Teamwork Quality Research Articles

Development and validation of an instrument for measuring the quality of teamwork in teaching teams in postgraduate medical training (TeamQ).

BackgroundTeamwork between clinical teachers is a challenge in postgraduate medical training. Although there are several instruments available for measuring teamwork in health care, none of them are appropriate for teaching teams. The aim of this study is to develop an instrument (TeamQ) for measuring teamwork, to investigate its psychometric properties and to explore how clinical teachers assess their teamwork.MethodTo select the items to be included in the TeamQ questionnaire, we conducted a content validation in 2011, using a Delphi procedure in which 40 experts were invited. Next, for pilot testing the preliminary tool, 1446 clinical teachers from 116 teaching teams were requested to complete the TeamQ questionnaire. For data analyses we used statistical strategies: principal component analysis, internal consistency reliability coefficient, and the number of evaluations needed to obtain reliable estimates. Lastly, the median TeamQ scores were calculated for teams to explore the levels of teamwork.ResultsIn total, 31 experts participated in the Delphi study. In total, 114 teams participated in the TeamQ pilot. The median team response was 7 evaluations per team. The principal component analysis revealed 11 factors; 8 were included. The reliability coefficients of the TeamQ scales ranged from 0.75 to 0.93. The generalizability analysis revealed that 5 to 7 evaluations were needed to obtain internal reliability coefficients of 0.70. In terms of teamwork, the clinical teachers scored residents' empowerment as the highest TeamQ scale and feedback culture as the area that would most benefit from improvement.ConclusionsThis study provides initial evidence of the validity of an instrument for measuring teamwork in teaching teams. The high response rates and the low number of evaluations needed for reliably measuring teamwork indicate that TeamQ is feasible for use by teaching teams. Future research could explore the effectiveness of feedback on teamwork in follow up measurements.

Personality, relationship conflict, and teamwork-related mental models.

This study seeks to explore whether neuroticism, agreeableness, and conscientiousness moderate the influence of relationship conflict experienced in groups on changes in group members' evaluative cognitions related to teamwork quality (teamwork-related mental models). Data from 216 students, nested in 48 groups were analyzed using a multilevel modeling approach. Our results show that the experience of relationship conflict leads to a negative shift from the pre-task to the post-task teamwork-related mental models. Moreover, the results indicate that conscientiousness buffered the negative association between relationship conflict and the change in teamwork-related mental models. Our results did not support the hypothesized moderating effect of agreeableness and show that the detrimental effect of relationship conflict on the shift in teamwork-related mental models is accentuated for group members scoring low rather than high on neuroticism. These findings open new research venues for exploring the association between personality, coping styles and change in teamwork-related mental models.

Translation, cultural adaptation and content re-validation of the observational teamwork assessment for surgery tool

Background. Poor teamwork and nontechnical skill performance are increasingly recognized as important contributing factors to errors and adverse events in the operating room. Assessment of these safety critical skills is important to facilitate improvement, however there are no tools available to assess these safety skills in Latin America. This study aimed to translate, culturally adapt and content validate the Observational Teamwork Assessment for Surgery (OTAS) tool for use in Latin America. Methods. A multi-phase, multi-method study was conducted: Phase 1: translation and back-translation; Phase 2: content validity assessed via expert consensus; Phase 3: inter-rater reliability assessed via real-time observation in 98 general surgical procedures using OTAS-S. Results. The first change in OTAS-S, was to distinguish between the surgical nurses and scrub technicians (both OR team members are captured in the nursing sub-team in the original OTAS). OTAS-S consists of 168 exemplar behaviors: 60/114 identical to the exemplars listed in the original OTAS tool, 48/114 original exemplars underwent minor modifications, 13 were duplicated (to account for the additional sub-team distinguished in OTAS-S), 6 original exemplars were removed, and 47 new exemplar behaviors were added. Inter-observer agreement was substantial (KW = 0.602; IC: 0.581–0.620). The calculated KW by phase, behaviors and teams were between 0.534 and 0.678. Conclusions. The study provides a content validated teamwork assessment tool for use within Colombian operating rooms and potentially Latin–American. OTAS-S can be used to assess the quality of teamwork in ORs, facilitate structured debriefing and thus improve patient safety and reduce team-related errors.

