Table 1.

Descriptive studies

Author	Setting	Research aim/question	Design	Sample size	Findings
Anderson & Talsma, 2011 [31]	OR	To determine how the operating room staffing of two surgical specialties compare in terms of social network variables	Examination of staffing data, using social network analysis	Data were collected from 4,356 general surgery cases and 1,645 neurosurgery cases	Team coreness was associated with length of case. Procedures starting later in the day were less likely to be staffed by a team with a high number of core members. RNs constituted the majority of core interdisciplinary team members
Arakelian et al., 2011 [25]	OR	To study how organized surgical team members and their leaders understood operating room efficiency		11 (9 team members, 2 team leaders)	Seven ways of understanding operating room efficiency were identified
Cassera et al., 2009 [29]	OR	Team size and effect on team performance	Retrospective case review	360 laparoscopic procedures	Mean team size was eight members. Surgeons and anesthesiologists were constant team members, while the OR nurses changed more than once in each procedure. Surgery complexity and team size significantly affected PT; adding one person to the team increased PT by 15.4 minutes
Cole & Crichton, 2005 [28]	ED	To explore the culture of a trauma team in relation to the influence that human factors have over its performance	Ethnography/interviews/observation	6 periods of observation and 11 semi-structured interviews	Leadership, role competence, conflict, communication, environment, and patient status all influenced the culture of the trauma team
Creswick et al., 2009 [32]	ED	To use social network analysis to measure communication patterns and staff interactions within an ED	Social network survey and social network analysis	103 ED staff	Communication across the ED could be clearly understood in terms of three professional groups; interactions between individuals occurred mainly within professional groups
Gillespie et al., 2010 [24]	OR	To extend understanding of the organizational and individual factors that influence teamwork in surgery	Grounded theory/interviews	16 OR staff (surgeons, anesthetists and nurses)	Three themes described interdisciplinary teamwork practice: 1) contribution of interdisciplinary diversity to complex interpersonal relations; 2) the influence of the organization; 3) education
Leach et al., 2009 [21]	OR	To describe the nature of surgical teams and how they perform in the OR, in otder to contribute to a broader knowledge about high-performing teams and high-reliability teams in healthcare settings	Qualitative/observational study and interviews	Field observations of 10 high complexity surgeries	Coordination type and degree of independent and interdependent coordination varied between the observed stages (n = 7) of the surgical process. Teams were mainly ad hoc. Teams were challenged by ‘hand-offs’ and role demands that interfered with the adaptive capacity of the team
				Surgeries and face-to-face interview with 26 team members
Lingard et al., 2004 [23]	ICU	An exploration of the interaction between ICU team members	Focus groups	Seven focus groups, each lasting 1 hour, with nurses, resident groups, and intensivist groups	Perception of ‘ownership’ and the process of ‘trade’ were mechanisms by which team collaboration was achieved or undermined
Sakran et al., 2012 [27]	Level 1 trauma center	To evaluate the relationship between the perception of leadership ability and efficiency of trauma patient care	Prospective observational study using a Campbell Leadership Descriptor Survey tool	81 leadership surveys collected from 22 separate trauma patient resuscitation encounters	The trauma teams perception of leadership was associated positively with clinical efficiency
Sarcevic et al., 2011 [26]	ED	To identify leadership structures and the effects of cross-disciplinary leadership on trauma teamwork	Ethnography/observation/interviews	100 hours of observations at 60 trauma resuscitation events, and 16 interviews with team members	Identified five leadership structures under two categories: 1) solo decision-making and intervening models within intradisciplinary leadership; and 2) intervening, parallel, and collaborative models within cross-disciplinary leadership
Weller et al., 2008 [22]	OR	To improve patient safety by gaining an understanding of OR team interaction, and to identify strategies to improve the effectiveness of the anesthesia team	Qualitative study/interviews following simulation of anesthesia crises	20 telephone interviews	Limited understanding of roles and capabilities of team members, differing perceptions of roles and responsibilities, limited information-sharing between team members, and limited input among team members in decision-making
Zheng et al., 2012 [30]	OD	Effect of surgical team size on team performance	Review of general surgery procedures over a 1 year period	Reviewed records of 587 procedures	Eight members per team on average. Half the team members were nurses. Surgery complexity and team size significantly affected PT; the addition of one team member predicted a 7 minute increase in PT

OR, operating room; ED, Emergency department; ICU, intensive care unit; OD, operating department; RRT, rapid response team; LM, leadership and management; PT, procedure time.