Can team training make surgery safer? Lessons for national implementation of a simulation-based programme

AIM: Unintended patient harm is a major contributor to poor outcomes for surgical patients and often reflects failures in teamwork. To address this we developed a Multidisciplinary Operating Room Simulation (MORSim) intervention to improve teamwork in the operating room (OR) and piloted it with 20 OR teams in two of the 20 District Health Boards in New Zealand prior to national implementation. In this study, we describe the experience of those exposed to the intervention, challenges to implementing changes in clinical practice and suggestions for successful implementation of the programme at a regional or national level. METHODS: We undertook semi-structured interviews of a stratified random sample of MORSim participants 3-6 months after they attended the course. We explored their experiences of changes in clinical practice following MORSim. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using a general inductive approach to develop themes into which interview data were coded. Interviews continued to the point of thematic saturation. RESULTS: Interviewees described adopting into practice many of the elements of the MORSim intervention and reported positive experiences of change in communication, culture and collaboration. They described sharing MORSim concepts with colleagues and using them in teaching and orientation of new staff. Reported barriers to uptake included uninterested colleagues, limited team orientation, communication hierarchies, insufficient numbers of staff exposed to MORSim and failure to prioritise time for team information sharing such as pre-case briefings. CONCLUSION: MORSim appears to have had lasting effects on reported attitudes and behaviours in clinical practice consistent with more effective teamwork and communication. This study adds to the accumulating body of evidence on the value of simulation-based team training and offers suggestions for implementing widespread, regular team training for OR teams.