DOES NATIONAL CULTURE MATTER? PERFORMANCE EFFECTS IN GLOBAL INNOVATION TEAMS

ABSTRACT This study shows that the national cultural background – measured via Hofstede’s (1980) and Hall&Hall’s (1990) typologies – of team members in global innovation teams influences project performance. Our work has gained a rich understanding of the effects of project management instruments and team work quality dimensions on the performance of global innovation processes. We find that uncertainty avoidance moderates the relationship between a person’s autonomy and project innovativeness as well as the relationship between team coordination and project performance. Further, individualism, power distance, and culturally grounded diverse preferences for communication moderate the effect on project management and team work quality dimensions on performance. Polychronic time use also moderates the relationship between standardization and innovation performance. Implications for research and practice are discussed to conclude this paper, as well as areas for further research. Keywords national culture; team members; global innovation; innovativeness.

Kualitas Kehidupan Kerja, Kecerdasan Emosi dan Efetivitas Tim Kerja dengan Mediator Komitmen Organisasi

ABSTRACT This research identifies the extent of organizational commitment (OC) as mediator variable of quality of work life (QWL), emotional intelligence (EI) and organizational commitment to effective teamwork (ETW) and seeks variables which contribute most to the effective teamwork in the equation models in Nurhidayah Hospital Bantul Yogyakarta. As many as 127 questionnaires were distributed to selected subjects. Data were analyzed by the method of Structural Equation Modeling or SEM using Amos program. The results showed that there is relationship between quality of working life (QWL) and organizational commitment (OC). Quality of working life (QWL) gives 30.5% contribution on organizational commitment (OC). There is relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and organizational commitment (OC), emotional intelligence (EI) give 12.5% contribution on organizational commitment (OC). There isi relationship between organizational commitments (OC) to effective teamwork (ETW), organizational commitment (OC) gives 97.8% on effective teamwork (ETW). The result shows that organizational commitment (OC) as a mediator variable is able to provide a positive influence on the relationship between the two variables. The result also shows that thare are no releationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and effective teamwork (ETW) (CR:1.96) and relationship between quality of worklife (QWL) and effective teamwork (ETW) CR:1.96). Keywords: effective teamswork, emotional intelligence, quality of work life, organizational commitment.

Effects of the Meetings-Flow Approach on Quality Teamwork in the Training of Software Capstone Projects

Software development relies heavily on teamwork; determining how to streamline this collaborative development is an essential training subject in computer and software engineering education. A team process known as the meetings-flow (MF) approach has recently been introduced in software capstone projects in engineering programs at various institutions. In undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curricula that emphasize team- and project-based learning, the MF approach serves as a macro-level instructional tool to guide students in holistically designing and directing collaborative project development. Previous studies on MF have shown the technical benefits of monitoring student work and product quality. This study investigated the approach further, from the perspective of team management. The effects of MF were examined through an experiment with team-related hypotheses. The results revealed that MF significantly enhances a team's communication and coordination and balances members' contributions by giving mutual support and effort. It has relatively less influence, however, on student team cohesion.

Using peer observers to assess the quality of cancer multidisciplinary team meetings: a qualitative proof of concept study.

BackgroundMultidisciplinary team (MDT) working is well established as the foundation for providing cancer services in the UK and elsewhere. A core activity is the weekly meeting (or case conference/tumor boards) where the treatment recommendations for individual patients are agreed. Evidence suggests that the quality of team working varies across cancer teams, and this may impact negatively on the decision-making process, and ultimately patient care. Feedback on performance by expert observers may improve performance, but can be resource-intensive to implement. This proof of concept study sought to: develop a structured observational assessment tool for use by peers (managers or clinicians from the local workforce) and explore its usability; assess the feasibility of the principle of observational assessment by peers; and explore the views of MDT members and observers about the utility of feedback from observational assessment.MethodsFor tool development, the content was informed by national clinical consensus recommendations for best practice in cancer MDTs and developed in collaboration with an expert steering group. It consisted of ten subdomains of team working observable in MDT meetings that were rated on a 10-point scale (very poor to very good). For observational assessment, a total of 19 peer observers used the tool (assessing performance in 20 cancer teams from four hospitals). For evaluation, telephone interviews with 64 team members and all peer observers were analyzed thematically.ResultsThe tool was easy to use and areas for refinement were identified. Peer observers were identified and most indicated that undertaking observation was feasible. MDT members generally reported that observational assessment and feedback was useful, with the potential to facilitate improvements in team working.ConclusionThis study suggests that observation and feedback by peers may provide a feasible and acceptable approach to enhance MDT performance. Further tool refinement and validation is required.

