Semi-structured interviews
For a more in-depth understanding of experiences with perioperative briefing and debriefing and the impact on team climate, a trained and experienced researcher (M.S.) conducted 13 semi-structured interviews (face to face) at the workplace. The interviews lasted approximately 45 minutes and were audiotaped. We developed an interview topic guide (Appendix 2) partly based on the results of the short standardised evaluation questionnaire. After evaluating two interviews, the interview topics were: 1) perceived influence of perioperative briefing and debriefing on team climate, 2) experiences with perioperative briefing and debriefing, 3) perceived barriers and facilitators on the performance of perioperative briefing and debriefing and 4) recommendations for improvement. We also collected relevant interviewee characteristics (job function and years of experience in current job function).
The interviews took place between June 2019 and November 2019. We used purposive sampling to ensure a representative sample of interviewees in terms of job function and years of experience. Variation in job function (surgeon, surgical resident, anaesthesiologist, anaesthesiology resident, OR assistant and anaesthetic assistant) and surgical team were taken into account to create a diverse sample. The interviewees were informed about the aim of the study by e-mail and provided written informed consent at the start of the interview. In total, 17 surgical team members were approached to participate in an interview. Three team members did not respond in spite of a reminder e-mail and two team members wanted to participate but were unable to find a time for the interview. One team member who had not been approached by e-mail decided to participate together with his colleague at the time of his colleague’s interview. A total of 13 surgical team members were included in the semi-structured interviews.