Team Situation Awareness Research Articles

Enhancing cross‐organizational collaboration in crisis management: Outcomes from a full‐scale regional exercise in Norway

AbstractCross‐organizational collaboration exercises are crucial in improving preparedness and promoting team situational awareness for effective crisis management. Despite their potential, studies suggest that these exercises may often yield results with limited learning and practical benefits. This study analyzes a full‐scale regional crisis management collaboration exercise conducted in Norway, involving 10 different organizations, and engaging over 200 participants. Using a survey‐based data collection method focusing on the ‘Collaboration, Learning, and Utility‐Scale’, complemented by on‐site observations and data collection from various exercise locations, we scrutinize the exercise's effectiveness in enhancing collaborative efforts, learning outcomes and overall utility. The findings contribute valuable insights into the strengths and areas for improvement in cross‐organizational collaboration, offering practical implications for optimizing future crisis management preparedness initiatives.

Gaze Sharing, a Double-Edged Sword: Examining the Effect of Real-Time Gaze Sharing Visualizations on Team Performance and Situation Awareness.

The goal of this study was to assess how different real-time gaze sharing visualization techniques affect eye tracking metrics, workload, team situation awareness (TSA), and team performance. Gaze sharing is a real-time visualization technique that allows teams to know where their team members are looking on a shared display. Gaze sharing visualization techniques are a promising means to improve collaborative performance on simple tasks; however, there needs to be validation of gaze sharing with more complex and dynamic tasks. This study evaluated the effect of gaze sharing on eye tracking metrics, workload, team SA, and team performance in a simulated unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) command-and-control task. Thirty-five teams of two performed UAV tasks under three conditions: one with no gaze sharing and two with gaze sharing. Gaze sharing was presented using a fixation dot (i.e., a translucent colored dot) and a fixation trail (i.e., a trail of the most recent fixations). The results showed that the fixation trail significantly reduced saccadic activity, lowered workload, supported team SA at all levels, and improved performance compared to no gaze sharing; however, the fixation dot had the opposite effect on performance and SA. In fact, having no gaze sharing outperformed the fixation dot. Participants also preferred the fixation trail for its visibility and ability to track and monitor the history of their partner's gaze. The results showed that gaze sharing has the potential to support collaboration, but its effectiveness depends highly on the design and context of use. The findings suggest that gaze sharing visualization techniques, like the fixation trail, have the potential to improve teamwork in complex UAV tasks and could have broader applicability in a variety of collaborative settings.

Exploring Connections Between Team Process and Automation Error Management

In complex social-technical systems, human teams are required to handle automation errors to maintain system performance. This study developed two path models that connected the team process variables with the automation error management process, based on data collected from a previous experiment. The models show that trust has negative effects on most of the management activities. Team situation awareness could facilitate the whole process by supporting information selecting activity during the analysis and planning stage. Better teamwork could assist the stages of error detection and analysis and planning. Teams with more balanced decision making and workload would find it easier to understand and handle an automation error. The results also reveal that forming an interpretation of the error is helpful but not a necessity for error management. Path models developed in this study provide a technical basis for better team processes in the face of automation error.

Transforming the delivery of care from “I” to “We” by developing the crisis resource management skills in pediatric interprofessional teams to handle common emergencies through simulation

BackgroundThe healthcare system is highly complex, and adverse events often result from a combination of human factors and system failures, especially in crisis situations. Crisis resource management skills are crucial to optimize team performance and patient outcomes in such situations. Simulation-based training offers a promising approach to developing such skills in a controlled and realistic environment.MethodsThis study employed a mixed-methods (quantitative-qualitative) design and aimed to assess the effectiveness of a simulation-based training workshop in developing crisis resource management skills in pediatric interprofessional teams at a tertiary care hospital. The effectiveness of the intervention was evaluated using Kirkpatrick’s Model, focusing on reaction and learning levels, employing the Collaboration and Satisfaction about Care Decisions scale, Clinical Teamwork Scale, and Ottawa Global Rating Scale for pre- and post-intervention assessments. Focused group discussions were conducted with the participants to explore their experiences and perceptions of the training.ResultsThirty-nine participants, including medical students, nurses, and residents, participated in the study. Compared to the participants’ pre-workshop performance, significant improvements were observed across all measured teamwork and performance components after the workshop, including improvement in scores in team communication (3.16 ± 1.20 to 7.61 ± 1.0, p < 0.001), decision-making (3.50 ± 1.54 to 7.16 ± 1.42, p < 0.001), leadership skills (2.50 ± 1.04 to 5.44 ± 0.6, p < 0.001), and situation awareness (2.61 ± 1.13 to 5.22 ± 0.80, p < 0.001). No significant variations were observed post-intervention among the different teams. Additionally, participants reported high levels of satisfaction, perceived the training to be highly valuable in improving their crisis resource management skills, and emphasized the importance of role allocation and debriefing.ConclusionsThe study underscores the effectiveness of simulation-based training in developing crisis resource management skills in pediatric interprofessional teams. The findings suggest that such training can impact learning transfer to the workplace and ultimately improve patient outcomes. The insights from our study offer additional valuable considerations for the ongoing refinement of simulation-based training programs. There is a need to develop more comprehensive clinical skills evaluation methods to better assess the transferability of these skills in real-world settings. The potential challenges unveiled in our study, such as physical exhaustion during training, must be considered when refining and designing such interventions.