Does multi-disciplinary team (MDT)-working variation impact on cancer patient care experience? Results of a cross-sectional survey in Quebec, Canada

Background Multi-disciplinary team (MDT)-working is recognized as a key modality for providing cancer services in the province of Quebec (Canada) and elsewhere [1]. Evidence suggests that the quality of teamworking varies across cancer teams and this may impact on care-providing process, and ultimately on patient care experience [2]. The objective of the study is to evaluate the effects of MDT-working on cancer patients’ perceived experience of care.

Impact of Team Attitude and Behavior on IS Project Success

INTRODUCTION Information technology (IT) is an ever-increasing resource with which an organization can create and sustain its competitive advantages (Powell & Micallef, 1997; Igbaria et al., 1998; Shuit, 2004). Organizations attempt to use IS projects as enablers to perform business activities for providing better products or services. However, an IS project is a two-edged sword. A triumph example is evidenced by General Motors shortening the design-to-production time by 30 months since 1996 via an IS project for digitalization of the engineering process (Nash, 2003). A well documented breakdown failure of an IS project is the computerized baggage handling system at the Denver International Airport, which delayed the opening of the airport by 16 months and went over budget by about $2 billion (Montealegre & Keil, 2000). A number of studies have been conducted to improve IS project performance from the project team's perspective (Henderson & Lee, 1992; Robey et al., 1993; Aladwani, 2002). Such studies demonstrated that managing an IS project team systematically and scientifically can contribute to successful completion of the project. According to the CHAOS reports (The Standish Group, 1994; 2004), the IS project success rate increased from 16% in 1994 to 34% in 2004. Although such existing theories as project management, systems development life cycle management, and project risk management might have contributed to significant improvements in the overall IS project success rate, about two-thirds of all IS projects still belong to failed or challenged categories in 2004 and it seems too difficult to increase the overall IS project success rate further. Consequently, researchers need to carry out more empirical studies about how to achieve IS project success. Given the importance of IS projects and the unsatisfactory IS project success rate, this study attempts to examine factors of achieving IS project success from the team attitude and behavior perspective by incorporating teamwork quality a well-known construct but not being related to IS project success directly and empirically. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 describes the literature review as a theoretical foundation and presents the research model. The research methodology is discussed in Section 3. Section 4 then presents data analysis and discusses results. The last section concludes the contributions of this study as well as addresses limitations and future research directions. THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH MODEL An IS project is unambiguously regarded as an enabler of change for today's organizations. In general, an IS project is intended to develop information systems used to deploy business processes and services successfully. Among IS project success studies, Henderson and Lee (1992) argued that managerial and team member controls can affect IS project performance. A conflict model proposed by Robey et al. (1993) stated that project team members' participation, influence, conflict, and conflict resolution have direct or indirect effects on IS project success. Prior work has also demonstrated that the impact of interpersonal conflict and conflict management (Barki & Hartwick, 2001) and both internal and external team conflicts (Wang et al., 2005) on IS project performance. Aladwani (2002) studied IS project performance by integrating theories of IS, organizational teams, and project management and found that support technologies, management advocacy, and clear goals have direct effects on IS project performance but project-team size and staff expertise have indirect effects on it via problem solving competency. Other researchers, such as Barki and Hartwick (1994), Marble (2003), and Wang et al. (2006), have shed some lights on the impact of management commitment and control on IS project performance. Chan et al. (2008) found that project team task skills can facilitate application and development skills, resulting in IS project success. …

Assessing neurosurgical non-technical skills: an exploratory study of a new behavioural marker system.

The management of non-technical skills is a major factor affecting teamwork quality and patient safety. This article presents a behavioural marker system for assessing neurosurgical non-technical skills (BMS-NNTS). We tested the BMS during deep brain stimulation surgery. We developed the BMS in three stages. First, we drew up a provisional assessment tool based on the literature and observation tools developed for other surgical specialties. We then analysed videos made in an operating room (OR) during deep brain stimulation operations in order to ensure there were no significant omissions from the skills list. Finally, we used five videos of operations to identify the behavioural markers of non-technical skills in verbal communications. Analyses of more than six hours of observations revealed 3515 behaviours from which we determined the neurosurgeon's non-technical skills behaviour pattern. The neurosurgeon frequently engaged in explicit coordination, situation awareness and leadership behaviours. In addition, the neurosurgeon's behaviours differed according to the stage of the operation and the OR staff members with whom she was communicating. Our behavioural marker system provides a structured approach to assessing non-technical skills in the field of neurosurgery. It can also be transferred to other surgical specialties and used in surgeon training curricula.

