoel van die werkskragte rakende veiligheid te bepaal en om 'n maatstaf vir vergelyking met ander organisasies daar te stel. 'n Betroubaarheidssanalise wat op die skaal uitgevoer is het daarop gedui dat daar konsekwent hoe betroubaarheidskoefisiënte vir drie etniese groepe verkry word. 'n Faktoranalise het die konstrukgeldigheid van die skaal bevestig. The author acknowledges the financial assistance provided by the Human Sciences Research Council for this research.

Effects of safety climate on safety norm violations: exploring the mediating role of attitudinal ambivalence toward personal protective equipment.

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Cavazza, Nicoletta; Serpe, Alessandra

2009-01-01

Research on the role of organizational and psychosocial factors in influencing risk behaviors and the likelihood of injury at work showed that safety climate also has great impact on workers' behavior. However, the mechanisms through which this impact operates are still partially unclear. In order to explore the role that attitudinal ambivalence toward wearing PPE might play in mediating the impact of safety climate on safety norm violations, a questionnaire was administered to 345 Italian workers. Three dimensions of safety climate (i.e., company safety concern, senior managers' safety concern, supervisors' attitudes towards safety) were found to be positively associated with the individual ambivalence level, whereas the fourth one (i.e., work pressure) was negatively correlated with it. In turn, low levels of ambivalence were associated with a lower tendency to break the safety norms, even though the perception of a good safety climate also maintained a direct effect on unsafe behaviors. Designers of training program for the prevention of work related injuries must pay great attention to the psycho-social factors (such as the effects of the safety climate perception by employees on their attitudes and behaviors), and include specific contents into the prevention programs in order to improve workers compliance with safety norms.

Bad Attitudes: Why Design Students Dislike Teamwork

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Tucker, Richard; Abbasi, Neda

2016-01-01

Positive experiences of teamwork in design contexts significantly improve students' satisfaction with teaching and their attitudes towards future teamwork. Thus, an understanding of the factors leading to negative and positive team experiences can inform strategies to support effective teamwork. This paper examines design students' perceptions and…

A systematic review of teamwork training interventions in medical student and resident education.

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Chakraborti, Chayan; Boonyasai, Romsai T; Wright, Scott M; Kern, David E

2008-06-01

Teamwork is important for improving care across transitions between providers and for increasing patient safety. This review's objective was to assess the characteristics and efficacy of published curricula designed to teach teamwork to medical students and house staff. The authors searched MEDLINE, Education Resources Information Center, Excerpta Medica Database, PsychInfo, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and Scopus for original data articles published in English between January 1980 and July 2006 that reported descriptions of teamwork training and evaluation results. Two reviewers independently abstracted information about curricular content (using Baker's framework of teamwork competencies), educational methods, evaluation design, outcomes measured, and results. Thirteen studies met inclusion criteria. All curricula employed active learning methods; the majority (77%) included multidisciplinary training. Ten curricula (77%) used an uncontrolled pre/post design and 3 (23%) used controlled pre/post designs. Only 3 curricula (23%) reported outcomes beyond end of program, and only 1 (8%) >6 weeks after program completion. One program evaluated a clinical outcome (patient satisfaction), which was unchanged after the intervention. The median effect size was 0.40 (interquartile range (IQR) 0.29, 0.61) for knowledge, 0.38 (IQR 0.32, 0.41) for attitudes, 0.41 (IQR 0.35, 0.49) for skills and behavior. The relationship between the number of teamwork principles taught and effect size achieved a Spearman's correlation of .74 (p = .01) for overall effect size and .64 (p = .03) for median skills/behaviors effect size. Reported curricula employ some sound educational principles and appear to be modestly effective in the short term. Curricula may be more effective when they address more teamwork principles.

What makes maternity teams effective and safe? Lessons from a series of research on teamwork, leadership and team training.

Science.gov (United States)

Siassakos, Dimitrios; Fox, Robert; Bristowe, Katherine; Angouri, Jo; Hambly, Helen; Robson, Lauren; Draycott, Timothy J

2013-11-01

We describe lessons for safety from a synthesis of seven studies of teamwork, leadership and team training across a healthcare region. Two studies identified successes and challenges in a unit with embedded team training: a staff survey demonstrated a positive culture but a perceived need for greater senior presence; training improved actual emergency care, but wide variation in team performance remained. Analysis of multicenter simulation records showed that variation in patient safety and team efficiency correlated with their teamwork but not individual knowledge, skills or attitudes. Safe teams tended to declare the emergency earlier, hand over in a more structured way, and use closed-loop communication. Focused and directed communication was also associated with better patient-actor perception of care. Focus groups corroborated these findings, proposed that the capability and experience of the leader is more important than seniority, and identified teamwork and leadership issues that require further research. © 2013 Nordic Federation of Societies of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Ethnic Disparities of Perceived Safety Climate Among Construction Workers in Georgia, 2015.

Science.gov (United States)

Welton, Michael; DeJoy, David; Castellanos, Maria Eugenia; Ebell, Mark; Shen, Ye; Robb, Sara

2017-06-22

Safety climate involves worker perception about the relative importance where they work and safety climate and has been shown to be a reliable predictor of safety-related outcomes. The primary objective of this study is to investigate ethnic differences in perceived safety climate among construction workers. Surveys (n = 179) that included a 10-item safety climate scale were administered in Athens, Georgia (GA), at local construction sites and home improvement stores during June-August, 2015. The majority of respondents were carpenters or roofers (39%), followed by laborers (22%), painters and dry wall workers (14%), other skilled trades (14%), and supervisors (11%); 32% were Hispanic. Hispanic ethnicity (p construction workers than non-Hispanics construction workers.

Practice and quality improvement: successful implementation of TeamSTEPPS tools into an academic interventional ultrasound practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Gupta, Rajan T; Sexton, J Bryan; Milne, Judy; Frush, Donald P

2015-01-01

The goal of this study was to implement an evidence-based teamwork system to improve communication and teamwork skills among health care professionals (TeamSTEPPS) into an academic interventional ultrasound program and to assess safety and team-work climate across team members both before and after implementation. Members of a change team (including master trainers) selected specific tools available within TeamSTEPPS to implement into an academic interventional ultrasound service. Tools selected were based on preimplementation survey data obtained from team members (n = 64: 11 attending faculty physicians, 12 clinical abdominal imaging fellows or residents, 17 sonographers, 19 nurses, and five technologist aides or administrative personnel). The survey included teamwork climate and safety climate domains from the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire. Four months after implementation, respondents were resurveyed and post-implementation data were collected. Teamwork climate scores improved from a mean of 67.9 (SD, 12.8) before implementation to a mean of 87.8 (SD, 14.1) after implementation (t = -7.6; p ultrasound practice. The most notable improvements were seen in communication among team members and role clarification. We think that this model, which has been successfully implemented in many nonradiologic areas in medical care, is also applicable in imaging practice.

Relationship between organizational justice and organizational safety climate: do fairness perceptions influence employee safety behaviour?

Science.gov (United States)

Gyekye, Seth Ayim; Haybatollahi, Mohammad

2014-01-01

This study investigated the relationships between organizational justice, organizational safety climate, job satisfaction, safety compliance and accident frequency. Ghanaian industrial workers participated in the study (N = 320). Safety climate and justice perceptions were assessed with Hayes, Parender, Smecko, et al.'s (1998) and Blader and Tyler's (2003) scales respectively. A median split was performed to dichotomize participants into 2 categories: workers with positive and workers with negative justice perceptions. Confirmatory factors analysis confirmed the 5-factor structure of the safety scale. Regression analyses and t tests indicated that workers with positive fairness perceptions had constructive perspectives regarding workplace safety, expressed greater job satisfaction, were more compliant with safety policies and registered lower accident rates. These findings provide evidence that the perceived level of fairness in an organization is closely associated with workplace safety perception and other organizational factors which are important for safety. The implications for safety research are discussed.

Factors Influencing Students’ Perceptions of Online Teamwork

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irina Falls

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The evolution of online teaching in higher education demands a change in the types of pedagogies used in those courses. An example of one of these important pedagogies includes online teamwork. Teamwork in this context is one in which the majority of the individual’s grade is dependent on the positive or negative group experiences. This study utilized the theoretical framework of social motivation and cohesion to identify the factors shaping students’ perceptions of teamwork in online college courses. In these courses, the pedagogical approach known as the Five Pillars of effective collaborative work was applied. An Online Teamwork Learning Survey was developed based on these principles and completed by 62 undergraduate students enrolled in semester-long online courses required in their early childhood education program of study. Using a comparison between pre–postsurveys and regression analysis, the results showed that although the students’ perceptions of teamwork did not significantly change, the factors influencing their responses during the posttest doubled in number. The results showed that through carefully designed virtual teamwork activities, students learned that essential team characteristics such as promotive interaction, individual accountability, and positive interdependence are an integral part of effective collaboration and strong predictors of teamwork perception.

Measuring teamwork in primary care: Triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Judith Belle; Ryan, Bridget L; Thorpe, Cathy; Markle, Emma K R; Hutchison, Brian; Glazier, Richard H

2015-09-01

This article describes the triangulation of qualitative dimensions, reflecting high functioning teams, with the results of standardized teamwork measures. The study used a mixed methods design using qualitative and quantitative approaches to assess teamwork in 19 Family Health Teams in Ontario, Canada. This article describes dimensions from the qualitative phase using grounded theory to explore the issues and challenges to teamwork. Two quantitative measures were used in the study, the Team Climate Inventory (TCI) and the Providing Effective Resources and Knowledge (PERK) scale. For the triangulation analysis, the mean scores of these measures were compared with the qualitatively derived ratings for the dimensions. The final sample for the qualitative component was 107 participants. The qualitative analysis identified 9 dimensions related to high team functioning such as common philosophy, scope of practice, conflict resolution, change management, leadership, and team evolution. From these dimensions, teams were categorized numerically as high, moderate, or low functioning. Three hundred seventeen team members completed the survey measures. Mean site scores for the TCI and PERK were 3.87 and 3.88, respectively (of 5). The TCI was associated will all dimensions except for team location, space allocation, and executive director leadership. The PERK was associated with all dimensions except team location. Data triangulation provided qualitative and quantitative evidence of what constitutes teamwork. Leadership was pivotal in forging a common philosophy and encouraging team collaboration. Teams used conflict resolution strategies and adapted to the changes they encountered. These dimensions advanced the team's evolution toward a high functioning team. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

After the Data: Taking Action on ClimateQUAL® Results

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Elizabeth Uzelac

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Objective – This paper discusses the actions taken by the staff development and training (SD&T team at the Sheridan Libraries and Johns Hopkins University Museums in response to results of a ClimateQUAL survey.Methods – The team administered the ClimateQUAL Organizational Climate and Diversity Assessment in March 2009 to the 150 staff members of the museums and libraries, and 80% responded. To get at the root of some of the results, the team conducted 23 focus group sessions over the course of two months. In each 90-minute session, 8 open-ended questions were used to probe the staff’s thoughts on the survey results and elicit concrete suggestions for moving forward. Participants were asked to discuss their personal experiences with six areas of concern: procedural justice, distributive justice, structural facilitation of teamwork, psychological safety, communication, and leadership. One year after the original ClimateQUAL survey, the team administered a one-question follow-up survey.Results – The team analyzed and coded the notes taken during the focus group sessions and developed three discrete written summaries for each session: a brief summary of themes, a list of specific actionable suggestions, and a general description of specific scenarios aired in the sessions. From these analyses, the team developed two types of recommendations: quick tactical actions and long-term strategic recommendations. Strategic recommendations were developed in three main areas: fostering a sense of global ownership of organizational issues, improving organizational communication, and improving leadership and facilitation of teamwork. With these recommendations, the team charged managers to take broad ownership of a plan for individual actions. The results of the one-year follow-up survey were mixed. Staff perceived positive change in communication, but indicated that the areas of procedural and distributive justice, psychological safety, and transparency

Improving staff perception of a safety climate with crew resource management training.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuy, SreyRam; Romero, Ramon A L

2017-06-01

Communication failure is one of the top root causes in patient safety adverse events. Crew resource management (CRM) is a team building communication process intended to improve patient safety by improving team dynamics. First, to describe implementation of CRM in a Veterans Affair (VA) surgical service. Second, to assess whether staff CRM training is related to improvement in staff perception of a safety climate. Mandatory CRM training was implemented for all surgical service staff at a VA Hospital at 0 and 12 mo. Safety climate questionnaires were completed by operating room staff at a baseline, 6 and 12 mo after the initial CRM training. Participants reported improvement on all 27 points on the safety climate questionnaire at 6 mo compared with the baseline. At 12 mo, there was sustained improvement in 23 of the 27 areas. This is the first published report about the effect of CRM training on staff perception of a safety climate in a VA surgical service. We demonstrate that CRM training can be successfully implemented widespread in a surgical program. Overall, there was improvement in 100% of areas assessed on the safety climate questionnaire at 6 mo after CRM training. By 1 y, this improvement was sustained in 23 of 27 areas, with the areas of greatest improvement being the performance of briefings, collaboration between nurses and doctors, valuing nursing input, knowledge about patient safety, and institutional promotion of a patient safety climate. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Need for Rehabilitation Teamwork Training in Europe

OpenAIRE

Eldar, Reuben; Marincek, Crt; Kullmann, Lajos

2008-01-01

Teamwork is the cornerstone of rehabilitation medicine. Rehabilitation workers in European countries are well educated in their own disciplines and attain appropriate professional knowledge; however, they lack educational opportunities for acquiring skills and attitudes necessary for effective teamwork, mainly communication, cooperation, and leadership. Consequently, teamwork is compromised and rehabilitation effectiveness reduced. Therefore, training in these components of professional compe...

Teamwork Training Needs Analysis for Long-Duration Exploration Missions

Science.gov (United States)

Smith-Jentsch, Kimberly A.; Sierra, Mary Jane

2016-01-01

The success of future long-duration exploration missions (LDEMs) will be determined largely by the extent to which mission-critical personnel possess and effectively exercise essential teamwork competencies throughout the entire mission lifecycle (e.g., Galarza & Holland, 1999; Hysong, Galarza, & Holland, 2007; Noe, Dachner, Saxton, & Keeton, 2011). To ensure that such personnel develop and exercise these necessary teamwork competencies prior to and over the full course of future LDEMs, it is essential that a teamwork training curriculum be developed and put into place at NASA that is both 1) comprehensive, in that it targets all teamwork competencies critical for mission success and 2) structured around empirically-based best practices for enhancing teamwork training effectiveness. In response to this demand, the current teamwork-oriented training needs analysis (TNA) was initiated to 1) identify the teamwork training needs (i.e., essential teamwork-related competencies) of future LDEM crews, 2) identify critical gaps within NASA’s current and future teamwork training curriculum (i.e., gaps in the competencies targeted and in the training practices utilized) that threaten to impact the success of future LDEMs, and to 3) identify a broad set of practical nonprescriptive recommendations for enhancing the effectiveness of NASA’s teamwork training curriculum in order to increase the probability of future LDEM success.

The Effectiveness of Teamwork Training on Teamwork Behaviors and Team Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Controlled Interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

McEwan, Desmond; Ruissen, Geralyn R; Eys, Mark A; Zumbo, Bruno D; Beauchamp, Mark R

2017-01-01

The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of teamwork interventions that were carried out with the purpose of improving teamwork and team performance, using controlled experimental designs. A literature search returned 16,849 unique articles. The meta-analysis was ultimately conducted on 51 articles, comprising 72 (k) unique interventions, 194 effect sizes, and 8439 participants, using a random effects model. Positive and significant medium-sized effects were found for teamwork interventions on both teamwork and team performance. Moderator analyses were also conducted, which generally revealed positive and significant effects with respect to several sample, intervention, and measurement characteristics. Implications for effective teamwork interventions as well as considerations for future research are discussed.

Formatively Assessing Teamwork in Technology-Enabled Twenty-First Century Classrooms: Exploratory Findings of a Teamwork Awareness Programme in Singapore

Science.gov (United States)

Koh, Elizabeth; Hong, Helen; Tan, Jennifer Pei-Ling

2018-01-01

Teamwork, one of the core competencies for the twenty-first century learner, is a critical skill for work and learning. However, assessing teamwork is complex, in particular, developing a measure of teamwork that is domain-generic and applicable across a wide range of learners. This paper documents one such study that leverages technology to help…

Transport company safety climate - the impact on truck driver behaviour and crash involvement

OpenAIRE

Sullman, Mark J. M.; Stephens A. N.; Pajo K.