Measuring team situation awareness through team communication: A study on nuclear main control room crews.

Situation awareness (SA) in complex socio-technical systems is considered a key cognitive activity, as control crews are often engaged in simultaneous task processes and are required to monitor and evaluate system parameters, making decisions and projections for the future accordingly. However, measuring SA at the team level is still a challenging area of research within the topic. In our research, we applied verbal protocol analysis as an alternative method to assess nuclear power plant control room crews' team SA. We conducted a study of 10 control room crews, examining their intrateam communication and its relatedness to team performance. We have found that communication categories related to the second and third levels of team SA increased significantly after the onset of an emergency event. Furthermore, while none of the team communication categories was related to team performance before the emergency event, all of them showed a strong positive correlation with team performance after the emergency situation occurred. Our results underline the importance of adequate verbalization of key information within the team, so as to support the rapid and accurate development of team SA during emergency situations.

Use of design thinking and human factors approach to improve situation awareness in the pediatric intensive care unit.

Optimal design of healthcare spaces can enhance patient care. We applied design thinking and human factors principles to optimize communication and signage on high risk patients to improve situation awareness in a new clinical space for the pediatric ICU. To assess the impact of these tools in mitigating situation awareness concerns within the new clinical space. We hypothesized that implementing these design-informed tools would either maintain or improve situation awareness. A 15-week design thinking process was employed, involving research, ideation, and refinement to develop and implement new situation awareness tools. The process included engagement with interprofessional clinical teams, scenario planning, workflow mapping, iterative feedback collection, and collaboration with an industry partner for signage development and implementation. Improved and updated communication devices and bedside mitigation plans. Process metrics included individual and shared situation awareness of PICU care teams and our patient outcome metric was the rate of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) events pre- and post-transition. When evaluating all patients, shared situation awareness for accurate high-risk status improved from 81% pre-transition to 92% post-transition (p = .006). When assessing individual care team roles, accuracy of patient high-risk status improved from 88% to 95% (p = .05) for RNs, 85% to 96% (p = .003) for residents, and 88% to 95% (p = .03) for RTs. There was no change in the rate of CPR events following the transition.

What makes an excellent labour ward co-ordinator? Insights from the multidisciplinary team

Background/Aims Poor multidisciplinary teamwork on labour wards may lead to adverse consequences for women and babies. The labour ward co-ordinator is a central role in the multidisciplinary team; however, there has been little research into explore the skills and attributes necessary for this role. This study aimed to explore the labour ward co-ordinator's skills and attributes and their impact on multidisciplinary team working. Methods Constructive grounded theory was used to explore the perceptions of 21 labour ward multidisciplinary team members recruited using theoretical sampling from a maternity unit in northern England. Results Labour ward co-ordinators play significant roles in ward organisation, team situational awareness and a well-functioning multidisciplinary team. Co-ordinators had situational awareness through a ‘helicopter view’ of the ward, supported decision making and were approachable. Excellent labour ward co-ordinators used situational awareness to pre-empt emergencies and forward plan. Conclusions The labour ward co-ordinator role requires a different skillset to that of midwives delivering one-to-one care in labour. To develop midwives into the co-ordinator role, attention to continuing professional development is essential. Recruitment of consultant midwives dedicated to supporting midwives delivering care to women in labour should be considered.