Interprofessional collaboration between residents and nurses in general internal medicine: a qualitative study on behaviours enhancing teamwork quality.

BackgroundEffective teamwork is necessary for optimal patient care. There is insufficient understanding of interactions between physicians and nurses on internal medicine wards.ObjectiveTo describe resident physicians’ and nurses’ actual behaviours contributing to teamwork quality in the setting of a simulated internal medicine ward.MethodsA volunteer sample of 14 pairs of residents and nurses in internal medicine was asked to manage one non-urgent and one urgent clinical case in a simulated ward, using a high-fidelity manikin. After the simulation, participants attended a stimulated-recall session during which they viewed the videotape of the simulation and explained their actions and perceptions. All simulations were transcribed, coded, and analyzed, using a qualitative method (template analysis). Quality of teamwork was assessed, based on patient management efficiency and presence of shared management goals and of team spirit.ResultsMost resident-nurse pairs tended to interact in a traditional way, with residents taking the leadership and nurses executing medical prescriptions and assuming their own specific role. They also demonstrated different types of interactions involving shared responsibilities and decision making, constructive suggestions, active communication and listening, and manifestations of positive team building. The presence of a leader in the pair or a truly shared leadership between resident and nurse contributed to teamwork quality only if both members of the pair demonstrated sufficient autonomy. In case of a lack of autonomy of one member, the other member could compensate for it, if his/her own autonomy was sufficiently strong and if there were demonstrations of mutual listening, information sharing, and positive team building.ConclusionsAlthough they often relied on traditional types of interaction, residents and nurses also demonstrated readiness for increased sharing of responsibilities. Interprofessional education should insist on better redefinition of respective roles and reinforce behaviours shown to enhance teamwork quality.

The development and validation of an interprofessional scale to assess teamwork in mental health settings

Currently, no evaluative scale exists to assess the quality of interprofessional teamwork in mental health settings across the globe. As a result, little is known about the detailed process of team development within this setting. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a global interprofessional scale that assesses teamwork in mental health settings using an international comparative study based in Japan and the United States. This report provides a description of this study and reports progress made to date. Specifically, it outlines work on literature reviews to identify evaluative teamwork tools as well as identify relevant teamwork models and theories. It also outlines plans for empirical work that will be undertaken in both Japan and the United States.

Effects of team member psychological proximity on teamwork performance

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to examine whether team-members' psychological proximity affects the degree of teamwork quality and therefore affecting the team performance. Design/methodology/approach – A survey instrument was developed based on extant literature reviews, and administered among information technology professionals. Collected data were analysed using partial least square (PLS) method. Findings – Team-members' psychological proximity is found to be significantly related to teamwork quality. The magnitude of relational coefficients between sub-dimensions of psychological proximity and those of teamwork quality turned out to be different from each other. Research limitations/implications – Psychological proximity is found to critically influence teamwork and performance in IT teams. Also, the four-factor model developed from previous literature is validated for further use. Snowball sampling using IT professionals is the major limitation of this study. Originality/value – Studies on teamwork quality that employs psychological proximity are scarce. Socialising in workplaces is sometimes viewed as an unproductive activity, however, socialising decreases psychological proximity among team-members, increasing teamwork quality. In addition, examining the psychological proximity in team-members adds to the growing literature on teamwork quality.

Communication and improving the quality of care

In the first article of this two-part series, several key concepts relating to interpersonal communications and their potential to improve the quality of care and teamworking within perioperative practice will be explored. Although communications is an immense subject, this article deliberately sets out to emphasise the relevance of these topics to different aspects of practice, rather than critiquing recent research. Hopefully, this approach will inspire operating department practitioners to read further into this fascinating subject area.

