Conclusions
Although surgical staff members are resistant towards patient safety interventions that are perceived as administrative burdens, our study shows that perioperative briefing and debriefing, as a non-administrative tool, are considered a useful method for improving and sustaining participative safety and cooperation within surgical teams. It leads to more team working and clear daily work agreements. However, perioperative briefing and debriefing will become more effective for maintaining team climate when teams are complete, irrelevant questions are substituted by specific and customised ones, and when there is a safer culture for feedback. Future studies could investigate if the intervention can be tailored to each surgical team or type of surgical procedure, as we may imagine that a high-frequent, non-complex surgical procedure may not need the same briefing and debriefing approach as a complex one. Evaluating surgical safety interventions 5 years after implementation is still relevant and helps when tailoring surgical safety tools.