Team Situation Awareness-Based Augmented Reality Head-Up Display Design for Security Requirements

In the context of intelligent systems for human-vehicle collaboration, the fusion of information space, physical space, and user cognitive space has become a trend. This paper aims to address the challenges posed by information perception gaps and cognitive limitations experienced by drivers by leveraging Augmented Reality Head-up Displays (ie, AR-HUD) to compensate for perceptual deficiencies and enhance driver cognition. We introduce the innovative concept of the Human-Machine Team Situation Awareness (ie, TSA) loop model. Firstly, we analyze the cognitive characteristics of drivers and the spatiotemporal information elements within hazardous scenarios. Subsequently, AR-HUDs are employed to provide drivers with perceptual compensation and cognitive enhancement. Furthermore, we design AR-HUD interfaces for two representative scenarios. The results demonstrate that, with the support of AR-HUDs, the integration of dynamic interface elements proves to be more effective in compensating for perceptual deficiencies, and the inclusion of predictive information contributes to improved driving performance. Notably, in emergency situations, AR-HUDs play a crucial role in providing decision-enhancing information to drivers. The proposed theoretical framework offers opportunities for expanding the theoretical approaches and application domains of AR-HUDs.

Accuracy and Similarity of Team Situation Awareness in Simulated Air Combat.

BACKGROUND: Fighter pilots' Team Situation Awareness (TSA) has been studied from the perspective of TSA accuracy, which represents how closely the pilots' collective knowledge is aligned with the real world. When TSA accuracy is low, the pilots can have similarly or dissimilarly inaccurate SA. The concept of TSA similarity represents the similarity of team members' collective knowledge. This paper investigates how TSA accuracy and similarity of F/A-18 pilots are associated with performance.METHOD: Data were extracted from simulated air combat missions. Performance and TSA were investigated in 58 engagements. The accuracy and similarity of pilots' SA were elicited and performance was evaluated. TSA accuracy and similarity were analyzed with respect to the flights' performance, and the independent variables were events in which the flights initiated engagements with enemy aircraft versus events in which the flights were engaged by enemy aircraft.RESULTS: With the mentioned events as the main effect, there were statistically significant differences at all levels of TSA accuracy and similarity. With performance as the main effect, there were also significant differences at all levels of TSA accuracy and similarity. TSA accuracy and similarity were superior in offensive engagements and when engagements were successful.DISCUSSION: The main contribution of this paper is the extension of the concept of TSA similarity to air combat: both TSA similarity and accuracy were higher when the flight was engaging the enemy aircraft, compared to situations when the flight itself was being engaged. The results also suggest that low TSA accuracy and similarity have a statistically significantly negative impact on the flights' performance.Mansikka H, Harris D, Virtanen K. Accuracy and similarity of team situation awareness in simulated air combat. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2023; 94(6):429-436.

What we got Here, is a Failure to Coordinate: Implicit and Explicit Coordination in Air Combat

Air combat is the ultimate test for teamwork, as teams of fighter pilot (or flights), must coordinate their actions in a highly complex, hostile, dynamic and time critical environment. Flights can coordinate their actions using communication, that is, explicitly, or by relying on team situation awareness (SA), that is, implicitly. This paper examines how these two forms of coordination are associated with performance when prosecuting or evading an attack in simulated air combat. This was done by investigating the flights’ team SA, number of SA-related communication acts and performance in these two types of critical events during air combat. The results exhibit a quadratic dependence between team SA and communication. The rate of change of SA-related communication frequency with respect to change of team SA was negative: communication was needed to build team SA, but once an appropriate level of team SA was established, fewer communications were required. If, however, team SA deteriorated the number of SA communication acts increased. However, during time critical events, the flights did not always have enough time to coordinate their actions verbally. If the flights’ team SA in such situations was low, the flights’ explicit coordination attempts were not sufficient to avoid poor performance.

The Next Giant Leap for Space Human Factors: The Opportunities.

Propose areas of future space human factors research. Deep space, long-duration human spaceflight missions to the Moon and Mars still require advances in space human factors research. Key drivers relate to astronauts living and working in isolation, new novel technologies required to accomplish exploration missions, and the longer durations of these. Three areas of research are proposed for methods and techniques: (1) to enable more autonomous astronauts; (2) to monitor crew and improve ground team situation awareness; and (3) to detect and support changes in long-duration team coordination. Future human exploration missions will benefit from advances in space human factors research. Human factors researchers can contribute to human spaceflight by prioritizing these research topics.

UAV Swarm Cooperative Situation Awareness Theory Model Construction and Scenario Analysis

The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) swarm collaborative operations is one of the disruptive technologies in future information warfare. Considering the characteristics of UAV swarm collaborative operation, we propose two UAV swarm cooperative situation awareness (SA) theory models based on the classical ones and the composition of UAV swarm. Firstly, the improved Endsley three-level SA model is proposed, in which the traditional mental model is changed into human machine intelligent model on the individual level. Then the homogeneous swarm and heterogeneous swarm cooperative SA model are separately built based on the improved team SA model and Distributed SA (DSA) model. Meanwhile, a comparison between the multi-UAV and UAV swarm is carried. Finally, a scenario analysis of swarm cooperative SA in combat situation is presented.

