- Email: [email protected]
Evaluation of the communication skills of operating room staff
Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice 10 (2018) 44e46
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice journal homepage: http://www.jieponline.com
Evaluation of the communication skills of operating room staff * € Ebru Onler , Tülin Yildiz, Semiha Bahar Namik Kemal University, Surgical Diseases Nursing Department, Turkey
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history: Received 17 July 2017 Received in revised form 9 November 2017 Accepted 30 November 2017
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate operating room staff communication skills. Methods: The Communication Skills Assessment Scale and staff information form were used to collect data. The sample group included 179 staff: 62 nurses (34.6%), 73 surgeons (40.8%), and 44 anaesthetists (24.6%). Results: Staff that are 51 years or older, have 21 years or more job experience and working years in the current unit, and nurses' communication skills scores are statistically high (p < 0.05). The nurses' communication skills score was higher than the scores of anaesthetists and surgeons. The communication skills score increased with age, job experience and working years in the same unit. Conclusion: The results provide direction on how leaders can improve communication between OR staff. In order to evaluate the communication skills of OR staff more concretely it is suggested that the results of studies which were carried out in this subject at different hospitals are increased. © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Communication Operating room Nurse Surgeon Anaesthetist
1. Introduction
2. Methods
ORs are a high-risk environment that relies on multidisciplinary teams and being a good OR staff member is about being a team player. Communication between nurses, surgeons and anaesthetists is very important for effective and safe care in ORs.1e3 Failures in communication between healthcare staff are one of the most important factors that cause incidents and threaten patient safety during surgery.4e6 Medical errors in surgery occur because of deficiencies amongst staff such as poor communication rather than technical abilities.7e11 Improving communication amongst staff is an important consideration in the 2016 National Patient Safety Goals published by the Joint Commission.12 Good communication is a vital element of health care quality, patient safety, and patient and staff satisfaction.1,3,13 Studies on communication were mostly limited to reports on attitudes of health professional students.14 This research is important in terms of contributing limited literature to the determination of the communication levels of health professionals.
2.1. Background and study design The communication abilities of health care staff needs to be measured to improve the communication abilities of healthcare staff in order to improve healthcare quality, patient safety and patient and staff satisfaction. This study has been carried out in order to evaluate the communication abilities of OR staff including nurses, surgeons and anaesthetists. This was a descriptive study to evaluate communication abilities of OR staff including nurses, surgeons and anaesthetists. 4 hospitals from western part of Turkey were selected on the basis of their institutional status (1 public, 2 private, and 1 university hospital). The total number of OR staff employed in the 4 hospitals was 300. The sample population included 179 OR staff with a 95% confidence interval and a ±5% sampling error. %25.1 (n ¼ 45) of participants came from a university hospital, %60.3 (n ¼ 108) came from a state hospital, %14.5 (n ¼ 26) came from private hospitals. 2.2. The instruments
irmenaltı Yerles¸kesi, * Corresponding author. Namık Kemal Üniversitesi, Deg lık Yüksekokulu, Hems¸irelik Bo € lümü, Yeni Morfoloji Binası Merkez, Tekirdag , Sag Turkey. € E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (E. Onler). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xjep.2017.11.004 2405-4526/© 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
The Communication Skills Assessment Scale (CSAS): It is a 5 point likert scale developed by Korkut,15 graduated from ‘always’ to ‘never’, for understanding how individuals evaluate communication skills. The self-reported scale consists of 25 items in which staff evaluate their own communication skills. The highest score reflects
€ E. Onler et al. / Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice 10 (2018) 44e46
that individuals evaluate communication skills in a positive way. The Cronbach Alpha for the CSAS was 0.80. The reliability coefficient was found 0.69 (p < 0.001) in the study conducted with adults.15,16 The Staff Information Form: It consists of questions such as the OR staff's gender, age, job role, years of job experience, and weekly working hours. 2.3. Data collection Data was collected from April to May 2015. The authors visited the hospitals and collected data. Staff who chose to participate in the study were asked to complete surveys. 179 completed surveys were collected by the authors. 2.4. Data analysis The collected data was analysed using SPSS 18.0. Descriptive statistics using frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation, and also the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to check the normality of the distribution were used. The Kruskal Wallis Test was used to compare groups, and the Mann-Whitney U Test was used to determine causes for differences among groups. Results were evaluated with a 95% confidence interval and a p < 0.05 significance level. 2.5. Ethical considerations Written permission from hospitals and informed consent from each of the participants were obtained for the research. The study was approved by the Ethical Committee of Namık Kemal University Medical Faculty, No:2015/35/03/06. 3. Results The majority of participants were in the 31e40 age range (44.1%) and women (57%). The maximum percentage for job experience in years (33%) of OR staff was 1e5 years. 64.2% of participants worked more than 40 h a week, and 34.6% of participants were nurses, 40.8% were surgeons, and 24.6% were anaesthetists (Table 1). The communication skills score average of OR staff was 76.35 ± 15.331 out of 100. The nurses', anaesthetists', and surgeons' Table 1 Characteristics of the study population (n ¼ 179).
