Study: OR team communication varies during emergencies

Editor's Note

Communication patterns and needs vary between members of the surgical team and by specialty during simulated operative emergencies, and the effect of directed communication in eliciting a response (ie, closed loop communication) depends on the clinical status of the patient, finds this study.

Surgeons and nurses initiated fewer and received more directed communications than anesthesiologists.

Directed communication increased the likelihood of check back by at least 50% of participants before acute emergency situations but had no effect after the emergency.

Operative training programs should emphasize the importance of quality communication in the period immediately after an acute patient emergency and recognize that communication patterns and needs vary between members of the OR team, the researchers say.

Ineffective communication among members of a multidisciplinary team is associated with operative error and failure to rescue. We sought to measure operative team communication in a simulated emergency using an established communication framework called “closed loop communication.” We hypothesized that communication directed at a specific recipient would be more likely to elicit a check back or closed loop response and that this relationship would vary with changes in patients’ clinical status.