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Paradoxical Effects Of Interprofessional Briefings On Or Team Performance, Sarah Whyte, Lorelei Lingard, Sherry Espin, G. Baker, John Bohnen, Beverley Orser, Diane Doran, Richard Reznick, Glenn Regehr

Lorelei Lingard

Our recent research has found that structured preoperative team briefings can reduce communication failures, improve the knowledge and practice of operating room (OR) team members, and garner broad support from surgeons, nurses, and anesthesiologists. However, we have also encountered challenges and unexpected, negative effects. Using qualitative analysis of fieldnotes from 302 preoperative team briefings, we identified five paradoxical findings: team briefings could mask knowledge gaps, disrupt positive communication, reinforce professional divisions, create tension, and perpetuate a problematic culture. Fifteen percent of the briefings exhibited only these paradoxical effects without any apparent utility. We describe these paradoxical findings and analyze them …