Beyond the Surgical Safety Checklist: Using Intraoperative Handoff to Facilitate Team Situation Awareness in the OR.

The surgical safety checklist (SSC) has been credited with improving team situation awareness (SA) in the operating room. Although the SSC may support team SA at the outset of the operative case, intraoperative handoff provides an opportunity for either SA breakdown or, more preferably, SA reinforcement. High-functioning surgical teams demonstrate a high level of continued SA, whereas teams deficient in SA are more likely to be affected by surgical errors and adverse events. To date, no interprofessional intraoperative tools exist to support team SA beyond the SSC. This study was divided into 2 phases. The first used qualitative methods to (1) characterize intraoperative handoff processes across surgery, nursing, anesthesia, and perfusion, and (2) identify cultural factors that shaped handoff practices. Data for phase one were collected over 38 observation days and 41 brief interviews. Phase 2, informed by phase 1, used a modified Delphi process to create a tool for use during intraoperative handoff. Data were analyzed iteratively. Handoff practices were not standardized and rarely involved the entire team. In addition we uncovered cultural factors-specifically assumptions held by participants-that hindered team communication during handoff. Assumptions included: (1) team members are interchangeable, (2) trained individuals are able to determine when it is appropriate to handoff without consulting the OR team. Despite claims of improved teamwork resulting from the SSC, many participants held a fragmented view of the OR team, resulting in communication challenges during handoff. Findings from both phases of our study informed the development of multidisciplinary intraoperative handoff tools to facilitate shared team situation awareness and a shared mental model. Intraoperative handoff occurs frequently, and offers the opportunity for either renewed or fractured team SA beyond the SSC.

Prevalence of Hearing Loss and Perceptions of Hearing Health and Protection among Florida Firefighters.

Firefighters are exposed to extensive hazardous noise while on the job, both during routine tasks at the station and when responding to calls. However, little is known about firefighters' occupational noise hazards. This study employed mixed methods, including focus groups, a survey, and audiometric testing, to identify sources of noise in the firefighters' work environment, determine hearing protective strategies, discern firefighters' perceptions of occupational noise exposure and impacts to their health, and quantify the prevalence of hearing loss among South Florida firefighters. A total of 6 senior officers served in an expert panel, 12 participated in focus groups, 300 completed the survey, and 214 received audiometric tests. Most firefighters were unaware of the risk and their departments' policies, and did not participate in hearing protection practices and avoided using hearing protection devices, which they believed impede team communication and situational awareness. Nearly 30% of participating firefighters showed mild to profound hearing loss, a prevalence that is considerably worse than expected by normal aging alone. Educating firefighters about noise-induced hearing loss early in their careers may have significant health implications for their future. These findings provide insights for developing technologies and programs to mitigate the effects of noise exposure in the firefighting population.

Leader airtime management and team effectiveness in emergency management command and control (EMCC) teams

We investigated the relation between leader airtime management and team effectiveness in Emergency Management Command and Control (EMCC) teams. Leader airtime management concerns leaders’ interventions to structure who shares information when using opening and closing statements to respectively stimulate or reduce information sharing. We coded leaders’ airtime management statements across different meeting phases (structuring, information sharing, decision making) using video-recordings of 12 EMCC exercises involving two consecutive meetings each. Experts rated two components of team effectiveness: Team Situation Awareness (TSA) and Team Decision Making (TDM). We found that closing statements were more frequently used in the decision-making phase than in any other meeting phase. Also, leaders of teams with lower TSA used more opening statements in the decision-making phase of the first team meeting than leaders of teams with higher TSA. These results confirm the importance of the timing of leader airtime management for EMCC team effectiveness. Practitioner summary: We investigated leader airtime management and team effectiveness in EMCC teams. We video-coded 12 exercises; experts rated team effectiveness. In the decision-making phase, leaders use more closing statements, and leaders of less effective teams use more opening statements. Leaders are advised to adjust their airtime management to meeting phases.

Supporting Human-AI Teams:Transparency, explainability, and situation awareness

System autonomy and AI are being developed for a wide variety of applications where they will likely work in tandem with people, forming human-AI teams (HAT). Situation awareness (SA) of autonomous systems and AI has been established as critical for effective interaction and oversight of these systems. As AI capabilities grow, and more effective teaming behaviors are expected of AI systems, there will also be an increased need for shared SA between the human and AI teammates. Methods for supporting team SA within HAT are discussed in terms of team SA requirements, team SA mechanisms, team SA displays and team SA processes. A framework for understanding the types of information that needs to be shared within HAT is provided, including a focus on taskwork SA, agent SA, and teamwork SA. AI based on learning systems creates new challenges for the development of good SA and mental models. AI transparency and explainability are discussed in terms of their separate roles for supporting SA and mental models in HAT. The SA Oriented Design (SAOD) process is described as a systematic methodology for developing transparent AI displays for HAT and an example of its application to automated driving in a Tesla is provided.

