Teamwork makes the dream work?

Numbered jerseys effectively increase overall teamwork performance during cardiac arrest.

In new research from CHEST 2017, a team from Montefiore Medical Center in New York aimed to create a team-driven atmosphere in the hospital and hypothesized that the use of personalized numbered jerseys for each member of the code team would help to improve teamwork and overall time to perform critical clinical actions.

The study included ten critical care medicine fellows who were randomized into two groups. One group received personalized number jerseys for each code team member, while the control team wore their regular clothes. Each of the groups were asked to participate in six cardiac arrest scenarios using high-fidelity simulation, and participants alternated between team leader and team member roles for each case. Trained faculty using the validated16-item Mayo High Performance Teamwork scale graded teamwork.

Results found that the Mayo Teamwork score was significantly higher in the group donning team jerseys as compared with the control group. (23.5 vs 17.5, P <.01). In addition, there was a statistically significant difference in the percent of directed commands in the experimental vs control groups (35.63% vs 19.58%, P<.01).

“This study demonstrated that the use of numbered jerseys for individual code team members is an effective way to significantly increase the overall teamwork performance during a CA event,” says Dr. Yekaterina Kim, lead searcher, “in addition, the use of such jerseys significantly increased the number of direct commands by team leaders during such scenarios, thereby reducing the percent of ineffective commands.”

Further results from this study will be shared at CHEST Annual Meeting 2017 in Toronto on Wednesday, November 1, 1:30 PM-2:30 PM at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Exhibit Hall, Poster Number 130. The study abstract can be viewed on the journal CHEST® website.