ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the development of a new instrument to assist team performance assessment in a variety of real and simulated clinical events in the operating theatre. It discusses rationale for developing the all team members’ behaviour scale (A-TEAM), presentation of A-TEAM, and application of A-TEAM in an operating theatre setting. The process of providing healthcare is inherently interdisciplinary, requiring physicians, nurses and allied health professionals from different specialties to work in teams. In the operating theatre, failures in communication and ineffective teamwork during surgical procedures have observable consequences such as delay, tension among team members, or procedural errors. During feedback, trainers have the opportunity to further elucidate behaviour issues related to coordination using A-TEAM. The A-TEAM instrument could be applicable in many different surgical challenges from simple surgical procedures to demanding and complex tasks such as liver transplantation, cardiothoracic surgery and spinal surgery where system failure is deleterious.
