Measuring the Interprofessional Health of the Pediatric Cardiovascular Operating Room Work Environment.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Patient Safety
• Interprofessional Collaboration

Background:

• Pediatric cardiac surgery demands complex teamwork for optimal patient outcomes.
• Unhealthy work environments are linked to adverse patient events and staff turnover.
• Assessing the interprofessional health of pediatric cardiovascular operating room (CVOR) environments is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the interprofessional health of pediatric CVOR work environments in the US.
• To establish a healthy work environment (HWE) benchmark score for these settings.
• To identify areas for improvement in pediatric CVORs.

Main Methods:

• Surveyed interprofessional staff in 11 US pediatric CVORs using the American Association of Critical Care Nurses Healthy Work Environments Assessment Tool (HWEAT).
• Aggregated, summarized, and stratified survey responses by role.
• Utilized an e-Delphi approach to achieve expert consensus on a benchmark target.

Main Results:

• 179 surveys (60% response rate) were analyzed across 11 centers.
• The overall interprofessional mean HWEAT score was 3.55 (range: 2.65-4.34), with all standards scoring in the "good" range.
• Effective decision-making received the highest mean score (3.69), while meaningful recognition scored lowest (3.26). Surgeons reported higher scores (3.79) than nurses (3.41).

Conclusions:

• This is the first study to use the AACN HWEAT in US pediatric CVORs.
• The established benchmark score of 3.50 can guide improvement strategies.
• Fostering a HWE is essential for high-quality patient outcomes and clinical excellence in pediatric cardiac surgery.