Measuring shared mental models in healthcare

Abstract

Objective: To review common qualitative and quantitative methods of measuring shared mental models appropriate for use in the healthcare setting. Background: Shared mental models are the overlap of individuals' set of knowledge and/or assumptions that act as the basis for understanding and decision making between individuals. Within healthcare, shared mental models facilitate effective teamwork and theorized to influence clinical decision making and performance. With the current rapid growth and expansion of healthcare teams, it is critical that we understand and correctly use shared mental model measurement methods assess optimal team performance. Unfortunately, agreement on the proper measurement of shared mental models within healthcare remains diffuse. Method: This paper presents methods appropriate to measure shared mental models within healthcare. Results: Multiple shared mental model measurement methods are discussed with regard to their utility within this setting, ease of use, and difficulties in deploying within the healthcare operational environment. For rigorous analysis of shared mental models, it is recommended that a combination of qualitative and quantitative analyses be employed. Conclusion: There are multitude of shared mental model measurement methods that can be used in the healthcare domain; although there is no perfect solution for every situation. Researchers can utilize this article to determine the best approach for their needs.

Examining non-technical skills for ad hoc resuscitation teams: a scoping review and taxonomy of team-related concepts

“…With observation alone we cannot directly estimate the extent that members share representations. In contrast, validated psychological measures of shared mental models often involve tools to identify critical aspects of teamwork in context, measure members’ individual perceptions of those aspects, and/or evaluate a group based on the degree to which members share representations [ 85 ]. Resuscitation researchers might adapt such tools to support both comprehensive evaluations of healthcare teams and specific measures of identified group processes and emergent states [ 86 ].…”

Surgical Team Familiarity: An Integrative Review

“…Thus, we suggest future research using shared mental model frameworks to determine how overlapping clinician knowledge and assumptions influence surgical clinical decision making and performance. 45 Interprofessional clinicians who regularly work together may form shared mental models that confer benefits in the surgical environment.…”

“…Familiarity is theoretically linked to shared mental models in surgical settings, but there is no direct evidence to support these assumptions. Thus, we suggest future research using shared mental model frameworks to determine how overlapping clinician knowledge and assumptions influence surgical clinical decision making and performance 45 …”

A Computational Network Model for Shared Mental Models in Hospital Operation Rooms

“…The lack of an adequate SMM in teams have been often been related to the occurrence of team errors [9,17]. It is suggested that SSM play a major role in the effectiveness, efficiency of the group decision process and performance in a variety of domains, e.g., aviation decision making and medical team decision making and command and control [3,12,14,19,25,[37][38]. Among others the adequacy of SSM have been related to patent safety in the operation room, e.g., open heart operation and tracheal intubation [15,23].…”