The TeamSTEPPS for Improving Diagnosis Team Assessment Tool: Scale Development and Psychometric Evaluation

Area of Science:

• Healthcare communication
• Patient safety
• Teamwork in medicine

Background:

• Diagnosis-related communication failures impact one in three patients.
• Existing tools for teamwork and communication lack focus on diagnostic improvement.
• There is a need for reliable instruments to assess diagnostic teamwork.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop, refine, and psychometrically evaluate the TeamSTEPPS® for Improving Diagnosis Team Assessment Tool (TAT).
• To assess diagnostic teamwork and communication in five critical domains.
• To provide a tool for identifying strengths, opportunities for improvement, and monitoring performance in diagnostic teams.

Main Methods:

• The TAT was administered as a cross-sectional survey to 360 health professionals across nine US health systems.
• Content and construct validity were evaluated through pilot implementation and expert review.
• Reliability, internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha), and generalizability theory (G-theory) were used for psychometric evaluation.

Main Results:

• The TAT demonstrated strong content and construct validity, encompassing relevant diagnostic teamwork and communication content.
• Reliability analyses confirmed excellent internal consistency (overall Cronbach's alpha = 0.97) and good reliability for each dimension (0.83–0.95).
• Generalizability theory indicated desirable sources of variation in TAT scores, attributed to respondents and scale dimensions.

Conclusions:

• The TAT is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing teamwork and communication in diagnostic teams.
• This novel, evidence-based tool can advance diagnostic teamwork and communication.
• The TAT contributes to improving patient care and outcomes by enhancing diagnostic processes.