StOP?-Trial: Impact of Structured Communication in the OR on Surgical Site Infections: Prospective Observational Clinical Trial

Background

A number of publications has shown a relatively high rate of complications that are related to the treatment and not to the disease. Such iatrogenic incidents are an important influence on patient morbidity and increase healthcare costs. Therefore, patient safety and minimizing the risk of iatrogenic harm has become a major concern in healthcare. Surgical site infection (SSI) is one of the most frequent complication in patients that undergo surgery, leading to considerable costs.

In a previous study, the investigators established an empirical relationship between communication during surgery and SSI was shown in a prospective observational study in 167 patients undergoing major elective open abdominal procedures. An analysis of 11383 communication events observed by a team of trained work psychologists showed a relationship between intraoperative communication and SSI. Adjusted logistic regression analysis revealed that more case-relevant communication during the entire procedure was associated with a significant reduction in organ/space SSI (odds ratio 0.861, 95% confidence interval 0.750-0.987; P=0.034). Interestingly, case-irrelevant communication during the last 20 minutes of the procedure was associated with a significant increase of incisional SSI (odds ratio 1.1153, 95% confidence interval 1.040-1.196; P=0.002). Distractors such as noise and traffic were also assessed but had no effect on SSI. The current study is based on these observations, which reveal that case-relevant communication protects from organ/space SSI and case-irrelevant communication during the last 20 minutes of the procedure is a risk factor for SSI.

These findings can be interpreted in light of previous studies assessing communication in surgery and similar collaborative tasks which showed that explicit task-relevant communication fosters the development of a shared mental model of the task within the team. This facilitates coordination, because all team members are informed about the state of task progress, and can better anticipate their contribution. This is particularly important in critical phases of the procedure, as well as in OR teams composed of members with different levels of knowledge and expertise. Explicit task-related communication may be particularly useful to inform non-sterile team members (anesthetists, scrub nurses) that do not have full sight of the operative field at all times.

Although case-irrelevant communication in surgical teams has been found to foster a positive team-climate, it can be seen as a distractor if it diverts the attention away from the main task. This is more likely during the closing phase (last 20 minutes), because for most of the team members, the central task is already finished, and clearing and cleaning are routine tasks. If during routine tasks the team engages in too much non-patient relevant communication, attention to the closure may be diverted.