The relationship between extrinsic motivation, job satisfaction and life satisfaction amongst employees in a public organisation

Orientation: There is much research on extrinsic motivation, job satisfaction and life satisfaction in organisations. However, empirical evidence on how such factors affect employees in public organisations in developing countries is lacking.Research purpose: To examine the relationships between extrinsic motivation, job satisfaction and life satisfaction amongst employees in a public organisation.Motivation for the study: Labour strife is an endemic phenomenon in South Africa’s public sector as evidenced by the high incidences of industrial action and labour turnover. This study contributes to this subject by identifying the extrinsic factors that could be optimised with a view to enhancing job and life satisfaction amongst government employees.Research approach, design and method: The study used the quantitative research survey approach: a questionnaire was administered to 246 employees in a South African public organisation. Extrinsic motivation factors were identified using principal components analysis. Mean score ranking was used to compare the relative importance of all factors. The conceptual framework was tested using Spearman’s rank correlation analysis and linear regression analysis.Main findings: Statistically significant relationships were observed between job satisfaction and four extrinsic motivation factors: remuneration, quality of work life, supervision and teamwork. The relationship with promotion was insignificant, but a statistically significant relationship was established with life satisfaction.Practical/managerial implications: The findings may be used to implement strategies for enhancing employee performance and industrial relations within public organisations.Contribution/value-add: The study provides evidence of the interplay between extrinsic motivation, job satisfaction and life satisfaction for public servants in developing countries.

Teamwork Makes the Difference: Creativity in Knowledge Exchange Processes (WITHDRAWN)

Integrating creativity in knowledge management perspectives, the present study theoretically and empirically analyzes both internal and external collaborations and their effect on individual creativity. Furthermore, this article highlights the importance of multilevel-frameworks when evaluating knowledge exchange processes and their influence on individual creativity. I hypothesize that internal and external collaborations are more likely to enhance creativity when teamwork quality within the team is high. Using data from 465 scientists, engineers, and developers working in R&D departments, I test the direct and moderating effects. The results show that external collaboration has a positive effect on individual creativity. Internal collaboration had a positive effect on individual creativity only in combination with high teamwork quality. Surprisingly, the interaction of teamwork quality and external collaboration on creativity turned out to be negative. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Asmeninių kompetencijų reikšmė tarpdisciplininės komandos veikloje

Vilniaus universitetasSocialinio darbo katedraUniversiteto g. 9/1 – 309 kab.LT-01513 VilniusTel. 8 615 17 924El. paštas: violeta.gevorgianiene@fsf.vu.lt
 
 Šio straipsnio tikslas – remiantis skirtingoms disciplinoms atstovaujančių specialistų nuomonių tyrimu aptarti asmeninių kompetencijų reikšmę tarpdisciplininių ankstyvosios intervencijos vaikystėje komandų veiklai. Įvairioms profesinėms sritims atstovaujančių specialistų kompleksinė pagalba rizikos situacijoje esančiam žmogui reikalauja darnių veiksmų. Tokių veiksmų sėkmė priklauso ne tik nuo sprendžiamos problemos sudėtingumo, bet ir nuo kompetencijų, kurias demonstruoja atskiri komandos nariai ir visa komanda. Ankstyvosios intervencijos tarnybų specialistų sudaryti kompetencijų sąrašai parodė, kad dabartiniame tarpdisciplininio bendradarbiavimo etape (nesant senų tokio bendradarbiavimo tradicijų) didžiausia reikšmė yra skiriama komandos nario geranoriškumui ir atvirumui patirčiai.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: tarpdisciplininė komanda, asmeninė kompetencija, refleksija.
 
 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PERSONAL COMPETENCIES IN THE WORK OF AN INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAMVioleta Gevorgianienė
 SummaryA complex support of a person in a difficult life situation requires coordinated efforts of specialists representing various professional fields. The quality of support and successful interdisciplinary team work in general depends not only on the complexity of the task, but also on competencies demonstrated by individual members of a team and the whole team in general. In the article the significance of personal competencies in interdisciplinary teams is analysed, based on the opinions survey of professionals working in early childhood intervention services. The method of expert evaluation (questionnaire) was used. Respondents were asked to compose two lists of competencies: firstly, to cognitively reflect on competencies which they considered important for the team work and, secondly, to recall most important competencies which they observed in practice and which most contributed to the successful team work. The lists of competencies composed by professionals revealed that in the current stage of interdisciplinary cooperation (when traditions of common work of different professionals are not yet strong) experts allocate the highest importance to competencies closely related to personal qualities of a colleague, such as agreeableness (revealed in the cognitive reflection) and openness to new experience (revealed in practice reflection).Key words: interdisciplinary team, personal competence, reflection.
 