2017-01-01

Objective: The present study investigated the relationships between safety climate and driving behavior and crash involvement. Methods: A total of 339 company-employed truck drivers completed a questionnaire that measured their perceptions of safety climate, crash record, speed choice, and aberrant driving behaviors (errors, lapses, and violations). Results: Although there was no direct relationship between the drivers' perceptions of safety climate and crash involvement, safety clima...

Interdisciplinary teamwork: is the influence of emotional intelligence fully appreciated?

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McCallin, Antoinette; Bamford, Anita

2007-05-01

The purpose of this study is to discuss how emotional intelligence affects interdisciplinary team effectiveness. Some findings from a larger study on interdisciplinary teamworking are discussed. Teams are often evaluated for complementary skill mix and expertise that are integrated for specialist service delivery. Interactional skills and emotional intelligence also affect team behaviour and performance. An effective team needs both emotional intelligence and expertise, including technical, clinical, social and interactional skills, so that teamwork becomes greater or lesser than the whole, depending on how well individuals work together. Team diversity, individuality and personality differences, and interprofessional safety are analysed to raise awareness for nurse managers of the complexity of interdisciplinary working relationships. If nursing input into interdisciplinary work is to be maximized, nurse managers might consider the role of emotional intelligence in influencing team effectiveness, the quality of client care, staff retention and job satisfaction.

Nursing teamwork, staff characteristics, work schedules, and staffing.

Science.gov (United States)

Kalisch, Beatrice J; Lee, Hyunhwa

2009-01-01

This study aimed to explore whether and how staff characteristics, staffing, and scheduling variables are associated with the level of teamwork in nursing staff on acute care hospital patient units. This was a cross-sectional study with a sample of 1,758 nursing staff members from two different hospitals on 38 patient care units who completed the Nursing Teamwork Survey in 2008. This study focused on nursing teams who are stationed on a particular patient care unit (as opposed to visitors to the units). The return rate was 56.9%. The sample was made up of 77.4% nurses (registered nurses and licensed practical nurses), 11.9% assistive personnel, and 7.9% unit secretaries. Teamwork varied by unit and service type, with the highest scores occurring in pediatrics and maternity and the lowest scores on the medical-surgical and emergency units. Staff with less than 6 months of experience, those working 8- or 10-hour shifts (as opposed to 12 hours or a combination of 8 and 12 hours), part-time staff (as opposed to full time), and those working on night shift had higher teamwork scores. The higher teamwork scores were also associated with no or little overtime. The higher perception of the adequacy of staffing and the fewer patients cared for on a previous shift, the higher the teamwork scores. There is a relationship between selected staff characteristics, aspects of work schedules, staffing, and teamwork. Nursing staff want to work where teamwork is high, and perceptions of good staffing lead to higher teamwork. Higher teamwork scores correlated with those who worked less overtime.

Relational Climate and Health Care Costs: Evidence From Diabetes Care.

Science.gov (United States)

Soley-Bori, Marina; Stefos, Theodore; Burgess, James F; Benzer, Justin K

2018-01-01

Quality of care worries and rising costs have resulted in a widespread interest in enhancing the efficiency of health care delivery. One area of increasing interest is in promoting teamwork as a way of coordinating efforts to reduce costs and improve quality, and identifying the characteristics of the work environment that support teamwork. Relational climate is a measure of the work environment that captures shared employee perceptions of teamwork, conflict resolution, and diversity acceptance. Previous research has found a positive association between relational climate and quality of care, yet its relationship with costs remains unexplored. We examined the influence of primary care relational climate on health care costs incurred by diabetic patients at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs between 2008 and 2012. We found that better relational climate is significantly related to lower costs. Clinics with the strongest relational climate saved $334 in outpatient costs per patient compared with facilities with the weakest score in 2010. The total outpatient cost saving if all clinics achieved the top 5% relational climate score was $20 million. Relational climate may contribute to lower costs by enhancing diabetic treatment work processes, especially in outpatient settings.

Teammate Familiarity, Teamwork, and Risk of Workplace Injury in Emergency Medical Services Teams.

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, Ashley M; Patterson, P Daniel; Weaver, Matthew D; Gregory, Megan E; Sonesh, Shirley C; Landsittel, Douglas P; Krackhardt, David; Hostler, David; Lazzara, Elizabeth H; Wang, Xiao; Vena, John E; Salas, Eduardo; Yealy, Donald M

2017-07-01

Increased teammate familiarity in emergency medical services (EMS) promotes development of positive teamwork and protects against workplace injury. Measures were collected using archival shift records, workplace injury data, and cross-sectional surveys from a nationally representative sample of 14 EMS agencies employing paramedics, prehospital nurses, and other EMS clinicians. One thousand EMS clinicians were selected at random to complete a teamwork survey for each of their recent partnerships and tested the hypothesized role of teamwork as a mediator in the relationship between teammate familiarity and injury with the PROCESS macro. We received 2566 completed surveys from 333 clinicians, of which 297 were retained. Mean participation was 40.5% (standard deviation [SD] = 20.5%) across EMS agencies. Survey respondents were primarily white (93.8%), male (67.3%), and ranged between 21-62 years of age (M = 37.4, SD = 9.7). Seventeen percent were prehospital nurses. Respondents worked a mean of 3 shifts with recent teammates in the 8 weeks preceding the survey (M = 3.06, SD = 4.4). We examined data at the team level, which suggest positive views of teamwork (M = 5.92, SD = 0.69). Our hypothesis that increased teammate familiarity protects against adverse safety outcomes through development of positive teamwork was not supported. Teamwork factor Partner Adaptability and Backup Behavior is a likely mediator (odds ratio = 1.03, P = .05). When dyad familiarity is high and there are high levels of backup behavior, the likelihood of injury is increased. The relationship between teammate familiarity and outcomes is complex. Teammate adaptation and backup behavior is a likely mediator of this relationship in EMS teams with greater familiarity. Copyright © 2017 Emergency Nurses Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Impact of Market Orientation on Patient Safety Climate Among Hospital Nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Weng, Rhay-Hung; Chen, Jung-Chien; Pong, Li-Jung; Chen, Li-Mei; Lin, Tzu-Chi

2016-03-01

Improving market orientation and patient safety have become the key concerns of nursing management. For nurses, establishing a patient safety climate is the key to enhancing nursing quality. This study explores how market orientation affects the climate of patient safety among hospital nurses. We proposed adopting a cross-sectional research design and using questionnaires to collect responses from nurses working in two Taiwanese hospitals. Three-hundred and forty-three valid samples were obtained. Multiple regression and path analyses were conducted to test the study. Market orientation was defined as the combination of customer orientation, competitor orientation, and interfunctional coordination. Customer orientation directly affects the climate of patient safety. Although the findings only supported Hypothesis 1, competitor orientation and interfunctional coordination positively affected the patient safety climate through the mediating effects of hospital support for staff. Health care managers could encourage nurses to adopt customer-oriented perspectives to enhance their nursing care. In addition, to enhance competitor orientation, interfunctional coordination, and the patient safety climate, hospital managers could strengthen their support for staff members. © The Author(s) 2014.

The Safety Attitudes Questionnaire: psychometric properties, benchmarking data, and emerging research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Boyden James

2006-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background There is widespread interest in measuring healthcare provider attitudes about issues relevant to patient safety (often called safety climate or safety culture. Here we report the psychometric properties, establish benchmarking data, and discuss emerging areas of research with the University of Texas Safety Attitudes Questionnaire. Methods Six cross-sectional surveys of health care providers (n = 10,843 in 203 clinical areas (including critical care units, operating rooms, inpatient settings, and ambulatory clinics in three countries (USA, UK, New Zealand. Multilevel factor analyses yielded results at the clinical area level and the respondent nested within clinical area level. We report scale reliability, floor/ceiling effects, item factor loadings, inter-factor correlations, and percentage of respondents who agree with each item and scale. Results A six factor model of provider attitudes fit to the data at both the clinical area and respondent nested within clinical area levels. The factors were: Teamwork Climate, Safety Climate, Perceptions of Management, Job Satisfaction, Working Conditions, and Stress Recognition. Scale reliability was 0.9. Provider attitudes varied greatly both within and among organizations. Results are presented to allow benchmarking among organizations and emerging research is discussed. Conclusion The Safety Attitudes Questionnaire demonstrated good psychometric properties. Healthcare organizations can use the survey to measure caregiver attitudes about six patient safety-related domains, to compare themselves with other organizations, to prompt interventions to improve safety attitudes and to measure the effectiveness of these interventions.

Interprofessional teamwork in the trauma setting: a scoping review

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Approximately 70 to 80% of healthcare errors are due to poor team communication and understanding. High-risk environments such as the trauma setting (which covers a broad spectrum of departments in acute services) are where the majority of these errors occur. Despite the emphasis on interprofessional collaborative practice and patient safety, interprofessional teamworking in the trauma setting has received little attention. This paper presents the findings of a scoping review designed to identify the extent and nature of this literature in this setting. The MEDLINE (via OVID, using keywords and MeSH in OVID), and PubMed (via NCBI using MeSH), and CINAHL databases were searched from January 2000 to April 2013 for results of interprofessional teamworking in the trauma setting. A hand search was conducted by reviewing the reference lists of relevant articles. In total, 24 published articles were identified for inclusion in the review. Studies could be categorized into three main areas, and within each area were a number of themes: 1) descriptions of the organization of trauma teams (themes included interaction between team members, and leadership); 2) descriptions of team composition and structure (themes included maintaining team stability and core team members); and 3) evaluation of team work interventions (themes included activities in practice and activities in the classroom setting). Descriptive studies highlighted the fluid nature of team processes, the shared mental models, and the need for teamwork and communication. Evaluative studies placed a greater emphasis on specialized roles and individual tasks and activities. This reflects a multiprofessional as opposed to an interprofessional model of teamwork. Some of the characteristics of high-performing interprofessional teams described in this review are also evident in effective teams in the community rehabilitation and intermediate care setting. These characteristics may well be pertinent to other settings

Implementing the Comprehensive Unit-Based Safety Program (CUSP) to Improve Patient Safety in an Academic Primary Care Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Pitts, Samantha I; Maruthur, Nisa M; Luu, Ngoc-Phuong; Curreri, Kimberly; Grimes, Renee; Nigrin, Candace; Sateia, Heather F; Sawyer, Melinda D; Pronovost, Peter J; Clark, Jeanne M; Peairs, Kimberly S

2017-11-01

While there is growing awareness of the risk of harm in ambulatory health care, most patient safety efforts have focused on the inpatient setting. The Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) has been an integral part of highly successful safety efforts in inpatient settings. In 2014 CUSP was implemented in an academic primary care practice. As part of CUSP implementation, staff and clinicians underwent training on the science of safety and completed a two-question safety assessment survey to identify safety concerns in the practice. The concerns identified by team members were used to select two initial safety priorities. The impact of CUSP on safety climate and teamwork was assessed through a pre-post comparison of results on the validated Safety Attitudes Questionnaire. Ninety-six percent of staff completed science of safety training as part of CUSP implementation, and 100% of staff completed the two-question safety assessment. The most frequently identified safety concerns were related to medications (n = 11, 28.2), diagnostic testing (n = 9, 25), and communication (n = 5, 14). The CUSP team initially prioritized communication and infection control, which led to standardization of work flows within the practice. Six months following CUSP implementation, large but nonstatistically significant increases were found for the percentage of survey respondents who reported knowledge of the proper channels for questions about patient safety, felt encouraged to report safety concerns, and believed that the work setting made it easy to learn from the errors of others. CUSP is a promising tool to improve safety climate and to identify and address safety concerns within ambulatory health care. Copyright © 2017 The Joint Commission. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Practicality of intraoperative teamwork assessments.

Science.gov (United States)

Phitayakorn, Roy; Minehart, Rebecca; Pian-Smith, May C M; Hemingway, Maureen W; Milosh-Zinkus, Tanya; Oriol-Morway, Danika; Petrusa, Emil

2014-07-01

High-quality teamwork among operating room (OR) professionals is a key to efficient and safe practice. Quantification of teamwork facilitates feedback, assessment, and improvement. Several valid and reliable instruments are available for assessing separate OR disciplines and teams. We sought to determine the most feasible approach for routine documentation of teamwork in in-situ OR simulations. We compared rater agreement, hypothetical training costs, and feasibility ratings from five clinicians and two nonclinicians with instruments for assessment of separate OR groups and teams. Five teams of anesthesia or surgery residents and OR nurses (RN) or surgical technicians were videotaped in simulations of an epigastric hernia repair where the patient develops malignant hyperthermia. Two anesthesiologists, one OR clinical RN specialist, one educational psychologist, one simulation specialist, and one general surgeon discussed and then independently completed Anesthesiologists' Non-Technical Skills, Non-Technical Skills for Surgeons, Scrub Practitioners' List of Intraoperative Non-Technical Skills, and Observational Teamwork Assessment for Surgery forms to rate nontechnical performance of anesthesiologists, surgeons, nurses, technicians, and the whole team. Intraclass correlations of agreement ranged from 0.17-0.85. Clinicians' agreements were not different from nonclinicians'. Published rater training was 4 h for Anesthesiologists' Non-Technical Skills and Scrub Practitioners' List of Intraoperative Non-Technical Skills, 2.5 h for Non-Technical Skills for Surgeons, and 15.5 h for Observational Teamwork Assessment for Surgery. Estimated costs to train one rater to use all instruments ranged from $442 for a simulation specialist to $6006 for a general surgeon. Additional training is needed to achieve higher levels of agreement; however, costs may be prohibitive. The most cost-effective model for real-time OR teamwork assessment may be to use a simulation technician

The impact of improving teamwork on patient outcomes in surgery: A systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Rosa; Marshall, Dominic C; Sykes, Mark C; Maruthappu, Mahiben; Shalhoub, Joseph

2018-05-01

The aviation industry pioneered formalised crew training in order to improve safety and reduce consequences of non-technical error. This formalised training has been successfully adapted and used to in the field of surgery to improve post-operative patient outcomes. The need to implement teamwork training as an integral part of a surgical programme is increasingly being recognised. We aim to systematically review the impact of surgical teamwork training on post-operative outcomes. Two independent researchers systematically searched MEDLINE and Embase in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Studies were screened and subjected to inclusion/exclusion criteria. Study characteristics and outcomes were reported and analysed. Our initial search identified 2720 articles. Following duplicate removal, title and abstract screening, 107 full text articles were analysed. Eight articles met our inclusion criteria. Overall, three articles supported a positive effect of good teamwork on post-operative patient outcomes. We identified key areas in study methodology that can be improved upon, including small cohort size, lack of unified training programme, and short training duration, should future studies be designed and implemented in this field. At present, there is insufficient evidence to support the hypothesis that teamwork training interventions improve patient outcomes. We believe that non-significant and conflicting results can be attributed to flaws in methodology and non-uniform training methods. With increasing amounts of evidence in this field, we predict a positive association between teamwork training and patient outcomes will come to light. Copyright © 2018 IJS Publishing Group Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Climate Considerations in Long-Term Safety Assessments for Nuclear Waste Repositories

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Naeslund, Jens-Ove; Brandefelt, Jenny; Claesson Liljedahl, Lillemor [Svensk Kaernbraenslehantering AB, Stockholm (Sweden)], E-mail: jens-ove.naslund@skb.se

2013-05-15

For a deep geological repository for spent nuclear fuel planned in Sweden, the safety assessment covers up to 1 million years. Climate scenarios range from high-end global warming for the coming 100 000 years, through deep permafrost, to large ice sheets during glacial conditions. In contrast, in an existing repository for short-lived waste the activity decays to low levels within a few tens of thousands of years. The shorter assessment period, 100 000 years, requires more focus on climate development over the coming tens of thousands of years, including the earliest possibility for permafrost growth and freezing of the engineered system. The handling of climate and climate change in safety assessments must be tailor-made for each repository concept and waste type. However, due to the uncertain future climate development on these vast time scales, all safety assessments for nuclear waste repositories require a range of possible climate scenarios.

The Effectiveness of Teamwork Training on Teamwork Behaviors and Team Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Controlled Interventions

Science.gov (United States)

McEwan, Desmond; Ruissen, Geralyn R.; Eys, Mark A.; Zumbo, Bruno D.; Beauchamp, Mark R.