Age (Years) 18e30 31e40 41e50 51 and upper Gender Female Male Job experience (years) 1e5 6e10 11e20 21 and upper Working hours in a week 40 More than 40 Job role Nurse Surgeon Anaesthesist Total
Frequency (n)
Percentage (%)
65 79 25 10
36.3 44.1 14.0 5.6
102 77
57.0 43.0
59 47 45 28
33.0 26.3 25.1 15.6
64 115
35.8 64.2
62 73 44 179
34.6 40.8 24.6 100.0
45
communication skills score were 79.56 ± 15.331, 70.98 ± 17.055, and 76.86 ± 9.884, respectively. Nurses' communication skills score was significantly higher than the anaesthetists' communication skills score (p < 0.05). The nurses' communication skills score was also higher than the surgeons' score, but there was no statistical difference between them (Table 2). The communication skills score of staff whose job experience amounted to between 11 and 20 years (81.42 ± 12.544) was higher than the score of staff who had 1-5 or 6e10 years (respectively; 72.54 ± 13.368; 73.66 ± 17.158) of job experience (p < 0.05), and the communication skills score of staff with 21 years or more job experience (80.75 ± 8.784) was higher than the scores of staff whose job experience was between 1 and 5 years (72.54 ± 13.368) (p < 0.05) (Table 2). The communication skills score of staff aged 51 years and older (86.400 ± 5.337) was significantly higher than the communication score of staff aged between 18 and 30, 31e40,41-50 (respectively; 72.520 ± 16.163; 78.390 ± 13.160; 75.840 ± 11.227) (p < 0.05) (Table 2).
4. Discussion A coordinated team with good communication skills yields a more humanised care and avoids high risk situations for the patient.3 In this study the communication skills score of the OR staff evaluated was above average (76.350 ± 15.331). Similar findings resulted in healthcare staff assuming that they had good communication in Siamian et al.’s, and Zhu et al.'s studies,17,18 however, communication problems were the most frequent root cause for adverse events and near misses.2,19,20 This suggests that healthcare staff have a deficiency of awareness about communication. In addition, previous studies reported discrepancies amongst healthcare staff with regard to their perception of communication levels; surgeons have a generally positive perception of communication, while nurses have a negative perception.1,8,21e24 Nurses reported higher levels of communication skills than anaesthetists and surgeons similar to Wheelock et al.'s study.25 This finding may result from nursing education focussing on non-technical skills, like communication, more than physician education. The communication skills score increased with increasing job experience, and age (p < 0.05). An increased communication skills score with increasing job experience was parallel to Tschannen & Lee's study.26 It is an interesting finding that after 11 years of experience, communication is rated higher by what seems to be a significant margin. This suggests that after 11 years experience, communication skills are fundamentally improved. This can be taken into consideration for further studies. Our finding about the Table 2 Communication scores by age, job experience and job role (n ¼ 179). N Age (Years) 18e30 31e40 41e50 51 and upper Job experience 1e5 6e10 11e20 21 and upper Job role Nurse Surgeon Anaesthesist
Average
Standard deviation
KW
Significance (p)
65 75.52 79 73.89 25 75.84 10 86.4 (years) 59 72.54 47 73.66 45 81.42 28 80.75
16.163 13.160 11.227 5.337
11.783
0.008
13.368 17.158 12.544 8.784
14.544
0.002
62 73 44
15.331 9.884 17.055
7.644
0.022
79.56 76.86 70.98
€ E. Onler et al. / Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice 10 (2018) 44e46
46
relationship between age and the communication skills score supports Das&Avcı’s study5 where a significant positive relationship between the age of emergency department staff and their communication skills was reported. This can be a result of staff having more experience with increasing age which helps to nourish their communication skills. Contrary to these study findings, in Siamian's et al.’s study17 it was reported that communication skills decline with an increase in age and they interpreted that this was a result of burnout experienced over the years. Limitations of the study: Firstly, this study relied on self report measures. However, all questionnaires were anonymously completed in order to reduce potential response bias. Secondly, this study had a small sample size which limits the generalization of results. Thus, it is good to reverify the current results with future studies including larger sample groups and qualitative studies that can be conducted about communication.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
5. Conclusions
10.
