ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the development and initial empirical exploration of the Observational Teamwork Assessment for Surgery© (OTAS©). It explores the conceptual background, initial development and empirical application, revision and further testing of the OTAS©. The chapter outlines the empirical work and future directions in OTAS©-related research. Initial evidence from the ratings of the procedures suggests that OTAS© can be used to rate teams retrospectively, in addition to its original real-time usage. The uniqueness of OTAS© lies in that it captures the entire team, instead of individual members of it. Surgical expertise was conceptualized predominantly in terms of the surgeon’s visuo-motor skills. OTAS© aims to be such a comprehensive and robust measure of teamwork in surgery. Systematic study of teamworking started in the 1950s and 1960s, with an emphasis on military teams. Team communication emerged as a particularly critical aspect of teamwork, which allows the fulfilment of other dimensions of teamwork, such as team coordination.