2017-01-01

The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of teamwork interventions that were carried out with the purpose of improving teamwork and team performance, using controlled experimental designs. A literature search returned 16,849 unique articles. The meta-analysis was ultimately conducted on 51 articles, comprising 72 (k) unique interventions, 194 effect sizes, and 8439 participants, using a random effects model. Positive and significant medium-sized effects were found for teamwork interventions on both teamwork and team performance. Moderator analyses were also conducted, which generally revealed positive and significant effects with respect to several sample, intervention, and measurement characteristics. Implications for effective teamwork interventions as well as considerations for future research are discussed. PMID:28085922

The Effectiveness of Teamwork Training on Teamwork Behaviors and Team Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Controlled Interventions.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Desmond McEwan

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of teamwork interventions that were carried out with the purpose of improving teamwork and team performance, using controlled experimental designs. A literature search returned 16,849 unique articles. The meta-analysis was ultimately conducted on 51 articles, comprising 72 (k unique interventions, 194 effect sizes, and 8439 participants, using a random effects model. Positive and significant medium-sized effects were found for teamwork interventions on both teamwork and team performance. Moderator analyses were also conducted, which generally revealed positive and significant effects with respect to several sample, intervention, and measurement characteristics. Implications for effective teamwork interventions as well as considerations for future research are discussed.

Teamwork to Enhance Adapted Teaching and Formative Assessment

OpenAIRE

Bjørnsrud, Halvor; Engh, Knut Roar

2012-01-01

This article has as its main focus the contextual factors connected with teachers' teamwork. Firstly, it deals with the question of how to create reflections among teachers on the topic of teamwork. Their written answers function as empirical data for researchers and also as contributions to the further professional development of teamwork. Secondly, the authors discuss the content of teamwork in the sense of how teachers as a community might support the individual teacher's work with both ad...

'Speaking up' about patient safety concerns and unprofessional behaviour among residents: validation of two scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Martinez, William; Etchegaray, Jason M; Thomas, Eric J; Hickson, Gerald B; Lehmann, Lisa Soleymani; Schleyer, Anneliese M; Best, Jennifer A; Shelburne, Julia T; May, Natalie B; Bell, Sigall K

2015-11-01

To develop and test the psychometric properties of two new survey scales aiming to measure the extent to which the clinical environment supports speaking up about (a) patient safety concerns and (b) unprofessional behaviour. Residents from six large US academic medical centres completed an anonymous, electronic survey containing questions regarding safety culture and speaking up about safety and professionalism concerns. Confirmatory factor analysis supported two separate, one-factor speaking up climates (SUCs) among residents; one focused on patient safety concerns (SUC-Safe scale) and the other focused on unprofessional behaviour (SUC-Prof scale). Both scales had good internal consistency (Cronbach's α>0.70) and were unique from validated safety and teamwork climate measures (rspeaking up behaviour about safety and professionalism concerns (r=0.21, pspeaking up behaviour among residents. These two scales may fill an existing gap in residency and safety culture assessments by measuring the openness of communication about safety and professionalism concerns, two important aspects of safety culture that are under-represented in existing metrics. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

"We put teamwork back on the agenda again and again". The role of support systems in autonomous teamwork

OpenAIRE

Rolfsen, Monica

2013-01-01

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on teamwork by focusing on the influence support systems, like industrial relations, have on teamwork. Teamwork is conceptualized through three dimensions; technical, governmental and normative. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a case study approach in a single company with available data over a long period of time. Findings – Industrial relations conceptualized as local representation a...

Teamwork methods for accountable care: relational coordination and TeamSTEPPS®.

Science.gov (United States)

Gittell, Jody Hoffer; Beswick, Joanne; Goldmann, Don; Wallack, Stanley S

2015-01-01

To deliver greater value in the accountable care context, the Institute of Medicine argues for a culture of teamwork at multiple levels--across professional and organizational siloes and with patients and their families and communities. The logic of performance improvement is that data are needed to target interventions and to assess their impact. We argue that efforts to build teamwork will benefit from teamwork measures that provide diagnostic information regarding the current state and teamwork interventions that can respond to the opportunities identified in the current state. We identify teamwork measures and teamwork interventions that are validated and that can work across multiple levels of teamwork. We propose specific ways to combine them for optimal effectiveness. We review measures of teamwork documented by Valentine, Nembhard, and Edmondson and select those that they identified as satisfying the four criteria for psychometric validation and as being unbounded and therefore able to measure teamwork across multiple levels. We then consider teamwork interventions that are widely used in the U.S. health care context, are well validated based on their association with outcomes, and are capable of working at multiple levels of teamwork. We select the top candidate in each category and propose ways to combine them for optimal effectiveness. We find relational coordination is a validated multilevel teamwork measure and TeamSTEPPS® is a validated multilevel teamwork intervention and propose specific ways for the relational coordination measure to enhance the TeamSTEPPS intervention. Health care systems and change agents seeking to respond to the challenges of accountable care can use TeamSTEPPS as a validated multilevel teamwork intervention methodology, enhanced by relational coordination as a validated multilevel teamwork measure with diagnostic capacity to pinpoint opportunities for improving teamwork along specific dimensions (e.g., shared knowledge

A structural equation modelling approach examining the pathways between safety climate, behaviour performance and workplace slipping

Science.gov (United States)

Swedler, David I; Verma, Santosh K; Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; Lombardi, David A; Chang, Wen-Ruey; Brennan, Melayne; Courtney, Theodore K

2015-01-01

Objective Safety climate has previously been associated with increasing safe workplace behaviours and decreasing occupational injuries. This study seeks to understand the structural relationship between employees’ perceptions of safety climate, performing a safety behaviour (ie, wearing slip-resistant shoes) and risk of slipping in the setting of limited-service restaurants. Methods At baseline, we surveyed 349 employees at 30 restaurants for their perceptions of their safety training and management commitment to safety as well as demographic data. Safety performance was identified as wearing slip-resistant shoes, as measured by direct observation by the study team. We then prospectively collected participants’ hours worked and number of slips weekly for the next 12 weeks. Using a confirmatory factor analysis, we modelled safety climate as a higher order factor composed of previously identified training and management commitment factors. Results The 349 study participants experienced 1075 slips during the 12-week follow-up. Confirmatory factor analysis supported modelling safety climate as a higher order factor composed of safety training and management commitment. In a structural equation model, safety climate indirectly affected prospective risk of slipping through safety performance, but no direct relationship between safety climate and slips was evident. Conclusions Results suggest that safety climate can reduce workplace slips through performance of a safety behaviour as well as suggesting a potential causal mechanism through which safety climate can reduce workplace injuries. Safety climate can be modelled as a higher order factor composed of safety training and management commitment. PMID:25710968

Climate considerations in long-term safety assessments for nuclear waste repositories.

Science.gov (United States)

Näslund, Jens-Ove; Brandefelt, Jenny; Liljedahl, Lillemor Claesson

2013-05-01

For a deep geological repository for spent nuclear fuel planned in Sweden, the safety assessment covers up to 1 million years. Climate scenarios range from high-end global warming for the coming 100 000 years, through deep permafrost, to large ice sheets during glacial conditions. In contrast, in an existing repository for short-lived waste the activity decays to low levels within a few tens of thousands of years. The shorter assessment period, 100 000 years, requires more focus on climate development over the coming tens of thousands of years, including the earliest possibility for permafrost growth and freezing of the engineered system. The handling of climate and climate change in safety assessments must be tailor-made for each repository concept and waste type. However, due to the uncertain future climate development on these vast time scales, all safety assessments for nuclear waste repositories require a range of possible climate scenarios.

Development and validation of a new safety climate scale for petrochemical industries.

Science.gov (United States)

Jafari, Mohammad Javad; Eskandari, Davood; Valipour, Firouz; Mehrabi, Yadollah; Charkhand, Hossein; Mirghotbi, Mostafa

2017-01-01

While a considerable body of research has studied safety climate and its role as a leading indicator of organizational safety, much of this work has been conducted with Western manufacturing samples. The current study puts emphasis on the cross-validation of a safety climate model in the non-Western industrial context of Iranian petrochemical industries. The current study was performed in one petrochemical company in Iran. The scale was developed through conducting a literature review followed by a qualitative study with expert participation. After performing a screening process, the initial number of items on the scale was reduced to 68. Ten dimensions (including management commitment, workers' empowerment, communication, blame culture, safety training, job satisfaction, interpersonal relationship, supervision, continuous improvement, and reward system) together with 37 items were extracted from the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to measure safety climate. Acceptable ranges of internal consistency statistics for the sub-scales were observed. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the construct validity of the developed safety climate scale for the petrochemical industry workers. The results of reliability showed that the Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the designed scale was 0.94. The ICC was obtained 0.92. This study created a valid and reliable scale for measuring safety climate in petrochemical industries.

Personality, relationship conflict, and teamwork-related mental models.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Delia Vîrgă

Full Text Available This study seeks to explore whether neuroticism, agreeableness, and conscientiousness moderate the influence of relationship conflict experienced in groups on changes in group members' evaluative cognitions related to teamwork quality (teamwork-related mental models. Data from 216 students, nested in 48 groups were analyzed using a multilevel modeling approach. Our results show that the experience of relationship conflict leads to a negative shift from the pre-task to the post-task teamwork-related mental models. Moreover, the results indicate that conscientiousness buffered the negative association between relationship conflict and the change in teamwork-related mental models. Our results did not support the hypothesized moderating effect of agreeableness and show that the detrimental effect of relationship conflict on the shift in teamwork-related mental models is accentuated for group members scoring low rather than high on neuroticism. These findings open new research venues for exploring the association between personality, coping styles and change in teamwork-related mental models.

Personality, Relationship Conflict, and Teamwork-Related Mental Models

Science.gov (United States)

Vîrgă, Delia; CurŞeu, Petru Lucian; Maricuţoiu, Laurenţiu; Sava, Florin A.; Macsinga, Irina; Măgurean, Silvia

2014-01-01

This study seeks to explore whether neuroticism, agreeableness, and conscientiousness moderate the influence of relationship conflict experienced in groups on changes in group members' evaluative cognitions related to teamwork quality (teamwork-related mental models). Data from 216 students, nested in 48 groups were analyzed using a multilevel modeling approach. Our results show that the experience of relationship conflict leads to a negative shift from the pre-task to the post-task teamwork-related mental models. Moreover, the results indicate that conscientiousness buffered the negative association between relationship conflict and the change in teamwork-related mental models. Our results did not support the hypothesized moderating effect of agreeableness and show that the detrimental effect of relationship conflict on the shift in teamwork-related mental models is accentuated for group members scoring low rather than high on neuroticism. These findings open new research venues for exploring the association between personality, coping styles and change in teamwork-related mental models. PMID:25372143

Personality, relationship conflict, and teamwork-related mental models.

Science.gov (United States)

Vîrgă, Delia; Curşeu, Petru Lucian; CurŞeu, Petru Lucian; Maricuţoiu, Laurenţiu; Sava, Florin A; Macsinga, Irina; Măgurean, Silvia

2014-01-01

This study seeks to explore whether neuroticism, agreeableness, and conscientiousness moderate the influence of relationship conflict experienced in groups on changes in group members' evaluative cognitions related to teamwork quality (teamwork-related mental models). Data from 216 students, nested in 48 groups were analyzed using a multilevel modeling approach. Our results show that the experience of relationship conflict leads to a negative shift from the pre-task to the post-task teamwork-related mental models. Moreover, the results indicate that conscientiousness buffered the negative association between relationship conflict and the change in teamwork-related mental models. Our results did not support the hypothesized moderating effect of agreeableness and show that the detrimental effect of relationship conflict on the shift in teamwork-related mental models is accentuated for group members scoring low rather than high on neuroticism. These findings open new research venues for exploring the association between personality, coping styles and change in teamwork-related mental models.

Leadership Styles Promote Teamwork

OpenAIRE

Khater Aldoshan

2015-01-01

This paper will evaluate the importance of learning leadership styles and the explanation of when and how each one is used in the workforce. In this paper many experts have been cited that are well-known in the field of leadership. Also this paper will concentrate on the importance of teamwork in the workforce and there are many examples of how teamwork is effective for creating the best possible outcomes for creativity and productivity. In the television industry creativity is an essential c...

Making workplaces safer: The influence of organisational climate and individual differences on safety behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michelle Ann Toppazzini

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Current work health and safety practices focus predominately on fostering a safety climate to promote safety behaviours and reduce workplace accidents. Despite the importance of safety climates in accident prevention, recent research has demonstrated that individual factors can also predict work safety behaviour. This study considered the importance of organisational climate together with individual characteristics including differences in personality, impulsiveness, and perceptions of safety within the workplace on safety behaviour. 203 participants consisting of 67 males and 136 females aged 18 to 71 years, completed an online questionnaire. Results revealed that safety behaviour was directly related to safety climate, and conscientiousness. In contrast, neuroticism, and impulsiveness were not significantly related to safety behaviour. The present study findings support previous findings in the literature regarding the importance of safety climate as well as the personality trait of conscientiousness in applying safety behaviours. However, the present study findings did not support previous research in relation to the personality trait of high neuroticism resulting in decreased safety behaviour, nor did not confirm an inverse relationship between high impulsivity and low safety behaviour as theoretical models would suggest. This new finding may warrant further research into the precursors for safety behaviour. Keywords: Psychology, Sociology, Industry

Hospital nurses' working conditions in relation to motivation and patient safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Toode, Kristi; Routasalo, Pirkko; Helminen, Mika; Suominen, Tarja

2015-03-01

There is a lack of empirical knowledge about nurses' perceptions of their workplace characteristics and conditions, such as level of autonomy and decision authority, work climate, teamwork, skill exploitation and learning opportunities, and their work motivation in relation to practice outputs such as patient safety. Such knowledge is needed particularly in countries, such as Estonia, where hospital systems for preventing errors and improving patient safety are in the early stages of development. This article reports the findings from a cross-sectional survey of hospital nurses in Estonia that was aimed at determining their perceptions of workplace characteristics, working conditions, work motivation and patient safety, and at exploring the relationship between these. Results suggest that perceptions of personal control over their work can affect nurses' motivation, and that perceptions of work satisfaction might be relevant to patient safety improvement work.

Teaching Teamwork through Coteaching in the Business Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Kliegl, Julie A.; Weaver, Kari D.

2014-01-01

Business educators recognize the importance of developing teamwork as an employability skill. However, current methods used to teach teamwork have been met with mixed results from both students and educators. This article integrates research on the importance of teamwork, team development processes, and coteaching through examining a case study…

Crew resource management and teamwork training in health care: a review of the literature and recommendations for how to leverage such interventions to enhance patient safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Maynard, M Travis; Marshall, David; Dean, Matthew D

2012-01-01

In an attempt to enhance patient safety, health care facilities are increasingly turning to crew resource management (CRM) and other teamwork training interventions. However, there is still quite a bit about such training interventions that remain unclear. Accordingly, our primary intent herein is to provide some clarity by providing a review of the literature, in hopes of highlighting the current state of the literature as well as identifying the areas that should be addressed by researchers in this field going forward. We searched various electronic databases and utilized numerous relevant search terms to maximize the likelihood of identifying all empirical research related to the use of CRM training within health care. Additionally, we conducted a manual search of the most relevant journals and also conducted a legacy search to identify even more articles. Furthermore, given that as a research team we have experience with CRM initiatives, we also integrate the lessons learned through this experience. Based on our review of the literature, CRM and teamwork training programs generally appear beneficial to individual employees, the groups and teams within such settings, and overall health care organizations. In addition to reviewing the literature that addressed CRM and teamwork training, we also highlight some of the more critical aspects of CRM training programs in order for such initiatives to be as successful as possible. Additionally, we detail various factors that appear essential to sustaining any benefits of CRM over the long haul.

Work Safety Climate, Musculoskeletal Discomfort, Working While Injured, and Depression Among Migrant Farmworkers in North Carolina

Science.gov (United States)

O’Hara, Heather; Grzywacz, Joseph G.; Isom, Scott; Chen, Haiying; Quandt, Sara A.