The nurses' communication skills score was higher than the scores of anaesthetists and surgeons. The communication skills score increased with age and job experience. To improve communication and teamwork in ORs, there should be organized education programmes aimed at developing the communication skills of OR staff. Communication in the operating room is key to ensure patient safety. The results provide direction on how leaders can improve communication between OR staff. More work is needed to integrate communication skills into the undergraduate and postgraduate education of OR staff. In order to evaluate the communication skills of OR staff more concretely it is suggested that the results of studies which were carried out in this subject at different hospitals are increased.
11.
Source(s) of support None.
12. 13.
14.
15. 16. 17.
18.
19.
Declaration of interest
20.
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.
21.
Presentation at a meeting
22.
This study presented as the poster at 9th National Turk Surgical and Operating Room Nursing Congress, which was in Mugla between the dates 12e15 November 2015.
23.
References
24.
1. Carney BT, West P, Neily J, Mills P, Bagian C. Differences in nurse and surgeon perceptions of teamwork: implications for use of a briefing checklist in the OR. AORN J. 2010;91(6):722e729. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aorn.2009.11.066. 2. Agha RA, Fowler AJ, Sevdalis N. The role of non-technical skills in surgery. Ann Med Surg. 2015;4:422e427. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amsu.2015.10.006. €ttems LBD, Pires MRGM, De Oliveria MLC. Safety culture in the 3. Carvalho PA, Go operating room of a public hospital in the perception of healthcare
25.
26.
professionals. Enfermagem. 2015;2323(66):1041e81041. https://doi.org/ 10.1590/0104-1169.0669.2647. De Vries EN, Eikens-Jansen MP, Hamersma AM, Smorenburg SM, Gouma DJ, Boermeester MA. Prevention of surgical malpractice claims by use of a surgical safety checklist. Ann Surg. 2011;253:624e628. https://doi.org/10.1097/ SLA.0b013e3182068880. Das G, Avci A. The effect of anger management levels and communication skills of emergency department staff on being exposed to violence. Med Glas. 2015;12(1):99e104. Fernando O, Coburn NG, Nathens AB, Hallet J, Ahmed N, Conn Gotlib L. Interprofessional communication between surgery trainees and nurses in the patient wards: why time and space matter. J Interprof Care. 2016;30(5):567e573. https://doi.org/10.1080/13561820.2016.1187589. €rle K, Wiltfang J, Bein B. The effect of the WHO Surgical Safety Fudickar A, Ho € Checklist on complication rate and communication. Deutsches Arzteblatt Int. 2012;109(42):695e701. https://doi.org/10.3238/arztebl.2012.0695. Henry L, Hunt S, Kroetch M, Yang T. Evaluation of patient safety culture a survey of clinicians in a cardiovascular operating room. Innovations. 2012;7: 328e337. https://doi.org/10.1097/IMI.0b013e31827e3625. Weldon SM, Korkiakangas T, Bezemer J, Kneebone R. Communication in the operating theatre. Br J Surg. 2013;100(13):1677e1688. https://doi.org/10.1002/ bjs.9332. Hewett DG, Watson BM, Gallois C. Communication between hospital doctors: under accommodation and interpretability. Lang Commun. 2015;41:71e83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2014.10.007. Hull L, Sevdalis N. Advances in teaching and assessing nontechnical skills. Surg Clin North Am. 2015;95:869e884. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.suc.2015.04.003. The Joint Commission. National Patient Safety Goals; 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2017 from https://www.jointcommission.org/assets/1/6/2016_NPSG_HAP.pdf. Kumar M, Dash H, Cawla R. Communication skills of anesthesiologists: an Indian perspective. J Anaesthesiol Clin Pharmacol. 2013;29(3):372e376. https:// doi.org/10.4103/0970-9185.117116. Lancaster G, Kolakowsky HS, Kovacich J, Greer-Williams N. Interdisciplinary communication and collaboration among physicians, nurses, and unlicensed assistive personnel. J Nurs Scholarsh. 2015;19:275e284. https://doi.org/ 10.1111/jnu.12130. Korkut F. Improving communication skills assessment scale: reliability and validity studies. Psychol. Couns. Guid J. 1996;2(7). Korkut F. Communication skills training program for adults. Hacet Univ J Educ. 2005;28:143e149. Siamian H, Bagheri-Nesami M, Nia DR, et al. Assessment of interpersonal communication skills among Sari Health Centers' staff. Mater Sociomed. 