Understanding helping behaviors in an interprofessional surgical team: How do members engage?

In surgical environments, work must be flexible, allowing practitioners to seek help when required. How surgeons navigate the complexity of interprofessional teams and collaborative care whilst attending to their own knowledge/skill gaps can be difficult. This study aims to understand helping behaviours in interprofessional surgical teams.

Thirteen semi-structured interviews with participants were completed. Data collection and inductive analysis were conducted iteratively using thematic analysis.

We found several intersecting features that influenced helping engagement. Work context, including nested and cross-sectional identities, physical and hierarchical environments, diversity, support for risk-taking and innovation and perceptions of a "speak up" culture shaped the way helping scenarios were approached. Intrinsic attributes influenced decisions to dis/engage. When united, these features shaped how helping behaviours became enacted.

If we desire to create surgical teams that deliver quality care, we must consider not only individual attributes but the context in which teams are situated.