2012-01-01

Objectives. This analysis described Latino migrant farmworkers’ work safety climate and its association with musculoskeletal discomfort, working while injured or ill, and depressive symptoms. Methods. Data were from a cross-sectional survey of 300 farmworkers conducted in North Carolina in 2009. Generalized estimating equations models were used to investigate the association of work safety climate with health and safety outcomes. Results. Farmworkers perceived their work safety climate to be poor. About 40% had elevated musculoskeletal discomfort, 5.0% had worked at least 1 day while injured or ill, and 27.9% had elevated depressive symptoms. The odds of elevated musculoskeletal discomfort were 12% lower and the odds of working while injured or ill were 15% lower with each 1-unit increase in the work safety climate. Work safety climate was not associated with depressive symptoms. Conclusions. Work safety climate was important for agricultural workers. Poor work safety climate was associated with health outcomes (musculoskeletal discomfort) and safety (working while injured or ill). Interventions to improve work safety climate in agriculture are needed, with these interventions being directed to employers and workers. PMID:22401520

Relationship between organizational climate and empowerment of nurses in Hong Kong.

Science.gov (United States)

Mok, Esther; Au-Yeung, Betty

2002-05-01

The authors explore the relationship between organizational climate and empowerment among the nursing staff of a regional hospital in Hong Kong. The main purpose of the study was to apply the modified Spreitzer measure of empowerment in a hospital and to examine the relationship of organizational climate to perceptions of empowerment. From 658 questionnaires sent out, 331 nurses participated in the study with a response rate of 50.3%. Survey measures administered included the modified Litwin and Stringer Organizational Climate Questionnaire (LSOCQ) and the modified Spreitzer empowerment instrument. The relationships between organizational climate and empowerment were examined in a series of bivariate correlational analyses. The final section of the questionnaire asked the respondents to list three elements in the organizational climate that they perceived would further increase their feelings of empowerment. Exploratory factor analysis of the modified LSOCQ resulted in six factors: leadership, working harmony, challenge, recognition, teamwork and decision making. There was a positive correlation between organizational climate and psychological empowerment. Using multiple regression analysis, all the six derived climate factors significantly accounted for 44% of the variance. Among the six predicting factors, leadership and teamwork showed the most positive relationship with psychological empowerment. Responses from the open questions on perception of organizational climate that further enhance nurses' feelings of empowerment were categorized into eight areas. They include leadership, communication, working relationship, recognition, structure, training, teamwork and stress management. The study echoes previous studies in finding that organizational climate and, in particular, supportive leadership and teamwork are related to empowerment. The findings also suggest that the nurses in the study did not put much emphasis on the importance of participative decision

A systematic review of the safety climate intervention literature: Past trends and future directions.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jin; Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; Cheung, Janelle H; Chen, Zhuo; Shaw, William S

2018-04-26

Safety climate represents the meaningfulness of safety and how safety is valued in an organization. The contributions of safety climate to organizational safety have been well documented. There is a dearth of empirical research, however, on specific safety climate interventions and their effectiveness. The present study aims at examining the trend of safety climate interventions and offering compiled information for designing and implementing evidence-based safety climate interventions. Our literature search yielded 384 titles that were inspected by three examiners. Using a stepwise process that allowed for assessment of interobserver agreement, 19 full articles were selected and reviewed. Results showed that 10 out of the 19 articles (52.6%) were based on a quasi-experimental pre- and postintervention design, whereas 42.1% (n = 8) studies were based on a mixed-design approach (including both between- and within-subject design). All interventions in these 19 studies involved either safety-/health-related communication or education/training. Improvement of safety leadership was also a common component of safety climate interventions. According to the socio-technical systems classification of intervention strategies, all studies were categorized as interventions focusing on improving organizational and managerial structure as well as the personnel subsystem; four of them also aimed at improving technological aspects of work, and five of them aimed at improving the physical work subsystem. In general, a vast majority of the studies (89.5%, n = 17) showed a statistically significant improvement in safety climate across their organizations postintervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Family climate for road safety: a new concept and measure.

Science.gov (United States)

Taubman-Ben-Ari, Orit; Katz-Ben-Ami, Liat

2013-05-01

This research adapted the workplace concept of safety climate to the domain of safe driving, defining a new construct of "family climate for road safety". Four studies were conducted in Israel with the aim of developing and validating a multidimensional instrument to assess this construct among young drivers. Study 1 (n=632) focused on developing the Family Climate for Road Safety Scale (FCRSS), a self-report scale assessing the family climate by means of seven aspects of the parent-child relationship: Modeling, Feedback, Communication, Monitoring, Noncommitment, Messages, and Limits. Significant differences were found between young men and women on all factors. In addition, significant associations were found between the FCRSS factors on the one hand, and the reported frequency of risky driving and personal commitment to safety on the other. Studies 2-4 confirmed the factorial structure of the FCRSS and the reliability of its factors, adding to its criterion and convergent validity. Study 2 (n=178) yielded significant associations between the scale and young drivers' perception of their parents as involved, encouraging autonomy, and providing warmth; Study 3 (n=117) revealed significant associations between the scale and youngsters' reported proneness to take risks while driving, as well as significant associations between the factors and various dimensions of family functioning; and Study 4 (n=156) found associations between the FCRSS factors and both driving styles (risky, angry, anxious, careful) and family cohesion and adaptability. The discussion deals with the validity and utility of the concept of family climate for road safety and its measurement, addressing the practical implications for road safety. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Teamwork in Multi-Agent Systems A Formal Approach

CERN Document Server

Dunin-Keplicz, Barbara Maria

2010-01-01

What makes teamwork tick?. Cooperation matters, in daily life and in complex applications. After all, many tasks need more than a single agent to be effectively performed. Therefore, teamwork rules!. Teams are social groups of agents dedicated to the fulfilment of particular persistent tasks. In modern multiagent environments, heterogeneous teams often consist of autonomous software agents, various types of robots and human beings. Teamwork in Multi-agent Systems: A Formal Approach explains teamwork rules in terms of agents' attitudes and their complex interplay. It provides the first comprehe

Teamwork to Enhance Adapted Teaching and Formative Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Bjornsrud, Halvor; Engh, Roar

2012-01-01

This article has as its main focus the contextual factors connected with teachers' teamwork. Firstly, it deals with the question of how to create reflections among teachers on the topic of teamwork. Their written answers function as empirical data for researchers and also as contributions to the further professional development of teamwork.…

Italian validation of the team climate inventory: a measure of team climate for innovation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ragazzoni, P.; Baiardi, P.; Zotti, A.M.; Anderson, N.; West, M.A.

2002-01-01

Innovation has long been an area of interest to social scientists, and particularly to psychologists working in organisational settings. The team climate inventory (TCI) is a facet-specific measure of team climate for innovation that provides a picture of the level and quality of teamwork in a unit

Applying importance-performance analysis to patient safety culture.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Yii-Ching; Wu, Hsin-Hung; Hsieh, Wan-Lin; Weng, Shao-Jen; Hsieh, Liang-Po; Huang, Chih-Hsuan

2015-01-01

The Sexton et al.'s (2006) safety attitudes questionnaire (SAQ) has been widely used to assess staff's attitudes towards patient safety in healthcare organizations. However, to date there have been few studies that discuss the perceptions of patient safety both from hospital staff and upper management. The purpose of this paper is to improve and to develop better strategies regarding patient safety in healthcare organizations. The Chinese version of SAQ based on the Taiwan Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation is used to evaluate the perceptions of hospital staff. The current study then lies in applying importance-performance analysis technique to identify the major strengths and weaknesses of the safety culture. The results show that teamwork climate, safety climate, job satisfaction, stress recognition and working conditions are major strengths and should be maintained in order to provide a better patient safety culture. On the contrary, perceptions of management and hospital handoffs and transitions are important weaknesses and should be improved immediately. Research limitations/implications - The research is restricted in generalizability. The assessment of hospital staff in patient safety culture is physicians and registered nurses. It would be interesting to further evaluate other staff's (e.g. technicians, pharmacists and others) opinions regarding patient safety culture in the hospital. Few studies have clearly evaluated the perceptions of healthcare organization management regarding patient safety culture. Healthcare managers enable to take more effective actions to improve the level of patient safety by investigating key characteristics (either strengths or weaknesses) that healthcare organizations should focus on.

Patient safety climate strength: a concept that requires more attention

Science.gov (United States)

Ginsburg, Liane; Gilin Oore, Debra

2016-01-01

Background When patient safety climate (PSC) surveys are used in healthcare, reporting typically focuses on PSC level (mean or per cent positive scores). This paper explores how an additional focus on PSC strength can enhance the utility of PSC survey data. Setting and participants 442 care providers from 24 emergency departments (EDs) across Canada. Methods We use anonymised data from the Can-PSCS PSC instrument collected in 2011 as part of the Qmentum accreditation programme. We examine differences in climate strength across EDs using the Rwg(j) and intraclass correlation coefficients measures of inter-rater agreement. Results Across the six survey dimensions, median Rwg(j) was sufficiently high to support shared climate perceptions (0.64–0.83), but varied widely across the 24 ED units. We provide an illustrative example showing vastly different climate strength (Rwg(j) range=0.17–0.86) for units with an equivalent level of PSC (eg, climate mean score=3). Conclusions Most PSC survey results focus solely on climate level. To facilitate improvement in PSC, we advocate a simple, holistic safety climate profile including three metrics: climate level (using mean or per cent positive climate scores), climate strength (using the Rwg(j), or SD as a proxy) and the shape of the distribution (using histograms to see the distribution of scores within units). In PSC research, we advocate paying attention to climate strength as an important variable in its own right. Focusing on PSC level and strength can further understanding of the extent to which PSC is a key variable in the domain of patient safety. PMID:26453636

A structural equation modelling approach examining the pathways between safety climate, behaviour performance and workplace slipping.

Science.gov (United States)

Swedler, David I; Verma, Santosh K; Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; Lombardi, David A; Chang, Wen-Ruey; Brennan, Melayne; Courtney, Theodore K

2015-07-01

Safety climate has previously been associated with increasing safe workplace behaviours and decreasing occupational injuries. This study seeks to understand the structural relationship between employees' perceptions of safety climate, performing a safety behaviour (ie, wearing slip-resistant shoes) and risk of slipping in the setting of limited-service restaurants. At baseline, we surveyed 349 employees at 30 restaurants for their perceptions of their safety training and management commitment to safety as well as demographic data. Safety performance was identified as wearing slip-resistant shoes, as measured by direct observation by the study team. We then prospectively collected participants' hours worked and number of slips weekly for the next 12 weeks. Using a confirmatory factor analysis, we modelled safety climate as a higher order factor composed of previously identified training and management commitment factors. The 349 study participants experienced 1075 slips during the 12-week follow-up. Confirmatory factor analysis supported modelling safety climate as a higher order factor composed of safety training and management commitment. In a structural equation model, safety climate indirectly affected prospective risk of slipping through safety performance, but no direct relationship between safety climate and slips was evident. Results suggest that safety climate can reduce workplace slips through performance of a safety behaviour as well as suggesting a potential causal mechanism through which safety climate can reduce workplace injuries. Safety climate can be modelled as a higher order factor composed of safety training and management commitment. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Impact of individual resilience and safety climate on safety performance and psychological stress of construction workers: A case study of the Ontario construction industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yuting; McCabe, Brenda; Hyatt, Douglas

2017-06-01

The construction industry has hit a plateau in terms of safety performance. Safety climate is regarded as a leading indicator of safety performance; however, relatively little safety climate research has been done in the Canadian construction industry. Safety climate may be geographically sensitive, thus it is necessary to examine how the construct of safety climate is defined and used to improve safety performance in different regions. On the other hand, more and more attention has been paid to job related stress in the construction industry. Previous research proposed that individual resilience may be associated with a better safety performance and may help employees manage stress. Unfortunately, few empirical research studies have examined this hypothesis. This paper aims to examine the role of safety climate and individual resilience in safety performance and job stress in the Canadian construction industry. The research was based on 837 surveys collected in Ontario between June 2015 and June 2016. Structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques were used to explore the impact of individual resilience and safety climate on physical safety outcomes and on psychological stress among construction workers. The results show that safety climate not only affected construction workers' safety performance but also indirectly affected their psychological stress. In addition, it was found that individual resilience had a direct negative impact on psychological stress but had no impact on physical safety outcomes. These findings highlight the roles of both organizational and individual factors in individual safety performance and in psychological well-being. Construction organizations need to not only monitor employees' safety performance, but also to assess their employees' psychological well-being. Promoting a positive safety climate together with developing training programs focusing on improving employees' psychological health - especially post-trauma psychological

Gender and teamwork: an analysis of professors' perspectives and practices

Science.gov (United States)

Beddoes, Kacey; Panther, Grace

2018-05-01

Teamwork is increasingly seen as an important component of engineering education programmes. Yet, prior research has shown that there are numerous ways in which teamwork is gendered, and can lead to negative experiences for women students. This article presents the first interview findings on professors' perspectives on gender and teamwork. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 39 engineering professors to determine what and how they thought about gender in engineering and engineering education. For this article, the parts of the interviews about teamwork are analysed. We conclude that professors need tools to help them facilitate gender-inclusive teamwork, and those tools must address the beliefs that they already hold about teamwork. The findings raise questions about the adoption of evidence-based instructional practices and suggest current teamwork practices may exacerbate gender inequalities in engineering.

Teamwork: Effectively Teaching an Employability Skill

Science.gov (United States)

Riebe, Linda; Roepen, Dean; Santarelli, Bruno; Marchioro, Gary

2010-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a case study on improvements to professional teaching practice within an undergraduate university business programme to more effectively teach an employability skill and enhance the student experience of teamwork. Design/methodology/approach: A three-phase approach to teaching teamwork was…

Improving teamwork abilities across cultural differences

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Godskesen, Mirjam Irene

2009-01-01

The Belbin method has been applied at the education in Arctic Technology in Greenland as a way of improving the student’s teamwork abilities. The feedback from the students is that Belbin is a meaningful and relevant tool and they are very engaged during the teamwork exercises. They get...

Safety climate and attitude toward medication error reporting after hospital accreditation in South Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Eunjoo

2016-09-01

This study compared registered nurses' perceptions of safety climate and attitude toward medication error reporting before and after completing a hospital accreditation program. Medication errors are the most prevalent adverse events threatening patient safety; reducing underreporting of medication errors significantly improves patient safety. Safety climate in hospitals may affect medication error reporting. This study employed a longitudinal, descriptive design. Data were collected using questionnaires. A tertiary acute hospital in South Korea undergoing a hospital accreditation program. Nurses, pre- and post-accreditation (217 and 373); response rate: 58% and 87%, respectively. Hospital accreditation program. Perceived safety climate and attitude toward medication error reporting. The level of safety climate and attitude toward medication error reporting increased significantly following accreditation; however, measures of institutional leadership and management did not improve significantly. Participants' perception of safety climate was positively correlated with their attitude toward medication error reporting; this correlation strengthened following completion of the program. Improving hospitals' safety climate increased nurses' medication error reporting; interventions that help hospital administration and managers to provide more supportive leadership may facilitate safety climate improvement. Hospitals and their units should develop more friendly and intimate working environments that remove nurses' fear of penalties. Administration and managers should support nurses who report their own errors. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Teamwork in the Automobile Industry Ð An Anglo-German Comparison

OpenAIRE

Niels-Erik Wergin

2003-01-01

Teamwork in the automotive industry varies significantly from plant to plant. This article compares teamwork in four automobile plants in Germany and Britain, and addresses two questions: (1) Do different models of teamwork fit into a bi-polar model of teamwork, being either innovative or structural conservative? (2) Do current models of teamwork signify a development towards post-fordism, or are they merely part of a neo-fordist rationalisation of production? The following answers are sugges...

Team-Based Learning in the Gross Anatomy Laboratory Improves Academic Performance and Students' Attitudes toward Teamwork

Science.gov (United States)

Huitt, Tiffany W.; Killins, Anita; Brooks, William S.

2015-01-01

As the healthcare climate shifts toward increased interdisciplinary patient care, it is essential that students become accomplished at group problem solving and develop positive attitudes toward teamwork. Team-based learning (TBL) has become a popular approach to medical education because of its ability to promote active learning, problem-solving…

Improving safety climate and behavior through a multifaceted intervention : Results from a field experiment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bronkhorst, B.A.C.; Tummers, L.G.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/341028274; Steijn, B.

Interventions aimed at increasing priority for employee safety could lead to better safety climate and safety behavior of employees. However, current studies reporting on safety climate interventions lack diversity in contexts and settings, they focus mainly on supervisors and do not take into

Improving safety climate and behavior through a multifaceted intervention: Results from a field experiment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

B.A.C. Bronkhorst (Babette); L.G. Tummers (Lars); A.J. Steijn (Bram)

2017-01-01

textabstractInterventions aimed at increasing priority for employee safety could lead to better safety climate and safety behavior of employees. However, current studies reporting on safety climate interventions lack diversity in contexts and settings, they focus mainly on supervisors and do not

Teamwork Skills Assessment for Cooperative Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Strom, Paris S.; Strom, Robert D.

