Team leadership and coordination in trauma resuscitation

Abstract

This study investigates team leadership and coordination during a trauma resuscitation. A trauma resuscitation team is an emergency cross- functional medical team, which includes several specialists such as a surgeon, an anesthesia provider, and nurses. The main purpose of the team is to perform a resuscitation; treatment to a patient who experiences a trauma (e.g. car crash, stabbing, gunshot) and has a life-threatening injury. The trauma team can be seen as a type of crisis team since the need for treatment is quite intense and urgent. Team members must treat and stabilize the patient within minutes and without much information about his/her condition and medical history. As a result, this team is working in an intense and highly stressful situation. We used focused ethnography in order to gain an understanding of leadership and coordination during a trauma resuscitation. Over a period of six months, we observed admissions, shadowed teams, and interviewed specialists as a primary data collection method. Our findings suggest that the effectiveness of leadership differs depending on: (1) the severity level of patient condition; and (2) the level of team experience. Directive leadership is more effective when a patient is severely injured, whereas empowering leadership is more effective when a patient is not severely injured. Also, directive leadership is better when a trauma team is inexperienced, but empowering leader- ship is better when a trauma team has a high level of experience.

Citation

Yun, S., Faraj, S., Xiao, Y. and Sims, H.P. (2003), "Team leadership and coordination in trauma resuscitation", Advances in Interdisciplinary Studies of Work Teams (Advances in Interdisciplinary Studies of Work Teams, Vol. 9), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 189-214. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1572-0977(02)09011-8