Effect of Communication Skills on Patient Safety among Surgical Team Members in Operating Room: A Qualitative Study

Improvement of communication skills and all activities among the surgical team members during the operations can accelerate the patient safety (PS) and reduce the rate of surgical errors (SEs). Besides, the real impact of communicational skills on PS needs more attention. Thus, in the present qualitative investigation, the authors aimed to assess the probable significant relevancy among the impacts of precise communication of surgical team members and PS in operating room (OR).

The grounded theory approach was hired for investigation and the samples were selected purposefully. Then, interviews were applied among the surgical team members (n=8), including anesthesiologists, surgical technologists (STs), and the surgeons. Finally, Strauss and Corbin’s assays were used for data analysis. 

The findings revealed that the interfering agents influencing PS can be categorized into two time-periods of prior to the surgery (with 5 sub-categories) and during the surgery (with 3 sub-groups). 

The communication and cooperation are two crucial essentials requiring for OR teamwork activities. Thus, the PS is directly affected by comprehensive communication among the surgical team members.