2011-01-01

Teamwork skills are required at work, but teacher efforts in many countries to track achievement within this context have been hindered by lack of assessment tools and input from students. The Teamwork Skills Inventory relies on peer and self-evaluation to establish accountability, identify competencies, and detect learning needs. Twenty-five…

The safety climate of a Department of Energy nuclear facility: A sociotechnical analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnson, A.E.; Harbour, J.L.

1993-01-01

Government- and public-sponsored groups are increasingly demanding greater accountability by the Department of Energy's weapons complex. Many of these demands have focused on the development of a positive safety climate, one that not only protects workers onsite, but also the surrounding populace and environment as well. These demands are, in part, a response to findings which demonstrate a close linkage between actual organizational safety performance and the organization's safety climate, i.e., the collective attitudes employees hold concerning the level of safety in their organization. This paper describes the approach taken in the systematic assessment of the safety climate at EG ampersand G Rocky Flats Plant (RFP)

Implementing an interprofessional first-year teamwork project: some key reflections.

Science.gov (United States)

McNaughton, Susan Maree

2013-09-01

Implementing an interprofessional teamwork project for first-year students presents pedagogical and practical challenges. While transferable skills and attributes are important, engagement of students with limited professional experience in teamwork depends on relevance to current learning needs. This report outlines principles learned from planning and implementing a teamwork project for an interprofessional health administration and service development course. Practising interprofessional teamwork as leaders and teachers, aligning with previous, current and future teamwork content and processes and responding to student feedback and achievement have been the key factors in shaping the project over three semesters. Face-to-face and online interprofessional teamwork learning has necessitated developing resources that support self-direction, using familiar technology and providing enabling physical environments. Implications for first-year interprofessional teamwork are that structured well-resourced processes, responsiveness and alignment of learning all improve student outcomes.

Job characteristics and safety climate: the role of effort-reward and demand-control-support models.

Science.gov (United States)

Phipps, Denham L; Malley, Christine; Ashcroft, Darren M

2012-07-01

While safety climate is widely recognized as a key influence on organizational safety, there remain questions about the nature of its antecedents. One potential influence on safety climate is job characteristics (that is, psychosocial features of the work environment). This study investigated the relationship between two job characteristics models--demand-control-support (Karasek & Theorell, 1990) and effort-reward imbalance (Siegrist, 1996)--and safety climate. A survey was conducted with a random sample of 860 British retail pharmacists, using the job contents questionnaire (JCQ), effort-reward imbalance indicator (ERI) and a measure of safety climate in pharmacies. Multivariate data analyses found that: (a) both models contributed to the prediction of safety climate ratings, with the demand-control-support model making the largest contribution; (b) there were some interactions between demand, control and support from the JCQ in the prediction of safety climate scores. The latter finding suggests the presence of "active learning" with respect to safety improvement in high demand, high control settings. The findings provide further insight into the ways in which job characteristics relate to safety, both individually and at an aggregated level.

Effective Teamwork Practical Lessons from Organizational Research

CERN Document Server

West, Michael A

2012-01-01

Updated to reflect the latest research evidence, the third edition of Effective Teamwork provides business managers with the necessary guidance and tools to build and maintain effective teamwork strategies. A new edition of a bestselling book on teamwork from an acknowledged leader in the fieldOffers a unique integration of rigorous research with practical guidance to develop effective leadership teamsFeatures new chapters on virtual teams and top management teams, plus contemporary themes of ethics and valuesUtilizes research based on positive psychology techniques

Systematic impact of institutional pressures on safety climate in the construction industry.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Qinghua; Dong, Shuang; Rose, Timothy; Li, Heng; Yin, Qin; Cao, Dongping

2016-08-01

This paper explores how three types of institutional pressure (i.e., coercive, mimetic and normative pressures) systematically impact on the safety climate of construction projects. These impacts are empirically tested by survey data collected from 186 questionnaires of construction companies operating in Shanghai, China. The results, obtained by partial least squares analysis, show that organizational management commitment to safety and employee involvement is positively related to all three institutional pressures, while the perception of responsibility for safety and health is significantly influenced by coercive and mimetic pressure. However, coercive and normative pressures have no significant effect on the applicability of safety rules and work practices, revealing the importance of external organizational pressures in improving project safety climate from a systematic view. The findings also provide insights into the use of institutional forces to facilitate the improvement of safety climate in the construction industry. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Importance of good teamwork in urgent care services.

Science.gov (United States)

Meier, Curtis

2014-11-01

High quality, safe care for patients depends on effective teamwork, and where multi-professional teams work together there is higher patient satisfaction, increased staff innovation, less stress and more communication ( West 2013 ). Conversely, lapses in teamwork and poor communication can result in adverse events ranging from retained foreign objects to perinatal events and medication errors ( Peter and Pronovost 2013 ), and even the death of patients ( Resuscitation Council UK 2011 ). Teamwork requires a set of skills and behaviours that, once learned by clinicians, can save lives ( Peter and Pronovost 2013 ). This article refers to a case study to explore the topic of teamwork in a tertiary care emergency setting.

Health professionals' experience of teamwork education in acute hospital settings: a systematic review of qualitative literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Eddy, Kylie; Jordan, Zoe; Stephenson, Matthew

2016-04-01

Teamwork is seen as an important element of patient care in acute hospital settings. The complexity of the journey of care for patients highlights the need for health professionals to collaborate and communicate clearly with each other. Health organizations in western countries are committed to improving patient safety through education of staff and teamwork education programs have been integral to this focus. There are no current systematic reviews of the experience of health professionals who participate in teamwork education in acute hospital settings. The objective of this systematic review was to search for the best available evidence on the experiences of health professionals who participate in teamwork education in acute hospital settings. This review considered studies reporting on experiences of registered health professionals who work in acute hospitals. This included medical, nursing and midwifery and allied health professionals. The focus of the meta-synthesis was the experiences and reflections of health professionals who were involved in teamwork education in acute hospital settings. The geographical context for this review was acute hospitals in rural or metropolitan settings in Australia and overseas countries. The review focused on the experiences of health professionals who work in acute hospitals and participated in teamwork education programs. This review considered studies that focused on qualitative data including, but not limited to, designs such as phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, action research and feminist research.In the absence of research studies, other text such as opinion papers, discussion papers and reports were considered. Studies published in English and from 1990 to 2013 were included in this review. The literature search for relevant papers occurred between 13 September and 26 October 2013. A three-step search strategy was utilized in this review. The databases searched were PubMed, CINAHL, Embase and Scopus. The

Extended teamwork: team performance in highly automated nuclear power plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Skjerve, Ann Britt; Strand, Stine; Skraaning, Gyrd Jr.

2004-07-01

Nuclear power plant (NPP) operation is in essence a teamwork task. The central control-room (CCR) operators are required to co-operate to achieve the operational goals, and they further depend on the assistance of the field operators and, at least in modern plants, on the assistance of the high-level automatic system. Future NPPs (e.g., advanced reactors) are foreseen to contain substantially higher automation levels, reduced staffing, and redefined roles of the remaining staff, as compared to the present situation. This paper suggests that in future plants, in which the autonomy and authority of the automatic system and of the field operators are increased, the transactions between the CCR operators and automatic system/field operators might most efficiently be conceptualized within the framework of co-operation, and thus teamwork. This framework has typically been restricted to conceptualizations of the transactions between the CCR operators, but in future settings, co-ordination, communication and mutual support between the CCR operators and the field operators/automatic system may be of increased importance for sustaining plant safety, as compared to the present situation. The paper further argues that human-system interfaces in future NPPs should be designed to support the activities of the extended team consisting of the CCR operators, the field operators, and the automatic system. The paper outlines an exploratory study aimed at generating ideas on how extended teamwork quality may be promoted. The study is currently foreseen to comprise two exemplary design solutions: a state-of-the art screen-based control-room (baseline condition) and a possible future control-room in which the activities of the field operators and the automatic system are explicitly represented on the human-system interface, where the authority and autonomy of these are increased, and the staffing level reduced, as compared to the baseline condition. The study will explore extended

Extended teamwork: team performance in highly automated nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skjerve, Ann Britt; Strand, Stine; Skraaning, Gyrd Jr.

2004-01-01

Nuclear power plant (NPP) operation is in essence a teamwork task. The central control-room (CCR) operators are required to co-operate to achieve the operational goals, and they further depend on the assistance of the field operators and, at least in modern plants, on the assistance of the high-level automatic system. Future NPPs (e.g., advanced reactors) are foreseen to contain substantially higher automation levels, reduced staffing, and redefined roles of the remaining staff, as compared to the present situation. This paper suggests that in future plants, in which the autonomy and authority of the automatic system and of the field operators are increased, the transactions between the CCR operators and automatic system/field operators might most efficiently be conceptualized within the framework of co-operation, and thus teamwork. This framework has typically been restricted to conceptualizations of the transactions between the CCR operators, but in future settings, co-ordination, communication and mutual support between the CCR operators and the field operators/automatic system may be of increased importance for sustaining plant safety, as compared to the present situation. The paper further argues that human-system interfaces in future NPPs should be designed to support the activities of the extended team consisting of the CCR operators, the field operators, and the automatic system. The paper outlines an exploratory study aimed at generating ideas on how extended teamwork quality may be promoted. The study is currently foreseen to comprise two exemplary design solutions: a state-of-the art screen-based control-room (baseline condition) and a possible future control-room in which the activities of the field operators and the automatic system are explicitly represented on the human-system interface, where the authority and autonomy of these are increased, and the staffing level reduced, as compared to the baseline condition. The study will explore extended

Patient safety culture among nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Ammouri, A A; Tailakh, A K; Muliira, J K; Geethakrishnan, R; Al Kindi, S N

2015-03-01

Patient safety is considered to be crucial to healthcare quality and is one of the major parameters monitored by all healthcare organizations around the world. Nurses play a vital role in maintaining and promoting patient safety due to the nature of their work. The purpose of this study was to investigate nurses' perceptions about patient safety culture and to identify the factors that need to be emphasized in order to develop and maintain the culture of safety among nurses in Oman. A descriptive and cross-sectional design was used. Patient safety culture was assessed by using the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture among 414 registered nurses working in four major governmental hospitals in Oman. Descriptive statistics and general linear regression were employed to assess the association between patient safety culture and demographic variables. Nurses who perceived more supervisor or manager expectations, feedback and communications about errors, teamwork across hospital units, and hospital handoffs and transitions had more overall perception of patient safety. Nurses who perceived more teamwork within units and more feedback and communications about errors had more frequency of events reported. Furthermore, nurses who had more years of experience and were working in teaching hospitals had more perception of patient safety culture. Learning and continuous improvement, hospital management support, supervisor/manager expectations, feedback and communications about error, teamwork, hospital handoffs and transitions were found to be major patient safety culture predictors. Investing in practices and systems that focus on improving these aspects is likely to enhance the culture of patient safety in Omani hospitals and others like them. Strategies to nurture patient safety culture in Omani hospitals should focus upon building leadership capacity that support open communication, blame free, team work and continuous organizational learning. © 2014 International

Reflective writing as a tool for assessing teamwork in bioscience: insights into student performance and understanding of teamwork.

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Mayne, Lynne

2012-07-01

To ensure a modern bioscience curriculum that responds to the current needs of stakeholders, there is a need to embed a range of generic capabilities that enables graduates to succeed in and contribute to a rapidly changing world, as well as building strong bioscience skills and knowledge. The curriculum must also prepare students for a rapidly evolving competitive work place and align with the needs of industry. This creates a challenge, how do we develop generic capabilities without losing discipline content. This report analyses teamwork projects embedded in an undergraduate Biotechnology degree designed to promote teamwork skills along with a deeper understanding of the underpinning biochemistry. Student reflective writing was used to capture students' understanding and experience of teamwork as well as provide insight into their metacognition. The analysis demonstrates that 73% of Year 3 and 93% of Year 4 students were capable of learning about teamwork through reflective writing. While the importance of frequent high quality communication was a common theme, evidence suggests that many students were unsophisticated in their use of communication software. The analysis also highlighted the depth of metacognition that underpins successful team function and the significant weaknesses in self-insight some students possess. These findings challenge assumptions regarding student capacity for leadership and the ability of some students to contribute to successful team outcomes. It is essential for the design of teamwork experiences to fully understand the competencies that underlie teamwork, the metacognitive processes required, and ensure that assessments are fair and measure individual academic performance. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Measuring teamwork in health care settings: a review of survey instruments.

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Valentine, Melissa A; Nembhard, Ingrid M; Edmondson, Amy C

2015-04-01

Teamwork in health care settings is widely recognized as an important factor in providing high-quality patient care. However, the behaviors that comprise effective teamwork, the organizational factors that support teamwork, and the relationship between teamwork and patient outcomes remain empirical questions in need of rigorous study. To identify and review survey instruments used to assess dimensions of teamwork so as to facilitate high-quality research on this topic. We conducted a systematic review of articles published before September 2012 to identify survey instruments used to measure teamwork and to assess their conceptual content, psychometric validity, and relationships to outcomes of interest. We searched the ISI Web of Knowledge database, and identified relevant articles using the search terms team, teamwork, or collaboration in combination with survey, scale, measure, or questionnaire. We found 39 surveys that measured teamwork. Surveys assessed different dimensions of teamwork. The most commonly assessed dimensions were communication, coordination, and respect. Of the 39 surveys, 10 met all of the criteria for psychometric validity, and 14 showed significant relationships to nonself-report outcomes. Evidence of psychometric validity is lacking for many teamwork survey instruments. However, several psychometrically valid instruments are available. Researchers aiming to advance research on teamwork in health care should consider using or adapting one of these instruments before creating a new one. Because instruments vary considerably in the behavioral processes and emergent states of teamwork that they capture, researchers must carefully evaluate the conceptual consistency between instrument, research question, and context.

Building high reliability teams: progress and some reflections on teamwork training.

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Salas, Eduardo; Rosen, Michael A

2013-05-01

The science of team training in healthcare has progressed dramatically in recent years. Methodologies have been refined and adapted for the unique and varied needs within healthcare, where once team training approaches were borrowed from other industries with little modification. Evidence continues to emerge and bolster the case that team training is an effective strategy for improving patient safety. Research is also elucidating the conditions under which teamwork training is most likely to have an impact, and what determines whether improvements achieved will be maintained over time. The articles in this special issue are a strong representation of the state of the science, the diversity of applications, and the growing sophistication of teamwork training research and practice in healthcare. In this article, we attempt to situate the findings in this issue within the broader context of healthcare team training, identify high level themes in the current state of the field, and discuss existing needs.

Using the Job Demands-Resources model to investigate risk perception, safety climate and job satisfaction in safety critical organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Nielsen, Morten Birkeland; Mearns, Kathryn; Matthiesen, Stig Berge; Eid, Jarle

2011-10-01

Using the Job Demands-Resources model (JD-R) as a theoretical framework, this study investigated the relationship between risk perception as a job demand and psychological safety climate as a job resource with regard to job satisfaction in safety critical organizations. In line with the JD-R model, it was hypothesized that high levels of risk perception is related to low job satisfaction and that a positive perception of safety climate is related to high job satisfaction. In addition, it was hypothesized that safety climate moderates the relationship between risk perception and job satisfaction. Using a sample of Norwegian offshore workers (N = 986), all three hypotheses were supported. In summary, workers who perceived high levels of risk reported lower levels of job satisfaction, whereas this effect diminished when workers perceived their safety climate as positive. Follow-up analyses revealed that this interaction was dependent on the type of risks in question. The results of this study supports the JD-R model, and provides further evidence for relationships between safety-related concepts and work-related outcomes indicating that organizations should not only develop and implement sound safety procedures to reduce the effects of risks and hazards on workers, but can also enhance other areas of organizational life through a focus on safety. © 2011 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology © 2011 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

Organizational injury rate underreporting: the moderating effect of organizational safety climate.

