Implementation and Evaluation of a Team Simulation Training Program

Trauma care, characterized by complex, shifting priorities, presents many challenges to providers. Traditionally, immediate trauma care has been provided in emergency departments. It has recently been recognized that severely injured patients receive better care with improved outcomes when they bypass the emergency department and are admitted directly to the trauma surgical intensive care unit (TSICU). To assure that TSICU nurses and interprofessional staff are prepared to handle such patients, all new registered nurses in the TSICU of a Level I Trauma Center participate in a one-day Trauma Boot Camp. Originally, the focus of the Trauma Boot Camp was solely on direct patient care. Recognition by The Joint Commission and the Institute of Medicine that successful teamwork is critical for positive patient outcomes; a team-training component was added to the Trauma Boot Camp curriculum and evaluation. The purpose of this capstone project was to implement a simulation-based team-training (SBTT) component as part of a comprehensive trauma nurse-training program. Evaluation of the team training included knowledge, nurse satisfaction, nurse self-confidence, and simulated team performance. Seven registered nurses in the TSICU received teamwork training during the Trauma Boot Camp. Total teamwork perceptions and attitudes scores improved (p=.041 and p=.021 respectively) after the training. Participants agreed or strongly agreed when rating satisfaction and self-confidence in learning after the SBTT. Observed team performance improved after the SBTT. The results indicate favorable outcomes for use of SBTT

Systematic Examination of the Additive Effects of Humorous Verbal Stimuli on Cooperative Responding During an Analogue Data Entry Work Task

Experiencing humor has numerous beneficial effects for humans. Producing humor (e.g., telling jokes, using satire) and engaging in the humor response (e.g., smiling, laughing) are associated with physical (Kelley et al., 1984) and mental health benefits (Martin & Lefcourt, 1984), positive social connections (Demjen, 2016), and facilitating social change (Chenoweth & Stephan, 2011). Humorous stimuli are common components of human communication, and much of human communication involves rules or contingency-specifying stimuli. Motivative augmentals are statements that temporarily alter the value of the reinforcer specified in the statement and any associated behaviors (Barnes-Holmes, et al., 2001). By drawing upon literature on humor, behavior, and a scientific account of motivation, humorous stimuli (jokes) were used as antecedent stimuli and analyzed in terms of their potential motivative augmental effect on cooperative behaviors in an analogue medical data entry task. Study 1 examined which joke delivery modality, text only, audio only, or text-plus-audio, was experienced as funnier and more likely to prompt cooperation. Pilot Studies A-E and Study 2 investigated the potential effects humorous stimuli had on the cooperation during the data entry task. Results demonstrated the augmental function of some humorous stimuli in relation to cooperative responding. The implication and limitations of using humorous stimuli as motivative augmentals for cooperation are discussed

The effects of accountability on leniency reduction in self- and peer ratings on team-based performance appraisals

The purpose of the present study was to assess the effects of accountability on leniency reduction on self- and peer ratings on team-based performance appraisals when they were used for different purposes (developmental versus evaluative purposes). Accountability was operationalized as participants being told they would have to justify their self- and peer ratings of team behaviors to a local nuclear process control plant supervisor (lab study) or to their professors (field study). In the lab study, purpose was operationalized as participants being told that they would have to complete the Team Behaviors Form (TBF) to receive course credit. In the field study, purpose was operationalized as participants reading (on the TBF) that their ratings would count toward their own and peers\u27 final grade. The results provided partial support for the proposed hypothesis that accountability may help in reducing leniency in team-based performance appraisals and offers evidence for the potential effects of purpose in team performance appraisals. Implications of these results, limitations, and ideas for future research are discussed

Evaluating Leadership Development Through Experiential Learning In A Virtual Environment

The strategic leadership center of a senior military service college collaborated with an elite law school to provide leadership development to senior law school students. The focus was an International Strategic Crisis Negotiation Exercise set in the South China Sea. Due to an unexpected global health pandemic the course was forced online to a virtual environment. The strategic leadership center gathered data from volunteer students and their mentors to determine the impact of the virtual setting. Using four archival datasets, a program evaluation was conducted using a case study methodology to determine the effectiveness of experiential learning through simulation in a virtual environment and to gain an in-depth understanding of its impact on the development of the leadership soft skills of teamwork, communication, and negotiation techniques for senior law school students from the perspective of students and their mentors. The research study found that experiential learning through simulation in a virtual environment was highly effective and transformative. The interpretation of the ten findings is enlightening and contributes to a more complete understanding of experimental learning. The significance of the study is its contribution to leadership education, legal education, and education policies

How Does Robotic Surgery Influence Communication, Leadership, and Team Outcomes? A Multimethod Examination.

