Team performance in the emergency room: assessment of inter-disciplinary attitudes

In-hospital emergency medicine in central Europe relies on inter-disciplina ry co-operation. To improve team performance in the emergency room (ER), a questionnaire for assessment of attitudes and judgements in resuscitation p rocedures was developed. A total of 43 items were evaluated according to a five-point Likert scale. With a response rate of 81%, 143 questionnaires we re evaluated. Assessment of data was performed with regard to professional speciality and level in the medical hierarchy. Factorial analysis identifie d four main factors: Assessment of 'quality of performance' (F1), 'importan ce of structure' (F2), 'quality of team culture' (F3), and 'importance of h ierarchy' (F4). Influences from the categories 'speciality and 'hierarchy' and from the covariate 'gender' on these main factors were evaluated by two -factorial analysis of variance. For all four factors, 'speciality produced significant differences. Surgeons accorded high values to Fl and low value s to F2, whereas anaesthesiologists accorded low values to Fl and high valu es to F2. F3 showed a low ranking from within the ER nursing staff and the residents in internal medicine, whereas F4 received high scores by medical residents and staff members. For Fl and F3, there was a tendency towards hi erarchy dependency, whereas no factor was influenced by gender. In conclusi on, team performance in the ER is mainly influenced by different perception s and attitudes of the different disciplines involved in the resuscitation process. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.