2014;26(5):324e328. https://doi.org/10.5455/msm.2014.26.324-328. Zhu J, Li L, Zhou Z, Lou Q, Wu A. Variations in patient safety climate in Chinese hospitals. J Patient Saf. 2016;00:1e8. https://doi.org/10.1097/ PTS.0000000000000319. Nagpal K, Vats A, Ahmed K, et al. A systematic quantitative assessment of risks associated with poor communication in surgical care. Arch Surg. 2010;145(6): 582e588. https://doi.org/10.1001/archsurg.2010.105. Siu J, Maran N, Paterson-Brown S. Observation of behavioural markers of nontechnical skills in the operating room and their relationship to intra-operative incidents. Surgeon. 2016;14:119e128. https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.surge.2014.06.005. Makary MA, Sexton JB, Freischlag JA, et al. Operating room teamwork among physicians and nurses: teamwork in the eye of the beholder. J Am Coll Surg. 2006;204:236e243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2006.01.017. Mills P, Neily J, Dunn E. Teamwork and communication in surgical teams: implications for patient safety. J Am Coll Surg. 2008;206:107e112. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2007.06.281. Wauben LSGL, Doorn D, Wijngaarden JDHV, Goosens RHM, Klein J. Lange JF Discrepant perceptions of communication, teamwork and situation awareness among surgical team members. Int J Qual Health Care. 2011;23(2):159e166. https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/mzq079. Prati G, Pietrantoni L. Attitudes to teamwork and safety among Italian surgeons and operating room nurses. Work. 2014;49:669e677. https://doi.org/10.3233/ WOR-131702. Wheelock A, Suliman A, Wharton R, et al. The impact of operating room distractions on stress, workload, and teamwork. Ann Surg. 2015;261:1079e1084. https://doi.org/10.1097/SLA.0000000000001051. Tschannen D, Lee E. The impact of nursing characteristics and the work environment on perceptions of communication. Nurs Res Pract. 2012;7:1e3. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/401905.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice journal homepage: http://www.jieponline.com
Evaluation of the communication skills of operating room staff * € Ebru Onler , Tülin Yildiz, Semiha Bahar Namik Kemal University, Surgical Diseases Nursing Department, Turkey
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history: Received 17 July 2017 Received in revised form 9 November 2017 Accepted 30 November 2017
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate operating room staff communication skills. Methods: The Communication Skills Assessment Scale and staff information form were used to collect data. The sample group included 179 staff: 62 nurses (34.6%), 73 surgeons (40.8%), and 44 anaesthetists (24.6%). Results: Staff that are 51 years or older, have 21 years or more job experience and working years in the current unit, and nurses' communication skills scores are statistically high (p < 0.05). The nurses' communication skills score was higher than the scores of anaesthetists and surgeons. The communication skills score increased with age, job experience and working years in the same unit. Conclusion: The results provide direction on how leaders can improve communication between OR staff. In order to evaluate the communication skills of OR staff more concretely it is suggested that the results of studies which were carried out in this subject at different hospitals are increased. © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Communication Operating room Nurse Surgeon Anaesthetist
1. Introduction
2. Methods
ORs are a high-risk environment that relies on multidisciplinary teams and being a good OR staff member is about being a team player. Communication between nurses, surgeons and anaesthetists is very important for effective and safe care in ORs.1e3 Failures in communication between healthcare staff are one of the most important factors that cause incidents and threaten patient safety during surgery.4e6 Medical errors in surgery occur because of deficiencies amongst staff such as poor communication rather than technical abilities.7e11 Improving communication amongst staff is an important consideration in the 2016 National Patient Safety Goals published by the Joint Commission.12 Good communication is a vital element of health care quality, patient safety, and patient and staff satisfaction.1,3,13 Studies on communication were mostly limited to reports on attitudes of health professional students.14 This research is important in terms of contributing limited literature to the determination of the communication levels of health professionals.