Science.gov (United States)

Probst, Tahira M; Brubaker, Ty L; Barsotti, Anthony

2008-09-01

The goals of this study were (a) to assess the extent to which construction industry workplace injuries and illness are underreported, and (b) to determine whether safety climate predicts the extent of such underreporting. Data from 1,390 employees of 38 companies contracted to work at a large construction site in the northwestern United States were collected to assess the safety climate of the companies. Data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) logs kept by the contractors allowed for calculation of each company's OSHA recordable injury rate (i.e., the reported injury rate), whereas medical claims data from an Owner-Controlled Insurance Program provided the actual experienced rate of injuries for those same companies. While the annual injury rate reported to OSHA was 3.11 injuries per 100 workers, the rate of eligible injuries that were not reported to OSHA was 10.90 injuries per 100 employees. Further, organizations with a poor safety climate had significantly higher rates of underreporting (81% of eligible injuries unreported) compared with organizations with a positive safety climate (47% of eligible injuries unreported). Implications for organizations and the accuracy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics's national occupational injury and illness surveillance system are discussed.

Perceived safety climate, job demands, and coworker support among union and nonunion injured construction workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Gillen, Marion; Baltz, Davis; Gassel, Margy; Kirsch, Luz; Vaccaro, Diane

2002-01-01

This study evaluated injured construction workers' perceptions of workplace safety climate, psychological job demands, decision latitude, and coworker support, and the relationship of these variables to the injury severity sustained by the workers. Injury severity was assessed using the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), which evaluates functional limitations. Worker perceptions of workplace variables were determined by two instruments: (a) the Safety Climate Measure for Construction Sites and (b) the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ). The overall model explained 23% of the variance in injury severity, with unique contributions provided by union status, the Safety Climate Score, and Psychological Job Demands. A positive significant correlation was found between injury severity and the Safety Climate Scores (r = .183, P = .003), and between the Safety Climate Scores and union status (r = .225, P safety climate on 5 of the 10 safety climate items. Union workers were more likely than nonunion workers to: (a) perceive their supervisors as caring about their safety; (b) be made aware of dangerous work practices; (c) have received safety instructions when hired; (d) have regular job safety meetings; and (e) perceive that taking risks was not a part of their job. However, with regard to the 49-item JCQ, which includes Coworker Support, the responses between union and nonunion workers were very similar, indicating an overall high degree of job satisfaction. However, workers who experienced their workplace as more safe also perceived the level of management (r = -.55, P demands, need to be identified.

Validity and Reliability of the Teamwork Scale for Youth

Science.gov (United States)

Lower, Leeann M.; Newman, Tarkington J.; Anderson-Butcher, Dawn

2017-01-01

Purpose: This study examines the psychometric properties of the Teamwork Scale for Youth, an assessment designed to measure youths' perceptions of their teamwork competency. Methods: The Teamwork Scale for Youth was administered to a sample of 460 youths. Confirmatory factor analyses examined the factor structure and measurement invariance of the…

Putting the "we" into teamwork: effects of priming personal or social identity on flight attendants' perceptions of teamwork and communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Ford, Jane; O'Hare, David; Henderson, Robert

2013-06-01

The study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of a manipulation derived from social categorization and social identity theory to promote greater cabin crew willingness to engage in intergroup communication and teamwork in airline operations. Failures of communication and teamwork between airline crew have been implicated in a number of airline crashes. Flight attendants based domestically (n = 254) or overseas (n = 230) received a manipulation designed to prime either their social identity or personal identity and then read a brief outline of an in-flight event before completing a teamwork questionnaire. Flight attendants who received a social identity prime indicated increased willingness to engage in coordinated team action compared with those who received a personal identity prime. Priming social identity can enhance attitudes toward teamwork and communication, potentially leading to increased willingness to engage in intergroup cooperation. Social categorization and social identity theories can be used to inform joint training program development for flight attendants and pilots to create increased willingness for group members to participate in effective communication and teamwork behaviors.

Organizing for teamwork in healthcare: an alternative to team training?

Science.gov (United States)

Rydenfält, Christofer; Odenrick, Per; Larsson, Per Anders

2017-05-15

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how organizational design could support teamwork and to identify organizational design principles that promote successful teamwork. Design/methodology/approach Since traditional team training sessions take resources away from production, the alternative approach pursued here explores the promotion of teamwork by means of organizational design. A wide and pragmatic definition of teamwork is applied: a team is considered to be a group of people that are set to work together on a task, and teamwork is then what they do in relation to their task. The input - process - output model of teamwork provides structure to the investigation. Findings Six teamwork enablers from the healthcare team literature - cohesion, collaboration, communication, conflict resolution, coordination, and leadership - are discussed, and the organizational design measures required to implement them are identified. Three organizational principles are argued to facilitate the teamwork enablers: team stability, occasions for communication, and a participative and adaptive approach to leadership. Research limitations/implications The findings could be used as a foundation for intervention studies to improve team performance or as a framework for evaluation of existing organizations. Practical implications By implementing these organizational principles, it is possible to achieve many of the organizational traits associated with good teamwork. Thus, thoughtful organization for teamwork can be used as an alternative or complement to the traditional team training approach. Originality/value With regards to the vast literature on team training, this paper offers an alternative perspective on how to improve team performance in healthcare.

Consensus achievement of leadership, organisational and individual factors that influence safety climate: Implications for nursing management.

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Fischer, Shelly A; Jones, Jacqueline; Verran, Joyce A

2018-01-01

To validate a framework of factors that influence the relationship of transformational leadership and safety climate, and to enable testing of safety chain factors by generating hypotheses regarding their mediating and moderating effects. Understanding the patient safety chain and mechanisms by which leaders affect a strong climate of safety is essential to transformational leadership practice, education, and research. A systematic review of leadership and safety literature was used to develop an organising framework of factors proposed to influence the climate of safety. A panel of 25 international experts in leadership and safety engaged a three-round modified Delphi study with Likert-scored surveys. Eighty per cent of participating experts from six countries were retained to the final survey round. Consensus (>66% agreement) was achieved on 40 factors believed to influence safety climate in the acute care setting. Consensus regarding specific factors that play important roles in an organisation's climate of safety can be reached. Generally, the demonstration of leadership commitment to safety is key to cultivating a culture of patient safety. Transformational nurse leaders should consider and employ all three categories of factors in daily leadership activities and decision-making to drive a strong climate of patient safety. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Assessing safety culture in NICU: psychometric properties of the Italian version of Safety Attitude Questionnaire and result implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Zenere, Alessandra; Zanolin, M Elisabetta; Negri, Roberta; Moretti, Francesca; Grassi, Mario; Tardivo, Stefano

2016-04-01

Neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) are a high-risk setting. The Safety Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ) is a widely used tool to measure safety culture. The aims of the study are to verify the psychometric properties of the Italian version of SAQ, to evaluate safety culture in the NICUs and to identify improvement interventions. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 6 level III NICUs. The SAQ was translated into Italian and adapted to the context, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to validate the questionnaire. 193 questionnaires were collected. The mean response rate was 59.7% (range 44.5%-95.7%). The answers were analysed according to six factors: f1 - teamwork climate, f2 - safety climate, f3 - job satisfaction, f4 - stress recognition, f5 - perception of management, f6 - working conditions. The CFA indexes were adequate (McDonald's omega indexes varied from 0.74 to 0.94, the SRMR index was equal to 0.79 and the RMSEA index was 0.070, 95% CI = 0.063-0.078). The mean composite score was 57.6 (SD 17.9), ranging between 42.3 and 69.7 on a standardized 100-point scale. We highlighted significant differences among units and professions (P < 0.05). The Italian version of the SAQ proved to be an effective tool to evaluate and compare the safety culture in the NICUs. The obtained scores significantly varied both within and among the NICUs. The organizational and structural characteristics of the involved hospitals probably affect the safety culture perception by the staff. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Does safety climate moderate the influence of staffing adequacy and work conditions on nurse injuries?

Science.gov (United States)

Mark, Barbara A; Hughes, Linda C; Belyea, Michael; Chang, Yunkyung; Hofmann, David; Jones, Cheryl B; Bacon, Cynthia T

2007-01-01

Hospital nurses have one of the highest work-related injury rates in the United States. Yet, approaches to improving employee safety have generally focused on attempts to modify individual behavior through enforced compliance with safety rules and mandatory participation in safety training. We examined a theoretical model that investigated the impact on nurse injuries (back injuries and needlesticks) of critical structural variables (staffing adequacy, work engagement, and work conditions) and further tested whether safety climate moderated these effects. A longitudinal, non-experimental, organizational study, conducted in 281 medical-surgical units in 143 general acute care hospitals in the United States. Work engagement and work conditions were positively related to safety climate, but not directly to nurse back injuries or needlesticks. Safety climate moderated the relationship between work engagement and needlesticks, while safety climate moderated the effect of work conditions on both needlesticks and back injuries, although in unexpected ways. DISCUSSION AND IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Our findings suggest that positive work engagement and work conditions contribute to enhanced safety climate and can reduce nurse injuries.

Teamwork, Soft Skills, and Research Training.

Science.gov (United States)

Gibert, Anaïs; Tozer, Wade C; Westoby, Mark

2017-02-01

We provide a list of soft skills that are important for collaboration and teamwork, based on our own experience and from an opinion survey of team leaders. Each skill can be learned to some extent. We also outline workable short courses for graduate schools to strengthen teamwork and collaboration skills among research students. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Teamwork and Clinical Error Reporting among Nurses in Korean Hospitals

OpenAIRE

Jee-In Hwang, PhD; Jeonghoon Ahn, PhD

2015-01-01

Purpose: To examine levels of teamwork and its relationships with clinical error reporting among Korean hospital nurses. Methods: The study employed a cross-sectional survey design. We distributed a questionnaire to 674 nurses in two teaching hospitals in Korea. The questionnaire included items on teamwork and the reporting of clinical errors. We measured teamwork using the Teamwork Perceptions Questionnaire, which has five subscales including team structure, leadership, situation monitori...

A Multifaceted Approach to Teamwork Assessment in an Undergraduate Business Program

Science.gov (United States)

Kemery, Edward R.; Stickney, Lisa T.

2014-01-01

We describe a multifaceted, multilevel approach to teamwork learning and assessment. It includes teamwork knowledge, peer and self-appraisal of teamwork behavior, and individual and team performance on objective tests for teaching and assessing teamwork in an undergraduate business program. At the beginning of this semester-long process, students…

Modeling and simulating human teamwork behaviors using intelligent agents

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Xiaocong; Yen, John

2004-12-01

Among researchers in multi-agent systems there has been growing interest in using intelligent agents to model and simulate human teamwork behaviors. Teamwork modeling is important for training humans in gaining collaborative skills, for supporting humans in making critical decisions by proactively gathering, fusing, and sharing information, and for building coherent teams with both humans and agents working effectively on intelligence-intensive problems. Teamwork modeling is also challenging because the research has spanned diverse disciplines from business management to cognitive science, human discourse, and distributed artificial intelligence. This article presents an extensive, but not exhaustive, list of work in the field, where the taxonomy is organized along two main dimensions: team social structure and social behaviors. Along the dimension of social structure, we consider agent-only teams and mixed human-agent teams. Along the dimension of social behaviors, we consider collaborative behaviors, communicative behaviors, helping behaviors, and the underpinning of effective teamwork-shared mental models. The contribution of this article is that it presents an organizational framework for analyzing a variety of teamwork simulation systems and for further studying simulated teamwork behaviors.

Enhancing the Safety Climate and Reducing Violence Against Staff in Closed Hospital Wards.

Science.gov (United States)

Isaak, Valerie; Vashdi, Dana; Bar-Noy, Dor; Kostisky, Hava; Hirschmann, Shmuel; Grinshpoon, Alexander

2017-09-01

This study examined the effectiveness of an intervention program to enhance unit safety climate and minimize employee risk of injury from patient violence. The intervention program, including a 3-day workshop, was offered to personnel on maximum security units of an Israeli psychiatric hospital. Safety climate was examined before and after the implementation of the intervention, and incidents of patient violence were investigated. Six months after the intervention, a significant improvement in employees' perceptions of management's commitment to safety as well as a marginally significant improvement in communication about safety issues were found. This study demonstrated that an intervention program to enhance safety climate was associated with a decrease in the number of aggressive incidents. The researchers concluded that this intervention program is likely to return a sense of safety to workers and reduce workplace violence.

Effective healthcare teams require effective team members: defining teamwork competencies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leggat Sandra G

2007-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Although effective teamwork has been consistently identified as a requirement for enhanced clinical outcomes in the provision of healthcare, there is limited knowledge of what makes health professionals effective team members, and even less information on how to develop skills for teamwork. This study identified critical teamwork competencies for health service managers. Methods Members of a state branch of the professional association of Australian health service managers participated in a teamwork survey. Results The 37% response rate enabled identification of a management teamwork competency set comprising leadership, knowledge of organizational goals and strategies and organizational commitment, respect for others, commitment to working collaboratively and to achieving a quality outcome. Conclusion Although not part of the research question the data suggested that the competencies for effective teamwork are perceived to be different for management and clinical teams, and there are differences in the perceptions of effective teamwork competencies between male and female health service managers. This study adds to the growing evidence that the focus on individual skill development and individual accountability and achievement that results from existing models of health professional training, and which is continually reinforced by human resource management practices within healthcare systems, is not consistent with the competencies required for effective teamwork.

Elementary school teachers' attitudes to teamwork

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vasilijević Danijela N.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Research to date has shown that teacher teamwork results in higher motivation among students and higher quality knowledge, and also facilitates the sharing of professional experiences and stimulates teachers' creativity and their openness to change. Team forming and development depend on multiple factors, particularly on the individual and group traits of team members. This paper examines teachers' attitudes as an individual factor significant for their inclination for team teaching, and the aim of the study presented in the paper was to study teachers' attitudes to teamwork. The sample consisted of 240 teachers from fifteen elementary schools in Belgrade. Factor analysis has singled out three factors around which teachers' attitudes are grouped: a teaching; b team and individual development; and c professional challenge. The study has shown that overall, teachers have a positive attitude to teamwork because it is conducive to a stimulating environment for work and learning, and also provides an opportunity for teachers' personal and professional development. Significant differences in the perception of teamwork have been noted among lower-grade teachers depending on their years of service and the extent to which they have been engaged in team teaching.

Patient Safety Culture in Slovenian out-of-hours Primary Care Clinics.

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Klemenc-Ketiš, Zalika; Deilkås, Ellen Tveter; Hofoss, Dag; Bondevik, Gunnar Tschudi

2017-10-01

Patient safety culture is a concept which describes how leader and staff interaction, attitudes, routines and practices protect patients from adverse events in healthcare. We aimed to investigate patient safety culture in Slovenian out-of-hours health care (OOHC) clinics, and determine the possible factors that might be associated with it. This was a cross-sectional study, which took place in Slovenian OOHC, as part of the international study entitled Patient Safety Culture in European Out-of-Hours Services (SAFE-EUR-OOH). All the OOHC clinics in Slovenia (N=60) were invited to participate, and 37 agreed to do so; 438 employees from these clinics were invited to participate. We used the Slovenian version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire - an ambulatory version (SAQAV) to measure the climate of safety. Out of 438 invited participants, 250 answered the questionnaire (57.1% response rate). The mean overall score ± standard deviation of the SAQ was 56.6±16.0 points, of Perceptions of Management 53.6±19.6 points, of Job Satisfaction 48.5±18.3 points, of Safety Climate 59.1±22.1 points, of Teamwork Climate 72.7±16.6, and of Communication 51.5±23.4 points. Employees working in the Ravne na Koroškem region, employees with variable work shifts, and those with full-time jobs scored significantly higher on the SAQ-AV. The safety culture in Slovenian OOHC clinics needs improvement. The variations in the safety culture factor scores in Slovenian OOHC clinics point to the need to eliminate variations and improve working conditions in Slovenian OOHC clinics.

