Abstract
BackgroundTeamwork training is an essential component of health professional student education. A valid and reliable teamwork self-assessment tool could assist students to identify desirable teamwork behaviours with the potential to promote learning about effective teamwork. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a self-assessment teamwork tool for health professional students for use in the context of emergency response to a mass casualty.MethodsThe authors modified a previously published teamwork instrument designed for experienced critical care teams for use with medical and nursing students involved in mass casualty simulations. The 17-item questionnaire was administered to students immediately following the simulations. These scores were used to explore the psychometric properties of the tool, using Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis.Results202 (128 medical and 74 nursing) students completed the self-assessment teamwork tool for students. Exploratory factor analysis revealed 2 factors (5 items - Teamwork coordination and communication; 4 items - Information sharing and support) and these were justified with confirmatory factor analysis. Internal consistency was 0.823 for Teamwork coordination and communication, and 0.812 for Information sharing and support.ConclusionsThese data provide evidence to support the validity and reliability of the self-assessment teamwork tool for students This self-assessment tool could be of value to health professional students following team training activities to help them identify the attributes of effective teamwork.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-016-0743-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Teamwork training is an essential component of health professional student education
Evidence supports the need for ongoing teamwork training to reduce avoidable errors and health care costs [3, 4] and simulation is well-recognised as a teaching method to improve teamwork [5, 6] and patient safety [7, 8]
Using immersive simulation to teach teamwork in large undergraduate programs presents the dilemma of large numbers of students with limited faculty resources
Summary
Teamwork training is an essential component of health professional student education. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a selfassessment teamwork tool for health professional students for use in the context of emergency response to a mass casualty. Evidence supports the need for ongoing teamwork training to reduce avoidable errors and health care costs [3, 4] and simulation is well-recognised as a teaching method to improve teamwork [5, 6] and patient safety [7, 8]. Tannenbaum et al [9] coined the term ‘flash team’, referring to teams that form without members having worked together. These ‘flash teams’ are common in healthcare [11]. Using immersive simulation to teach teamwork in large undergraduate programs presents the dilemma of large numbers of students with limited faculty resources
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