Attitudes to teamwork and safety among Italian surgeons and operating room nurses

Previous studies have shown that surgical team members' attitudes about safety and teamwork in the operating theatre may play a role in patient safety. The aim of this study was to assess attitudes about teamwork and safety among Italian surgeons and operating room nurses. Fifty-five surgeons and 48 operating room nurses working in operating theatres at one hospital in Italy completed the Operating Room Management Attitudes Questionnaire (ORMAQ). Results showed several discrepancies in attitudes about teamwork and safety between surgeons and operating room nurses. Surgeons had more positive views on the quality of surgical leadership, communication, teamwork, and organizational climate in the theatre than operating room nurses. Operating room nurses reported that safety rules and procedures were more frequently disregarded than the surgeons. The results are only partially aligned with previous ORMAQ surveys of surgical teams in other countries. The differences emphasize the influence of national culture, as well as the particular healthcare system. This study shows discrepancies on many aspects in attitudes to teamwork and safety between surgeons and operating room nurses. The findings support implementation and use of team interventions and human factor training. Finally, attitude surveys provide a method for assessing safety culture in surgery, for evaluating the effectiveness of training initiatives, and for collecting data for a hospital's quality assurance programme.

From Crowds to Collaborators: Initiating Effort & Catalyzing Interactions Among Online Creative Workers

Online collaborative platforms have emerged as a complementary approach to traditional organizations for coordinating the collective efforts of creative workers. However, it is surprising that they result in any productive output as individuals often work without direct monetary incentives while collaborating with unknown others. In this paper, we distinguish the conditions necessary for eliciting effort from those affecting the quality of interdependent teamwork. We consider the role of incentives versus social processes in catalyzing collaboration. We test our hypotheses using a unique data set of 260 individuals randomly assigned to 52 teams tasked with developing working solutions to a complex innovation problem over 10 days, with varying monetary incentives. We find that levels of effort are driven by cash incentives and the presence of other interacting teammates. The level of collaboration, by contrast, was not sensitive to cash incentives. Instead, individuals increased their communication if teammates were also actively participating. Additionally, team performance is uniquely driven by the level of emergent interdependence, as indexed by the diversity of topics discussed and the temporal coordination of activity in short focused time periods. Our results contribute to the literature on how alternative organizational forms can be designed to solve complex innovation tasks.

Do Safety Checklists Improve Teamwork and Communication in the Operating Room? A Systematic Review

The aim of this systematic review was to assess the impact of surgical safety checklists on the quality of teamwork and communication in the operating room (OR). Safety checklists have been shown to impact positively on patient morbidity and mortality following surgery, but it is unclear whether this clinical improvement is related to an improvement in OR teamwork and communication. A systematic search strategy of MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Google Scholar, and the Cochrane Database for Systematic Reviews was undertaken to obtain relevant articles. After de-duplication and the addition of limits, 315 articles were screened for inclusion by 2 researchers and all articles meeting a set of prespecified inclusion criteria were retained. Information regarding the type of checklist, study design, assessment tools used, outcomes, and study limitations was extracted. Twenty articles formed the basis of this systematic review. All articles described an empirical study relating to a case-specific safety checklist for surgery as the primary intervention, with some measure of change/improvement in teamwork and/or communication relating to its use. The methods for assessing teamwork and communication varied greatly, including surveys, observations, interviews, and 360° assessments. The evidence suggests that safety checklists improve the perceived quality of OR teamwork and communication and reduce observable errors relating to poor team skills. This is likely to function through establishing an open platform for communication at the start of a procedure: encouraging the sharing of critical case-related information, promoting team coordination and decision making, flagging knowledge gaps, and enhancing team cohesion. However, the evidence would also suggest that when used suboptimally or when individuals have not bought in to the process, checklists may conversely have a negative impact on the function of the team. Safety checklists are beneficial for OR teamwork and communication and this may be one mechanism through which patient outcomes are improved. Future research should aim to further elucidate the relationship between how safety checklists are used and team skills in the OR using more consistent methodological approaches and utilizing validated measures of teamwork such that best practice guidelines can be established.