The Teamwork Assessment Scale: A Novel Instrument to Assess Quality of Undergraduate Medical Students' Teamwork Using the Example of Simulation-based Ward-Rounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Kiesewetter, Jan; Fischer, Martin R

2015-01-01

Simulation-based teamwork trainings are considered a powerful training method to advance teamwork, which becomes more relevant in medical education. The measurement of teamwork is of high importance and several instruments have been developed for various medical domains to meet this need. To our knowledge, no theoretically-based and easy-to-use measurement instrument has been published nor developed specifically for simulation-based teamwork trainings of medical students. Internist ward-rounds function as an important example of teamwork in medicine. The purpose of this study was to provide a validated, theoretically-based instrument that is easy-to-use. Furthermore, this study aimed to identify if and when rater scores relate to performance. Based on a theoretical framework for teamwork behaviour, items regarding four teamwork components (Team Coordination, Team Cooperation, Information Exchange, Team Adjustment Behaviours) were developed. In study one, three ward-round scenarios, simulated by 69 students, were videotaped and rated independently by four trained raters. The instrument was tested for the embedded psychometric properties and factorial structure. In study two, the instrument was tested for construct validity with an external criterion with a second set of 100 students and four raters. In study one, the factorial structure matched the theoretical components but was unable to separate Information Exchange and Team Cooperation. The preliminary version showed adequate psychometric properties (Cronbach's α=.75). In study two, the instrument showed physician rater scores were more reliable in measurement than those of student raters. Furthermore, a close correlation between the scale and clinical performance as an external criteria was shown (r=.64) and the sufficient psychometric properties were replicated (Cronbach's α=.78). The validation allows for use of the simulated teamwork assessment scale in undergraduate medical ward-round trainings to reliably

The Teamwork Assessment Scale: A Novel Instrument to Assess Quality of Undergraduate Medical Students' Teamwork Using the Example of Simulation-based Ward-Rounds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kiesewetter, Jan

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Background: Simulation-based teamwork trainings are considered a powerful training method to advance teamwork, which becomes more relevant in medical education. The measurement of teamwork is of high importance and several instruments have been developed for various medical domains to meet this need. To our knowledge, no theoretically-based and easy-to-use measurement instrument has been published nor developed specifically for simulation-based teamwork trainings of medical students. Internist ward-rounds function as an important example of teamwork in medicine.Purposes: The purpose of this study was to provide a validated, theoretically-based instrument that is easy-to-use. Furthermore, this study aimed to identify if and when rater scores relate to performance.Methods: Based on a theoretical framework for teamwork behaviour, items regarding four teamwork components ( were developed. In study one, three ward-round scenarios, simulated by 69 students, were videotaped and rated independently by four trained raters. The instrument was tested for the embedded psychometric properties and factorial structure. In study two, the instrument was tested for construct validity with an external criterion with a second set of 100 students and four raters. Results: In study one, the factorial structure matched the theoretical components but was unable to separate Information Exchange and Team Cooperation. The preliminary version showed adequate psychometric properties (Cronbach’s α=.75. In study two, the instrument showed physician rater scores were more reliable in measurement than those of student raters. Furthermore, a close correlation between the scale and clinical performance as an external criteria was shown (r=.64 and the sufficient psychometric properties were replicated (Cronbach’s α=.78.Conclusions: The validation allows for use of the simulated teamwork assessment scale in undergraduate medical ward-round trainings to reliably measure

Moving toward Teamwork through Professional Development Activities

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Fitzgerald, Meghan M.; Theilheimer, Rachel

2013-01-01

This qualitative study of three Head Start Centers analyzed surveys, interviews, and focus group data to determine how education coordinators, teachers, and teacher assistants believed professional development activities could support teamwork at their centers. The researchers sorted data related to teamwork into four categories: knowledge and…

Measuring safety climate in a nuclear power plant - an experience sharing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vincy, M.U.; Varshney, Aloke; Khot, Pankaj

2016-01-01

In this paper the author discusses the experience gained in safety climate measurement of an Indian nuclear power plant. Safety performance is increasingly part of an organization's sustainable development. Nuclear power stations are falling under the category 'high reliability' industries in the world as far as work safety is concerned. Both the research and the practical experience continually point to two underlying factors that drive safety outcomes: the quality of an organisation's leadership and the resulting culture. After years of development in safety technology and safety management system in the industry, management of nuclear industry world over has come to recognize that safety culture has to be addressed if high standards of health and safety are to be maintained. Therefore, nuclear industries in India have been carrying out measurement of safety climate for more than ten years. The objectives of the study are to examine people's values, attitude, perception, competencies, and patterns of behaviour that determine the commitment to, and effectiveness of health and safety management in the industry based on a questionnaires survey and their analysis

Development and validation of safety climate scales for mobile remote workers using utility/electrical workers as exemplar.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; Zohar, Dov; Robertson, Michelle M; Garabet, Angela; Murphy, Lauren A; Lee, Jin

2013-10-01

The objective of this study was to develop and test the reliability and validity of a new scale designed for measuring safety climate among mobile remote workers, using utility/electrical workers as exemplar. The new scale employs perceived safety priority as the metric of safety climate and a multi-level framework, separating the measurement of organization- and group-level safety climate items into two sub-scales. The question of the emergence of shared perceptions among remote workers was also examined. For the initial survey development, several items were adopted from a generic safety climate scale and new industry-specific items were generated based on an extensive literature review, expert judgment, 15-day field observations, and 38 in-depth individual interviews with subject matter experts (i.e., utility industry electrical workers, trainers and supervisors of electrical workers). The items were revised after 45 cognitive interviews and a pre-test with 139 additional utility/electrical workers. The revised scale was subsequently implemented with a total of 2421 workers at two large US electric utility companies (1560 participants for the pilot company and 861 for the second company). Both exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were adopted to finalize the items and to ensure construct validity. Reliability of the scale was tested based on Cronbach's α. Homogeneity tests examined whether utility/electrical workers' safety climate perceptions were shared within the same supervisor group. This was followed by an analysis of the criterion-related validity, which linked the safety climate scores to self-reports of safety behavior and injury outcomes (i.e., recordable incidents, missing days due to work-related injuries, vehicle accidents, and near misses). Six dimensions (Safety pro-activity, General training, Trucks and equipment, Field orientation, Financial Investment, and Schedule flexibility) with 29 items were extracted from the EFA to

Team-based learning in the gross anatomy laboratory improves academic performance and students' attitudes toward teamwork.

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Huitt, Tiffany W; Killins, Anita; Brooks, William S

2015-01-01

As the healthcare climate shifts toward increased interdisciplinary patient care, it is essential that students become accomplished at group problem solving and develop positive attitudes toward teamwork. Team-based learning (TBL) has become a popular approach to medical education because of its ability to promote active learning, problem-solving skills, communication, and teamwork. However, its documented use in the laboratory setting and physical therapy education is limited. We used TBL as a substitute for one-third of cadaveric dissections in the gross anatomy laboratories at two Doctor of Physical Therapy programs to study its effect on both students' perceptions and academic performance. We surveyed students at the beginning and completion of their anatomy course as well as students who had previously completed a traditional anatomy course to measure the impact of TBL on students' perceptions of teamwork. We found that the inclusion of TBL in the anatomy laboratory improves students' attitudes toward working with peers (P < 0.01). Non-TBL students had significantly lower attitudes toward teamwork (P < 0.01). Comparison of academic performance between TBL and non-TBL students revealed that students who participated in TBL scored significantly higher on their first anatomy practical examination and on their head/neck written examination (P < 0.001). When asked to rate their role in a team, a 10.5% increase in the mean rank score for Problem Solver resulted after the completion of the TBL-based anatomy course. Our data indicate that TBL is an effective supplement to cadaveric dissection in the laboratory portion of gross anatomy, improving both students' grades and perceptions of teamwork. © 2014 American Association of Anatomists.

Safety in the c-suite: How chief executive officers influence organizational safety climate and employee injuries.

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Tucker, Sean; Ogunfowora, Babatunde; Ehr, Dayle

2016-09-01

According to social learning theory, powerful and high status individuals can significantly influence the behaviors of others. In this paper, we propose that chief executive officers (CEOs) indirectly impact frontline injuries through the collective social learning experiences and effort of different groups of organizational actors-including members of the top management team (TMT), organizational supervisors, and frontline employees. We found support for our collective social learning model using data from 2,714 frontline employees, 1,398 supervisors, and 229 members of TMTs in 54 organizations. TMT members' experiences within a CEO-driven TMT safety climate was positively related to organizational supervisors' reports of the broader organizational safety climate and their subsequent collective support for safety (reported by frontline employees). In turn, supervisory support for safety was associated with fewer employee injuries at the individual level. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for workplace safety research and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

AN ANALYSIS OF TEAMWORK IN THE INSURANCE COMPANIES

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Luka Stanić

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The paper is designed and contextualized as a meaningful whole which includes the triple helix model: a combination of science, the real sector and local government. The basis of this research is teamwork in insurance companies operating in eastern Croatia whose indicators reflect on other insurance companies in Croatia and beyond. The conclusions of the paper suggest that teamwork is omnipresent in insurance companies, and that it affects the efficiency in meeting their objectives. A survey was used to test and prove the hypotheses, indicating that especially during the economic crisis it is crucial to invest in human resources and encourage teamwork via key motivational factors. The conclusions of the paper show that teamwork contributes to the efficiency of the organization, dissemination of new ideas and greater synergy within the insurance company.

A Qualitative Analysis of Narrative Preclerkship Assessment Data to Evaluate Teamwork Skills.

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Dolan, Brigid M; O'Brien, Celia Laird; Cameron, Kenzie A; Green, Marianne M

2018-04-16

Construct: Students entering the health professions require competency in teamwork. Although many teamwork curricula and assessments exist, studies have not demonstrated robust longitudinal assessment of preclerkship students' teamwork skills and attitudes. Assessment portfolios may serve to fill this gap, but it is unknown how narrative comments within portfolios describe student teamwork behaviors. We performed a qualitative analysis of narrative data in 15 assessment portfolios. Student portfolios were randomly selected from 3 groups stratified by quantitative ratings of teamwork performance gathered from small-group and clinical preceptor assessment forms. Narrative data included peer and faculty feedback from these same forms. Data were coded for teamwork-related behaviors using a constant comparative approach combined with an identification of the valence of the coded statements as either "positive observation" or "suggestion for improvement." Eight codes related to teamwork emerged: attitude and demeanor, information facilitation, leadership, preparation and dependability, professionalism, team orientation, values team member contributions, and nonspecific teamwork comments. The frequency of codes and valence varied across the 3 performance groups, with students in the low-performing group receiving more suggestions for improvement across all teamwork codes. Narrative data from assessment portfolios included specific descriptions of teamwork behavior, with important contributions provided by both faculty and peers. A variety of teamwork domains were represented. Such feedback as collected in an assessment portfolio can be used for longitudinal assessment of preclerkship student teamwork skills and attitudes.

The Relationship between Teamwork and Organizational Trust

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Musab Işık

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between teamwork and organizational trust. In the implementation section the data from the survey of 250 workers is employed in call centers in Erzurum by using relevant statistical methods. Consequently, it is found that there is a positive and significant relationship between teamwork and organizational trust. Thus, the hypothesis of the study is supported as it was expected. Besides, it is found that there are positive and significant relationships between communication, openness to innovation, participation-trust in teamwork and organizational trust, trust in management, trust in co-workers, and trust in workplace.

The perception of the patient safety climate by professionals of the emergency department.

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Rigobello, Mayara Carvalho Godinho; Carvalho, Rhanna Emanuela Fontenele Lima de; Guerreiro, Juliana Magalhães; Motta, Ana Paula Gobbo; Atila, Elizabeth; Gimenes, Fernanda Raphael Escobar

2017-07-01

The aim of this study was to assess the patient safety climate from the perspective of healthcare professionals working in the emergency department of a hospital in Brazil. Emergency departments are complex and dynamic environments. They are prone to adverse events that compromise the quality of care provided and reveal the importance of patient safety culture and climate. This was a quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study. The Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) - Short Form 2006 was used for data collection, validated and adapted into Portuguese. The study sample consisted of 125 participants. Most of the participants were female (57.6%) and had worked in emergency department for more than 10years (56.8%). Sixty-two participants (49.6%) were nursing professionals. The participants demonstrated satisfaction with their jobs and dissatisfaction with the actions of management with regard to safety issues. Participants' perceptions about the patient safety climate were found to be negative. Knowledge of professionals' perceptions of patient safety climate in the context of emergency care helps with assessments of the safety culture, contributes to improvement of health care, reduces adverse events, and can focus efforts to improve the quality of care provided to patients. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nursing teamwork in a health system: A multisite study.

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Kaiser, Jennifer A; Westers, Judith B

2018-01-16

The aim of this study was to examine how the facets of teamwork exist among nurse-only teams in acute and continuing care settings. The health care 'team' conventionally describes the interdisciplinary team in both literature and practice. Nursing-specific teams are rarely considered in the literature. An examination of this specific professional cohort is important to understand how teamwork exists among those who provide the majority of patient care. This was a descriptive, comparative, cross-sectional study using the Nursing Teamwork Survey to measure teamwork of nursing-based teams among 1414 participants in multiple acute care environments across a large Midwestern health system. The characteristics of nursing teams were analysed. The results from the subscales within the teamwork model showed that nursing teams had a good understanding of the various roles and responsibilities. However, nurse team members held a more individualistic rather than collective team-oriented mindset. Increased teamwork has a positive effect on job satisfaction, staffing efficiencies, retention and care delivery. Nurse leaders can use the information provided in this study to target the aspects of highly functioning teams by improving team orientation, trust and backup behaviours. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Psychosocial safety climate moderates the job demand-resource interaction in predicting workgroup distress.

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Dollard, Maureen F; Tuckey, Michelle R; Dormann, Christian

2012-03-01

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) arises from workplace policies, practices, and procedures for the protection of worker psychological health and safety that are largely driven by management. Many work stress theories are based on the fundamental interaction hypothesis - that a high level of job demands (D) will lead to psychological distress and that this relationship will be offset when there are high job resources (R). However we proposed that this interaction really depends on the organizational context; in particular high levels of psychosocial safety climate will enable the safe utilization of resources to reduce demands. The study sample consisted of police constables from 23 police units (stations) with longitudinal survey responses at two time points separated by 14 months (Time 1, N=319, Time 2, N=139). We used hierarchical linear modeling to assess the effect of the proposed three-way interaction term (PSC×D×R) on change in workgroup distress variance over time. Specifically we confirmed the interaction between emotional demands and emotional resources (assessed at the individual level), in the context of unit psychosocial safety climate (aggregated individual data). As predicted, high emotional resources moderated the positive relationship between emotional demands and change in workgroup distress but only when there were high levels of unit psychosocial safety climate. Results were confirmed using a split-sample analysis. Results support psychosocial safety climate as a property of the organization and a target for higher order controls for reducing work stress. The 'right' climate enables resources to do their job. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The virgin land of quality management: a first measure of patient safety climate at the National Hospital of the Faroe Islands

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Kristensen S

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Solvejg Kristensen,1,2 Naina Túgvustein,3 Hjørdis Zachariassen,3 Svend Sabroe,4 Paul Bartels,1,5 Jan Mainz5,6 1The Danish Clinical Registries, Aarhus, 2Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Denmark; 3National Hospital of the Faroe Islands, Torshavn, Faroe Islands; 4Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, 5Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, 6Aalborg University Hospital, Psychiatry, Aalborg, Denmark Purpose: The Faroe Islands are formally part of the Kingdom of Denmark, but the islands enjoy extensive autonomy as home ruled. In Denmark, extensive quality management initiatives have been implemented throughout hospitals, this was not the case in the Faroese Islands in 2013. The purpose of this study is to investigate the patient safety culture in the National Hospital of the Faroe Islands prior to implementation of quality management initiatives. Methods: The Danish version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ-DK was distributed electronically to 557 staff members from five medical centers of the hospital, and one administrative unit. SAQ-DK has six cultural dimensions. The proportion of respondents with positive attitudes and mean scale scores were described, and comparison between medical specialties, and between clinical leaders and frontline staff was made using analysis of variance and chi-square test, respectively. Results: The response rate was 65.8% (N=367. Job satisfaction was rated most favorable, and the perceived culture of the top management least favorable. Safety climate was the dimension with the greatest variability across the 28 units. The diagnostic center had the most favorable culture of all centers. More leaders than frontline staff had positive attitudes toward teamwork and safety climate, and working conditions, respectively. Also, the leaders perceived these dimensions more positive than the frontline staff, P<0.05. Among three management levels

Validation of the Dutch language version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ-NL).

