Measuring teamwork for training in healthcare using eye tracking and pose estimation

Abstract

Teamwork is critical for safe patient care. Healthcare teams typically train teamwork in simulated clinical situations, which require the ability to measure teamwork via behavior observation. However, the required observations are prone to human biases and include significant cognitive load even for trained instructors. In this observational study we explored how eye tracking and pose estimation as two minimal invasive video-based technologies may measure teamwork during simulation-based teamwork training in healthcare. Mobile eye tracking, measuring where participants look, and multi-person pose estimation, measuring 3D human body and joint position, were used to record 64 third-year medical students who completed a simulated handover case in teams of four. On one hand, we processed the recorded data into the eye contact metric, based on eye tracking and relevant for situational awareness and communication patterns. On the other hand, the distance to patient metric was processed, based on multi-person pose estimation and relevant for team positioning and coordination. After successful data recording, we successfully processed the raw videos to specific teamwork metrics. The average eye contact time was 6.46 s [min 0 s – max 28.01 s], while the average distance to the patient resulted in 1.01 m [min 0.32 m – max 1.6 m]. Both metrics varied significantly between teams and simulated roles of participants (p < 0.001). With the objective, continuous, and reliable metrics we created visualizations illustrating the teams’ interactions. Future research is necessary to generalize our findings and how they may complement existing methods, support instructors, and contribute to the quality of teamwork training in healthcare.

How to enrich team research in healthcare by considering five theoretical perspectives

“…In our view, it is precisely the diversity of interdisciplinary methods that would allow for other, new angles for research. Studying healthcare teams by translating and applying methods from medicine and nursing, organizational behavior, psychology, mechanical engineering and informatics seems now easier than a decade ago and allows for new avenues and methodologies for studying healthcare team dynamics ( Rosen et al, 2014 , 2018 ; Hałgas et al, 2023 ; Weiss et al, 2023 ). While we are aware of the enormous effort involved in planning, conducting and analyzing healthcare team research with any of the discussed perspectives, we believe in their potential for improving teamwork and patient care.…”