The practice of delivering surgical care has evolved to be less invasive to the patients undergoing surgery. Minimally-invasive surgery can be practiced through traditional laparoscopic methods as well as with robotic technology that displaces the surgeon from the operating table. Robotic surgery has been cited to be safer and more effective than traditional laparoscopic surgery; however, little research has endeavored to investigate the role of surgical modality upon aspects of teamwork. This dissertation contributes to the human factors and teamwork literature by evaluating how surgical modality may influence communication, shared leadership, and team outcomes. Multiple methods were employed to study robotic and non-robotic (i.e., open and laparoscopic) surgical teams. Teams were evaluated through video analysis of surgical procedures as well as questionnaire methods. The results of this research revealed very few modality-specific differences which may represent the adaptive nature of teams and individuals. Robotic surgical team members did not perceive a statistically significant difference in communication quality which may indicate that the impact of the closed console design may be relatively benign in this regard. While there were no statistically significant differences between the degree to which robotic and non-robotic teams shared or perceived shared leadership, there were interesting role and leadership behavior type differences. For instance, the assists conducted significantly more leadership in robotic surgery than in laparoscopic surgery. In the video data, sharing leadership to a greater extent led to shorter operative durations. In the survey data, higher perceptions of communication quality and communication behavior significantly predicted higher perceptions of team effectiveness, indicating a strong positive relationship between perceived communication and perceived effectiveness. As robotic surgical systems and practices continue to inevitably advance in the coming years, developers should be keenly aware of the interdependencies between all aspects of the sociotechnical system including the providers and recipients of care, the environment and organization, and the tools and technologies

Providing Feedback to Group Co-Leaders to Improve Group Climate: An Intervention to Facilitate Similar Mental Models in Co-Leader Teams

This study examined the effectiveness of an intervention that provided feedback to co-leaders of intergroup dialogues about their mental models of their group members. Co-leaders completed similarity ratings of their group members, and group members completed a measure of group climate following each of seven weekly sessions. Co-leader similarity data was used to derive each co-leader's mental model of her or his group members for each session. Co-leaders in the experimental condition received feedback in the form of a graphical representation of their own and their co-leader's mental model of their group members after each session, and were provided with discussion questions to help them examine these mental models. Co-leaders in the control condition did not receive feedback, but were given discussion questions regarding the most important incidents in their most recent dialogue session. The Engagement and Avoidance aspects of group climate in the intergroup dialogues developed as predicted (i.e., Engagement significantly increased and Avoidance significantly decreased), however there was no significant change in the Conflict aspect of the group climate over time. Additionally, co-leader mental model similarity was not significantly related to any of the aspects of group climate as predicted. Finally, results indicated that the feedback intervention did not significantly impact the level of similarity in co-leaders' mental models, or the group climate

Activate space rats! Fluency development in a mobile game-assisted environment

Activities that promote fluency development or the automatization of speech are often ignored in second language classes because they do not teach new things; instead, they focus on speeding up language use (Nation & Newton, 2008). Anxiety also decreases chances for fluency development, as learners are less willing to produce output (Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2014), consequently hindering language development (Swain, 2000). One way of minimizing the impact of these limitations is to motivate students to speak intelligibly and fluently, preferably beyond the constraints of the language classroom. In this study, we investigated the pedagogical use of Spaceteam ESL, a mobile game that requires intelligible and fluent computer-mediated oral exchanges among players. Participants (N = 20) were low-intermediate English as a second language (ESL) students divided into two groups: the treatment group, which played Spaceteam ESL as a 15-minute warm-up activity for six weeks, and the control group, which engaged in comparable non-gaming activities. Pre-tests, post-tests, and delayed post-tests measured changes in oral fluency (i.e., syllables produced per minute and judges’ ratings) and interviews addressed factors related to anxiety and willingness to communicate (WTC). Findings indicated that learners who played Spaceteam ESL outperformed the control group in judges’ ratings for oral fluency and that the gameplay might positively influence anxiety and WTC

The effectiveness of teamwork training on teamwork behaviors and team performance : A systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled interventions

The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of teamwork interventions that were carried out with the purpose of improving teamwork and team performance, using controlled experimental designs. A literature search returned 16,849 unique articles. The meta-analysis was ultimately conducted on 51 articles, comprising 72 (k) unique interventions, 194 effect sizes, and 8439 participants, using a random effects model. Positive and significant medium-sized effects were found for teamwork interventions on both teamwork and team performance. Moderator analyses were also conducted, which generally revealed positive and significant effects with respect to several sample, intervention, and measurement characteristics. Implications for effective teamwork interventions as well as considerations for future research are discussed