Optimizing Diversity to Improve Perioperative Team Performance

We consciously and subconsciously judge each other every day using demographic characteristics (such as gender and race/ethnicity), and these social identities shape our lives in profound ways. Demographic diversity impacts perioperative teams yet is poorly understood, and mixed results are reported in other team-based work settings. Drawing from decades of organizational behavior literature, the authors review their model of critical factors related to interplays between diversity, communication, and conflict, existing within a hierarchical environment influenced by power differences. Evidence-based recommendations are provided, aimed at maximizing the benefits of diversity in perioperative teams while minimizing negative consequences.