2.1. Background and study design The communication abilities of health care staff needs to be measured to improve the communication abilities of healthcare staff in order to improve healthcare quality, patient safety and patient and staff satisfaction. This study has been carried out in order to evaluate the communication abilities of OR staff including nurses, surgeons and anaesthetists. This was a descriptive study to evaluate communication abilities of OR staff including nurses, surgeons and anaesthetists. 4 hospitals from western part of Turkey were selected on the basis of their institutional status (1 public, 2 private, and 1 university hospital). The total number of OR staff employed in the 4 hospitals was 300. The sample population included 179 OR staff with a 95% confidence interval and a ±5% sampling error. %25.1 (n ¼ 45) of participants came from a university hospital, %60.3 (n ¼ 108) came from a state hospital, %14.5 (n ¼ 26) came from private hospitals. 2.2. The instruments
irmenaltı Yerles¸kesi, * Corresponding author. Namık Kemal Üniversitesi, Deg lık Yüksekokulu, Hems¸irelik Bo € lümü, Yeni Morfoloji Binası Merkez, Tekirdag , Sag Turkey. € E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (E. Onler). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xjep.2017.11.004 2405-4526/© 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
The Communication Skills Assessment Scale (CSAS): It is a 5 point likert scale developed by Korkut,15 graduated from ‘always’ to ‘never’, for understanding how individuals evaluate communication skills. The self-reported scale consists of 25 items in which staff evaluate their own communication skills. The highest score reflects
€ E. Onler et al. / Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice 10 (2018) 44e46
that individuals evaluate communication skills in a positive way. The Cronbach Alpha for the CSAS was 0.80. The reliability coefficient was found 0.69 (p < 0.001) in the study conducted with adults.15,16 The Staff Information Form: It consists of questions such as the OR staff's gender, age, job role, years of job experience, and weekly working hours. 2.3. Data collection Data was collected from April to May 2015. The authors visited the hospitals and collected data. Staff who chose to participate in the study were asked to complete surveys. 179 completed surveys were collected by the authors. 2.4. Data analysis The collected data was analysed using SPSS 18.0. Descriptive statistics using frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation, and also the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to check the normality of the distribution were used. The Kruskal Wallis Test was used to compare groups, and the Mann-Whitney U Test was used to determine causes for differences among groups. Results were evaluated with a 95% confidence interval and a p < 0.05 significance level. 2.5. Ethical considerations Written permission from hospitals and informed consent from each of the participants were obtained for the research. The study was approved by the Ethical Committee of Namık Kemal University Medical Faculty, No:2015/35/03/06. 3. Results The majority of participants were in the 31e40 age range (44.1%) and women (57%). The maximum percentage for job experience in years (33%) of OR staff was 1e5 years. 64.2% of participants worked more than 40 h a week, and 34.6% of participants were nurses, 40.8% were surgeons, and 24.6% were anaesthetists (Table 1). The communication skills score average of OR staff was 76.35 ± 15.331 out of 100. The nurses', anaesthetists', and surgeons' Table 1 Characteristics of the study population (n ¼ 179).
Age (Years) 18e30 31e40 41e50 51 and upper Gender Female Male Job experience (years) 1e5 6e10 11e20 21 and upper Working hours in a week 40 More than 40 Job role Nurse Surgeon Anaesthesist Total
Frequency (n)
Percentage (%)
65 79 25 10
36.3 44.1 14.0 5.6
102 77
57.0 43.0
59 47 45 28
33.0 26.3 25.1 15.6
64 115
35.8 64.2
62 73 44 179
34.6 40.8 24.6 100.0
45
communication skills score were 79.56 ± 15.331, 70.98 ± 17.055, and 76.86 ± 9.884, respectively. Nurses' communication skills score was significantly higher than the anaesthetists' communication skills score (p < 0.05). The nurses' communication skills score was also higher than the surgeons' score, but there was no statistical difference between them (Table 2). The communication skills score of staff whose job experience amounted to between 11 and 20 years (81.42 ± 12.544) was higher than the score of staff who had 1-5 or 6e10 years (respectively; 72.54 ± 13.368; 73.66 ± 17.158) of job experience (p < 0.05), and the communication skills score of staff with 21 years or more job experience (80.75 ± 8.784) was higher than the scores of staff whose job experience was between 1 and 5 years (72.54 ± 13.368) (p < 0.05) (Table 2). The communication skills score of staff aged 51 years and older (86.400 ± 5.337) was significantly higher than the communication score of staff aged between 18 and 30, 31e40,41-50 (respectively; 72.520 ± 16.163; 78.390 ± 13.160; 75.840 ± 11.227) (p < 0.05) (Table 2).