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Haerkens, Marck Htm; van Leeuwen, Wouter; Sexton, J Bryan; Pickkers, Peter; van der Hoeven, Johannes G

2016-08-15

As the first objective of caring for patients is to do no harm, patient safety is a priority in delivering clinical care. An essential component of safe care in a clinical department is its safety climate. Safety climate correlates with safety-specific behaviour, injury rates, and accidents. Safety climate in healthcare can be assessed by the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ), which provides insight by scoring six dimensions: Teamwork Climate, Job Satisfaction, Safety Climate, Stress Recognition, Working Conditions and Perceptions of Management. The objective of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Dutch language version of the SAQ in a variety of clinical departments in Dutch hospitals. The Dutch version (SAQ-NL) of the SAQ was back translated, and analyzed for semantic characteristics and content. From October 2010 to November 2015 SAQ-NL surveys were carried out in 17 departments in two university and seven large non-university teaching hospitals in the Netherlands, prior to a Crew Resource Management human factors intervention. Statistical analyses were used to examine response patterns, mean scores, correlations, internal consistency reliability and model fit. Cronbach's α's and inter-item correlations were calculated to examine internal consistency reliability. One thousand three hundred fourteen completed questionnaires were returned from 2113 administered to health care workers, resulting in a response rate of 62 %. Confirmatory Factor Analysis revealed the 6-factor structure fit the data adequately. Response patterns were similar for professional positions, departments, physicians and nurses, and university and non-university teaching hospitals. The SAQ-NL showed strong internal consistency (α = .87). Exploratory analysis revealed differences in scores on the SAQ dimensions when comparing different professional positions, when comparing physicians to nurses and when comparing university to non-university hospitals. The SAQ

Exploring the relationship between quality of management and safety climate in a large scale Danish cross‐sectional study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sønderstrup-Andersen, Hans H. K.; Carlsen, Kathrine; Kines, Pete

2011-01-01

. In addition, we consider the impact of age, gender, education, job type and seniority as well as company size and industrial sector on the rating of safety climate. Predictors of safety climate ratings are analysed by use of multiple regression analysis. Our results show that the leadership style measured...... and transformational leadership and safety climate, and to explore how safety climate is affected by a number of socio-demographic factors and within different industries and company sizes. The analyses are based on data from a recent Danish work environment cross-sectional study including 3681 employees from a wide...... range of industries and who report that safety climate is relevant for their job. We use two safety climate items, (one regarding management safety empowerment; one regarding co-workers’ safety priority), one question about transactional leadership and two scales concerning transformational leadership...

Knowledge integration, teamwork and performance in health care.

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Körner, Mirjam; Lippenberger, Corinna; Becker, Sonja; Reichler, Lars; Müller, Christian; Zimmermann, Linda; Rundel, Manfred; Baumeister, Harald

2016-01-01

Knowledge integration is the process of building shared mental models. The integration of the diverse knowledge of the health professions in shared mental models is a precondition for effective teamwork and team performance. As it is known that different groups of health care professionals often tend to work in isolation, the authors compared the perceptions of knowledge integration. It can be expected that based on this isolation, knowledge integration is assessed differently. The purpose of this paper is to test these differences in the perception of knowledge integration between the professional groups and to identify to what extent knowledge integration predicts perceptions of teamwork and team performance and to determine if teamwork has a mediating effect. The study is a multi-center cross-sectional study with a descriptive-explorative design. Data were collected by means of a staff questionnaire for all health care professionals working in the rehabilitation clinics. The results showed that there are significant differences in knowledge integration within interprofessional health care teams. Furthermore, it could be shown that knowledge integration is significantly related to patient-centered teamwork as well as to team performance. Mediation analysis revealed partial mediation of the effect of knowledge integration on team performance through teamwork. PRACTICAL/IMPLICATIONS: In practice, the results of the study provide a valuable starting point for team development interventions. This is the first study that explored knowledge integration in medical rehabilitation teams and its relation to patient-centered teamwork and team performance.

Worker health and safety and climate change in the Americas: issues and research needs

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Max Kiefer

Full Text Available SYNOPSIS This report summarizes and discusses current knowledge on the impact that climate change can have on occupational safety and health (OSH, with a particular focus on the Americas. Worker safety and health issues are presented on topics related to specific stressors (e.g., temperature extremes, climate associated impacts (e.g., ice melt in the Arctic, and a health condition associated with climate change (chronic kidney disease of non-traditional etiology. The article discusses research needs, including hazards, surveillance, and risk assessment activities to better characterize and understand how OSH may be associated with climate change events. Also discussed are the actions that OSH professionals can take to ensure worker health and safety in the face of climate change.

Worksite health and safety climate: scale development and effects of a health promotion intervention.

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Basen-Engquist, K; Hudmon, K S; Tripp, M; Chamberlain, R

1998-01-01

Environmental influences on health and health behavior have an important place in research on worksite health promotion. We tested the validity and internal consistency of a new measure of organizational health and safety climate that was used in a large randomized trial of a worksite cancer prevention program (the Working Well Trial). The resulting scales then were applied to assess intervention effects. This study uses data from a subset of 40 worksites in the Working Well Trial. Employees at 20 natural gas pipeline worksite and 20 rural electrical cooperatives completed a cross-sectional questionnaire at baseline and 3-year follow-up. A factor analysis of this self-report instrument produced a two-factor solution. The resulting health and safety climate scales had good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.74 and 0.82, respectively) and concurrent validity. The health climate scale was correlated more highly with organizational measures that were indicative of a supportive health climate than those indicating supportive safety climate, while the reverse was true of the safety climate scale. Changes in health climate were associated with the number of smoking and smokeless tobacco programs offered at the worksites at the time of the 3-year follow-up (r = 0.46 and 0.42, respectively). The scales were not correlated with most employee health behaviors. The health climate scores increased at intervention worksites, compared with scores at control worksites (F[1,36] = 7.57, P = 0.009). The health and safety climate scales developed for this study provide useful instruments for measuring organizational change related to worksite health promotion activities. The Working Well Intervention resulted in a significant improvement in worksite health climate.

Making Teamwork Work: Team Knowledge for Team Effectiveness.

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Guchait, Priyanko; Lei, Puiwa; Tews, Michael J

2016-01-01

This study examined the impact of two types of team knowledge on team effectiveness. The study assessed the impact of taskwork knowledge and teamwork knowledge on team satisfaction and performance. A longitudinal study was conducted with 27 service-management teams involving 178 students in a real-life restaurant setting. Teamwork knowledge was found to impact both team outcomes. Furthermore, team learning behavior was found to mediate the relationships between teamwork knowledge and team outcomes. Educators and managers should therefore ensure these types of knowledge are developed in teams along with learning behavior for maximum effectiveness.

Personality, relationship conflict, and teamwork-related mental models

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vîrgă, D.; Curseu, P.L.; Maricuţoiu, L.; Sava, S.A.; Macsinga, I.; Măgurean, S.

2014-01-01

This study seeks to explore whether neuroticism, agreeableness, and conscientiousness moderate the influence of relationship conflict experienced in groups on changes in group members' evaluative cognitions related to teamwork quality (teamwork-related mental models). Data from 216 students, nested

Beyond safety outcomes: An investigation of the impact of safety climate on job satisfaction, employee engagement and turnover using social exchange theory as the theoretical framework.

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Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; Lee, Jin; McFadden, Anna C; Murphy, Lauren A; Robertson, Michelle M; Cheung, Janelle H; Zohar, Dov

2016-07-01

Safety climate, a measure of the degree to which safety is perceived by employees to be a priority in their company, is often implicated as a key factor in the promotion of injury-reducing behavior and safe work environments. Using social exchange theory as a theoretical basis, this study hypothesized that safety climate would be related to employees' job satisfaction, engagement, and turnover rate, highlighting the beneficial effects of safety climate beyond typical safety outcomes. Survey data were collected from 6207 truck drivers from two U.S. trucking companies. The objective turnover rate was collected one year after the survey data collection. Results showed that employees' safety climate perceptions were linked to employees' level of job satisfaction, engagement, and objective turnover rate, thus supporting the application of social exchange theory. Job satisfaction was also a significant mediator between safety climate and the two human resource outcomes (i.e., employee engagement and turnover rate). This study is among the first to assess the impact of safety climate beyond safety outcomes among lone workers (using truck drivers as an exemplar). Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

North American Engineering, Procurement, Fabrication and Construction Worker Safety Climate Perception Affected by Job Position

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Clint Pinion

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Understanding and implementing the results of Safety Climate surveys can assist in decreasing occupational injuries and illnesses. The following article presents findings of a cross-sectional study that assessed the relationship between safety climate perceptions and job position among engineering, procurement, fabrication and construction (EPFC employees using a 15-item survey. Descriptive statistics (means and frequencies and an ANACOVA (analysis of covariance were performed on a saturated model. The study had a 62% response rate. Results indicate a statistically significant in mean safety climate scores between job position among EPFC employees when controlling for years in industry and location type (i.e., construction versus fabrication [F (9, 603 = 5.28, p < 0.0001, adjusted R-square = 0.07]. Employee perception of safety climate differed based on the employee’s job position (i.e., laborer, foreman, etc.. Project management reported the highest safety climate scores (0.91, followed by supervisors (0.86, technical support employees and foremen (0.84 and laborers (0.81.

The Relationship between Teamwork and Organizational Trust

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Musab Isik

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between teamwork and organizational trust. In the implementation section the data from the survey of 250 workers is employed in call centers in Erzurum by using relevant statistical  methods. Consequently, it is found that there is a positive and significant relationship between teamwork and organizational trust. Thus, the hypothesis of the study is supported as it was expected. Besides, it is found that there are positive and significant relationships between communication, openness to innovation, participation-trust in teamwork and organizational trust, trust in management, trust in co-workers, and trust in workplace.

Virtual teamwork - Panoptic or Interactive Work design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Lauge Baungaard

2012-01-01

The emergence of virtual teamwork represents a dynamic response to globalization, the growth of communication technologies and dismantling of industrial based organizational hierarchies. These developments pose new challenges as the completion of the distributed tasks must be integrated across th...... the barriers of cultural differences, and with fewer face-to-face clues, Virtual teamwork involves demands regarding communication, trust and knowledge. The implications for future work design are immense, and still open for clarification and discussion.......The emergence of virtual teamwork represents a dynamic response to globalization, the growth of communication technologies and dismantling of industrial based organizational hierarchies. These developments pose new challenges as the completion of the distributed tasks must be integrated across...

Patient safety climate in a hospital specialized in oncology

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Maria Helena Barbosa

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The study’s objective was to assess the safety climate from the perspective of a health team from a hospital specialized in oncology. An observational sectional study, conducted with 66 health professionals, using the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire. For analysis, Student’s t test and Sperman’s correlation (α=0.05 were used. The instrument’s general score was 70.28. The domain with best score was satisfaction at work (86.74 and, the domains with lower scores were perception from management (64.99 and stress perception (61.74. There was no differences of means statistically significant between genders, but it was present between those who had gone through graduate school or not. There was no correlation between scores and career time in the specialty at the institution. The final assessment demonstrated fragilities in the perception of health professionals related to questions involving the institutional climate of safety.

Cross-cultural validation and psychometric testing of the Norwegian version of the TeamSTEPPS® teamwork perceptions questionnaire.

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Ballangrud, Randi; Husebø, Sissel Eikeland; Hall-Lord, Marie Louise

2017-12-02

Teamwork is an integrated part of today's specialized and complex healthcare and essential to patient safety, and is considered as a core competency to improve twenty-first century healthcare. Teamwork measurements and evaluations show promising results to promote good team performance, and are recommended for identifying areas for improvement. The validated TeamSTEPPS® Teamwork Perception Questionnaire (T-TPQ) was found suitable for cross-cultural validation and testing in a Norwegian context. T-TPQ is a self-report survey that examines five dimensions of perception of teamwork within healthcare settings. The aim of the study was to translate and cross-validate the T-TPQ into Norwegian, and test the questionnaire for psychometric properties among healthcare personnel. The T-TPQ was translated and adapted to a Norwegian context according to a model of a back-translation process. A total of 247 healthcare personnel representing different professionals and hospital settings responded to the questionnaire. A confirmatory factor analysis was carried out to test the factor structure. Cronbach's alpha was used to establish internal consistency, and an Intraclass Correlation Coefficient was used to assess the test - retest reliability. A confirmatory factor analysis showed an acceptable fitting model (χ 2 (df) 969.46 (546), p teamwork dimension clearly represents that specific construct. The Cronbach's alpha demonstrated acceptable values on the five subscales (0.786-0.844), and test-retest showed a reliability parameter, with Intraclass Correlation Coefficient scores from 0.672 to 0.852. The Norwegian version of T-TPQ was considered to be acceptable regarding the validity and reliability for measuring Norwegian individual healthcare personnel's perception of group level teamwork within their unit. However, it needs to be further tested, preferably in a larger sample and in different clinical settings.

Thrill and adventure seeking in risky driving at work: The moderating role of safety climate.

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Wishart, Darren; Somoray, Klaire; Evenhuis, Amanda

2017-12-01

Introduction Within many industrialized countries, the leading cause of worker fatalities and serious injuries can be attributed to road trauma. In non-occupational research, high levels of sensation seeking personality, and specifically thrill and adventure seeking, have been associated with risky driving behaviors. In work driving literature, high organizational safety climate has been associated with reduced risky driving in work drivers. However, the extent that factors such as safety climate and thrill seeking interact in regard to work driving safety remains unclear, and the current research examined this interaction. Methods A total of 1,011 work drivers from four organizations participated in the research. Surveys were distributed online and hardcopies were sent via mail. The survey included measures of thrill and adventure seeking, safety climate and work-related driving behaviors, as well as questions relating to participant demographics and information about their work driving. Results The results demonstrated that safety climate significantly moderated the effect of thrill and adventure seeking trait on driving errors, driving violations, and driving while fatigued. Conclusion These results suggest that the development of a strong safety climate has the potential to improve work driving safety outcomes by reducing the impact of particular personality traits such as thrill seeking within an organizational context. Practical application To improve work driving safety, organizations and management need to develop strategies to encourage and foster positive work driving safety climate, particularly within work settings that may attract thrill and adventure seeking employees. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

A simulation-based curriculum to introduce key teamwork principles to entering medical students.

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Banerjee, Arna; Slagle, Jason M; Mercaldo, Nathaniel D; Booker, Ray; Miller, Anne; France, Daniel J; Rawn, Lisa; Weinger, Matthew B

2016-11-16

Failures of teamwork and interpersonal communication have been cited as a major patient safety issue. Although healthcare is increasingly being provided in interdisciplinary teams, medical school curricula have traditionally not explicitly included the specific knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors required to function effectively as part of such teams. As part of a new "Foundations" core course for beginning medical students that provided a two-week introduction to the most important themes in modern healthcare, a multidisciplinary team, in collaboration with the Center for Experiential Learning and Assessment, was asked to create an experiential introduction to teamwork and interpersonal communication. We designed and implemented a novel, all-day course to teach second-week medical students basic teamwork and interpersonal principles and skills using immersive simulation methods. Students' anonymous comprehensive course evaluations were collected at the end of the day. Through four years of iterative refinement based on students' course evaluations, faculty reflection, and debriefing, the course changed and matured. Four hundred twenty evaluations were collected. Course evaluations were positive with almost all questions having means and medians greater than 5 out of 7 across all 4 years. Sequential year comparisons were of greatest interest for examining the effects of year-to-year curricular improvements. Differences were not detected among any of the course evaluation questions between 2007 and 2008 except that more students in 2008 felt that the course further developed their "Decision Making Abilities" (OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.07-2.67). With extensive changes to the syllabus and debriefer selection/assignment, concomitant improvements were observed in these aspects between 2008 and 2009 (OR = 2.11, 95% CI: 1.28-3.50). Substantive improvements in specific exercises also yielded significant improvements in the evaluations of those exercises. This

Safety culture and the 5 steps to safer surgery: an intervention study.

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, M R; Roberts, M J; Alderson, M L; Gale, T C E

2015-06-01

Improvements in safety culture have been postulated as one of the mechanisms underlying the association between the introduction of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist with perioperative briefings and debriefings, and enhanced patient outcomes. The 5 Steps to Safer Surgery (5SSS) incorporates pre-list briefings, the three steps of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist (SSC) and post-list debriefings in one framework. We aimed to identify any changes in safety culture associated with the introduction of the 5SSS in orthopaedic operating theatres. We assessed the safety culture in the elective orthopaedic theatres of a large UK teaching hospital before and after introduction of the 5SSS using a modified version of the Safety Attitude Questionnaire - Operating Room (SAQ-OR). Primary outcome measures were pre-post intervention changes in the six safety culture domains of the SAQ-OR. We also analysed changes in responses to two items regarding perioperative briefings. The SAQ-OR survey response rate was 80% (60/75) at baseline and 74% (53/72) one yr later. There were significant improvements in both the reported frequency (Pculture domain scores (Working Conditions, Perceptions of Management, Job Satisfaction, Safety Climate and Teamwork Climate) of the SAQ-OR (Pculture of elective orthopaedic operating theatres. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Journal of Anaesthesia. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.