Conversation dynamics in a multiplayer video game with knowledge asymmetry.

Despite the challenges associated with virtually mediated communication, remote collaboration is a defining characteristic of online multiplayer gaming communities. Inspired by the teamwork exhibited by players in first-person shooter games, this study investigated the verbal and behavioral coordination of four-player teams playing a cooperative online video game. The game, Desert Herding, involved teams consisting of three ground players and one drone operator tasked to locate, corral, and contain evasive robot agents scattered across a large desert environment. Ground players could move throughout the environment, while the drone operator's role was akin to that of a "spectator" with a bird's-eye view, with access to veridical information of the locations of teammates and the to-be-corralled agents. Categorical recurrence quantification analysis (catRQA) was used to measure the communication dynamics of teams as they completed the task. Demands on coordination were manipulated by varying the ground players' ability to observe the environment with the use of game "fog." Results show that catRQA was sensitive to changes to task visibility, with reductions in task visibility reorganizing how participants conversed during the game to maintain team situation awareness. The results are discussed in the context of future work that can address how team coordination can be augmented with the inclusion of artificial agents, as synthetic teammates.

Information sharing behaviors in text-based communication during emergency response.

Emergency response teams consist of highly experienced professionals who must effectively communicate to respond to crisis situations characterized by high levels of uncertainty and complexity. Although the existing literatures on team collaboration and information processing are well established, research examining team information sharing through text-based communication technology facing emergency situations is limited. With the increasing complex nature of emergency response situations, emergency response organizations are likely to introduce new technologies to address such events. In this paper, we examine text-based information sharing behaviors related to team situation awareness in a simulated fire-rescue operation of 62 teams. We elaborate on different types of information sharing behaviors and identify a typology and linguistic features as well as differences between high- and low-performing teams in the occurrence of team situational information sharing behaviors. We conclude by discussing implications for emergency response teams and implications for future research avenues.

A SEM-based research on influencing factors of team situation awareness in nuclear power plants

Team situation awareness (TSA) is one of the key factors that affect team decision-making and implementation. TSA is influenced by performance shaping factors (PSFs) in digital nuclear power plants (NPPs). In order to identify the influencing relationships and extent between TSA and PSFs, a model is needed to describe and correlate them. Firstly, based on TSA cognitive process, the main PSFs influencing the level of TSA are identified, including team knowledge and experience level, information display quality, attention and attitude, and team stress level. Then a conceptual model of TSA influencing factors is proposed to explore the path relationships and influencing mechanism between TSA and PSFs, and a structural equation model (SEM) that relates TSA to its PSFs is developed subsequently. Finally, by analyzing human factor events and small deviation reports, data from 178 samples were obtained and substituted into the structural equation model to analyze and identify the relationships between the PSFs. The results show that the preceding PSFs have significant effects on TSA. Based on path coefficients, positive effects were: team knowledge and experience level (0.504), information display quality (0.370), attention and attitude (0.249). Negative effect was: team stress level (−0.384). The results of this study can provide a theoretical basis for the prevention and control of TSA errors, and a qualitative analysis model for the quantitative evaluation of TSA reliability.

Mediating Agent Reliability with Human Trust, Situation Awareness, and Performance in Autonomously-Collaborative Human-Agent Teams

When teaming with humans, the reliability of intelligent agents may sporadically change due to failure or environmental constraints. Alternatively, an agent may be more reliable than a human because their performance is less likely to degrade (e.g., due to fatigue). Research often investigates human-agent interactions under little to no time constraints, such as discrete decision-making tasks where the automation is relegated to the role of an assistant. This paper conducts a quantitative investigation towards varying reliability in human-agent teams in a time-pressured continuous pursuit task, and it interconnects individual differences, perceptual factors, and task performance through structural equation modeling. Results indicate that reducing reliability may generate a more effective agent imperceptibly different from a fully reliable agent, while contributing to overall team performance. The mediation analysis shows replication of factors studied in the trust and situation awareness literature while providing new insights: agents with an active stake in the task (i.e., success is dependent on team performance) offset loss of situation awareness, differing from the usual notion of overtrust. We conclude with generalizing implications from an abstract pursuit task, and we highlight challenges when conducting research in time-pressured continuous domains.