4. Discussion A coordinated team with good communication skills yields a more humanised care and avoids high risk situations for the patient.3 In this study the communication skills score of the OR staff evaluated was above average (76.350 ± 15.331). Similar findings resulted in healthcare staff assuming that they had good communication in Siamian et al.’s, and Zhu et al.'s studies,17,18 however, communication problems were the most frequent root cause for adverse events and near misses.2,19,20 This suggests that healthcare staff have a deficiency of awareness about communication. In addition, previous studies reported discrepancies amongst healthcare staff with regard to their perception of communication levels; surgeons have a generally positive perception of communication, while nurses have a negative perception.1,8,21e24 Nurses reported higher levels of communication skills than anaesthetists and surgeons similar to Wheelock et al.'s study.25 This finding may result from nursing education focussing on non-technical skills, like communication, more than physician education. The communication skills score increased with increasing job experience, and age (p < 0.05). An increased communication skills score with increasing job experience was parallel to Tschannen & Lee's study.26 It is an interesting finding that after 11 years of experience, communication is rated higher by what seems to be a significant margin. This suggests that after 11 years experience, communication skills are fundamentally improved. This can be taken into consideration for further studies. Our finding about the Table 2 Communication scores by age, job experience and job role (n ¼ 179). N Age (Years) 18e30 31e40 41e50 51 and upper Job experience 1e5 6e10 11e20 21 and upper Job role Nurse Surgeon Anaesthesist
Average
Standard deviation
KW
Significance (p)
65 75.52 79 73.89 25 75.84 10 86.4 (years) 59 72.54 47 73.66 45 81.42 28 80.75
16.163 13.160 11.227 5.337
11.783
0.008
13.368 17.158 12.544 8.784
14.544
0.002
62 73 44
15.331 9.884 17.055
7.644
0.022
79.56 76.86 70.98
€ E. Onler et al. / Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice 10 (2018) 44e46
46
relationship between age and the communication skills score supports Das&Avcı’s study5 where a significant positive relationship between the age of emergency department staff and their communication skills was reported. This can be a result of staff having more experience with increasing age which helps to nourish their communication skills. Contrary to these study findings, in Siamian's et al.’s study17 it was reported that communication skills decline with an increase in age and they interpreted that this was a result of burnout experienced over the years. Limitations of the study: Firstly, this study relied on self report measures. However, all questionnaires were anonymously completed in order to reduce potential response bias. Secondly, this study had a small sample size which limits the generalization of results. Thus, it is good to reverify the current results with future studies including larger sample groups and qualitative studies that can be conducted about communication.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
5. Conclusions
10.
The nurses' communication skills score was higher than the scores of anaesthetists and surgeons. The communication skills score increased with age and job experience. To improve communication and teamwork in ORs, there should be organized education programmes aimed at developing the communication skills of OR staff. Communication in the operating room is key to ensure patient safety. The results provide direction on how leaders can improve communication between OR staff. More work is needed to integrate communication skills into the undergraduate and postgraduate education of OR staff. In order to evaluate the communication skills of OR staff more concretely it is suggested that the results of studies which were carried out in this subject at different hospitals are increased.
11.
Source(s) of support None.
12. 13.
14.
15. 16. 17.
18.
19.
Declaration of interest
20.
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.
21.
Presentation at a meeting
22.
This study presented as the poster at 9th National Turk Surgical and Operating Room Nursing Congress, which was in Mugla between the dates 12e15 November 2015.
23.
References
24.
1. Carney BT, West P, Neily J, Mills P, Bagian C. Differences in nurse and surgeon perceptions of teamwork: implications for use of a briefing checklist in the OR. AORN J. 2010;91(6):722e729. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aorn.2009.11.066. 2. Agha RA, Fowler AJ, Sevdalis N. The role of non-technical skills in surgery. Ann Med Surg. 2015;4:422e427. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amsu.2015.10.006. €ttems LBD, Pires MRGM, De Oliveria MLC. Safety culture in the 3. Carvalho PA, Go operating room of a public hospital in the perception of healthcare
25.
26.
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