Intraoperative Communication Among Men and Women Surgeons With Nursing and Anesthesia Providers

Gender bias has been reported by women surgeons, but its impact on communication in the operating room (OR) is unclear. OR communication is critical to understand, as it directly impacts patient outcomes. The current study evaluates potential gender bias in the type and quality of communication between surgeons and OR nursing and anesthesia providers.

We developed a novel intraoperative communication assessment tool, Operating Room Communication Quality assessment tool (OComm), which was adapted from previously validated teamwork assessment tools. Independent coders recorded the instances of conversation and categorized them into clinical or casual communication. After the operation, the participants were assigned a score from the OComm tool. Participants were then given the same OComm measure to assess their self-perceived communication quality and collect demographic information.

For both genders, surgeons' median self-perceived OComm scores was 3.47/4, but surgeons observed OComm score was 2.91/4. Anesthesia providers noted the highest median self-perceived OComm score of 3.65/4 but the lowest observed OComm median score of 2.29/4. From both surgeon to nurse and surgeon to anesthesia provider, there was no association between the gender and frequency of casual conversation (P = 1 > 0.025).

There was no gender difference in the degree to which women and men surgeons engaged in casual conversation with nursing and anesthesia providers. Surgeons, both men and women, were also more likely to rate their quality of communication lower than the nurses and anesthesia providers, while independent coders were more likely to rate surgeons' quality of communication higher than that of nurses and anesthesia providers.