Exploring objective measures for assessing team performance in healthcare: an interview study

Rafael Wespi; Tanja Birrenbach; Stefan K Schauber; Tanja Manser; Thomas C Sauter; Juliane E Kämmer

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1232628

Exploring objective measures for assessing team performance in healthcare: an interview study

Front Psychol. 2023 Oct 24:14:1232628. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1232628. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Rafael Wespi^{1

2}, Tanja Birrenbach¹, Stefan K Schauber³, Tanja Manser^{4

5}, Thomas C Sauter¹, Juliane E Kämmer^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Emergency Medicine, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
² Graduate School for Health Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
³ Center for Educational Measurement (CEMO) and Unit for Health Sciences Education, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
⁴ FHNW School of Applied Psychology, University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Northwestern Switzerland, Olten, Switzerland.
⁵ Division of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Department of Clinical Sciences, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden.
⁶ Department of Social and Communication Psychology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.

Abstract

Introduction: Effective teamwork plays a critical role in achieving high-performance outcomes in healthcare. Consequently, conducting a comprehensive assessment of team performance is essential for providing meaningful feedback during team trainings and enabling comparisons in scientific studies. However, traditional methods like self-reports or behavior observations have limitations such as susceptibility to bias or being resource consuming. To overcome these limitations and gain a more comprehensive understanding of team processes and performance, the assessment of objective measures, such as physiological parameters, can be valuable. These objective measures can complement traditional methods and provide a more holistic view of team performance. The aim of this study was to explore the potential of the use of objective measures for evaluating team performance for research and training purposes. For this, experts in the field of research and medical simulation training were interviewed to gather their opinions, ideas, and concerns regarding this novel approach.

Methods: A total of 34 medical and research experts participated in this exploratory qualitative study, engaging in semi-structured interviews. During the interview, experts were asked for (a) their opinion on measuring team performance with objective measures, (b) their ideas concerning potential objective measures suitable for measuring team performance of healthcare teams, and (c) their concerns regarding the use of objective measures for evaluating team performance. During data analysis responses were categorized per question.

Results: The findings from the 34 interviews revealed a predominantly positive reception of the idea of utilizing objective measures for evaluating team performance. However, the experts reported limited experience in actively incorporating objective measures into their training and research. Nevertheless, they identified various potential objective measures, including acoustical, visual, physiological, and endocrinological measures and a time layer. Concerns were raised regarding feasibility, complexity, cost, and privacy issues associated with the use of objective measures.

Discussion: The study highlights the opportunities and challenges associated with employing objective measures to assess healthcare team performance. It particularly emphasizes the concerns expressed by medical simulation experts and team researchers, providing valuable insights for developers, trainers, researchers, and healthcare professionals involved in the design, planning or utilization of objective measures in team training or research.

Keywords: healthcare; medical simulation training; objective measures; performance assessment; team performance.

Grants and funding

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under grant agreement No 101021775 and “Medical First Responder Training using a Mixed Reality approach with haptic feedback for enhanced realism” (MED1stMR).