Simulation versus reality: what can interprofessional simulation teach us about team dynamics in the trauma bay?

Surgical consultation and the joint management of trauma patients is a common scenario in the emergency department. The goal of this study was to utilize interprofessional trauma team training to understand the role of simulation and its impact on the overall culture of trauma-related care.

Interdisciplinary trauma simulation scenarios were completed by 12 groups of emergency medicine residents, general surgery residents, and emergency medicine nurses across two academic years. Following each simulation, a debriefing session was held to reflect on the scenario, focusing on team interactions. Debriefing sessions were audio-recorded, transcribed, deidentified, and independently, inductively coded by two members of the research team. Using the constant comparative method, a codebook was developed and refined until interrater reliability was confirmed with a kappa of > 0.9. Codes were organized into higher level themes.

There were 72 participants, including 23 general surgery residents, 19 emergency medicine residents, and 30 emergency medicine nurses. 214 primary codes were collapsed into 29 coding categories, with 6 emerging themes. Pre-trauma bay impact describes how interactions prior to the trauma scenario can impact how team members communicate, trust one another, and ultimately care for the patient. Role and team identity explores the importance of one knowing their individual role in the trauma bay and how it impacts overall team identity. Resource allocation describes the balance of having appropriate resources to efficiently care for patients while not negatively impacting crowd control or role identity. Impact of the simulation experience highlights the impact of the lower stakes simulation scenario on learning and reflection as well as concerns with simulation fidelity. Trauma leader traits and actions outlines inherent traits and learned actions of trauma leaders that impact how the trauma scenario unfolds. Interprofessional team performance describes the overall performance of the trauma team, including but not limited to the type of communication used, teamwork behaviors, and transition of care of the patient.

Interdisciplinary trauma simulations and structured debriefing sessions provide insights into team dynamics and interprofessional relationships. Simulations and debriefing sessions can promote understanding, respect, and familiarity of team members' roles; recognition of key characteristics of high functioning leaders and teams; and discovery of conflict mitigating strategies for future interdisciplinary team improvement. Simulation sessions allow implementation of quality improvement measures and communication and leadership strategy practice in a safe, collaborative learning environment. The lessons learned from these sessions can encourage participants to reexamine how they interact and function as a team within the real-life trauma bay.