Diversity and ethics in trauma and acute care surgery teams: results from an international survey

• Published in: World journal of emergency surgery 2022-08, Vol.17 (1), p.1-44, Article 44
• Main Authors: Cobianchi, Lorenzo, Dal Mas, Francesca, Massaro, Maurizio, Biffl, Walter, Catena, Fausto, Coccolini, Federico, Dionigi, Beatrice, Dionigi, Paolo, Di Saverio, Salomone, Fugazzola, Paola, Kluger, Yoram, Leppäniemi, Ari, Moore, Ernest E., Sartelli, Massimo, Velmahos, George, Woltz, Sarah, Angelos, Peter, Ansaloni, Luca, Abdelmalik, Abubaker, Abebe, Nebyou Seyoum, Abu-Zidan, Fikri M., Adam, Yousif Abdallah Yousif, Adamou, Harissou, Agrusa, Antonino, Akin, Emrah, Alexandrino, Henrique, Ali, Syed Muhammad, Almeida, Pedro Miguel, Amico, Francesco, Ammendola, Michele, Andreuccetti, Jacopo, Aparicio-Sanchez, Daniel, Ardito, Antonella, Argenio, Giulio, Askevold, Ingolf Harald, Atanasov, Boyko Tchavdarov, Augustin, Goran, Awad, Selmy Sabry, Bagnoli, Carlo, Bains, Lovenish, Balalis, Dimitrios, Baldini, Edoardo, Baraket, Oussama, Barone, Mirko, Barreras, Jorge Arturo, Bellanova, Giovanni, Biancuzzi, Helena, Bignell, Mark Brian, Bini, Roberto, Bissacco, Daniele, Boati, Paoll, Bottari, Andrea, Bouliaris, Konstantinos, Brillantino, Antonio, Buonomo, Luis Antonio, Buscemi, Salvatore, Calu, Valentin, Campo Dall’Orto, Riccardo, Campostrini, Stefano, Carvas, Joao Miguel, Casoni Pattacini, Gianmaria, Celentano, Valerio, Ceresoli, Marco, Chirica, Mircea, Cianci, Pasquale, Cillara, Nicola, Cimbanassi, Stefania, Cioffi, Stefano Piero Bernardo, Colak, Elif, Conti, Luigi, Dantas Costa, Silvia, D’Acapito, Fabrizio, Damaskos, Dimitrios, Das, Koray, Davies, Richard Justin, De Beaux, Andrew Charles, De Simone, Belinda, Demetrashvili, Zaza, Demetriades, Andreas Kyriacou, Denicolai, Stefano, Di Buono, Giuseppe, Di Carlo, Isidoro, Diaconescu, Bogdan, Dibra, Rigers, Dios-Barbeito, Sandra, Dogjani, Agron, Domanin, Maurizio, D’Oria, Mario, Duran Munoz-Cruzado, Virginia, East, Barbora, Ekwen, Gerald Takem, Elbaih, Adel Hamed, Escalera-Antezana, Juan Pablo, Esposito, Giuseppe, Farre, Roser, Ferrario di Tor Vajana, Antonjacopo, Cordeiro Fonseca, Vinicius, Forfori, Francesco, Fortuna, Laura, Fradelos, Evangelos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acute care surgery; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive ability; Consent; Decision making; Diversity; Emergency medical care; Ethics; Gender; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Patient satisfaction; Questionnaires; Surgery; Team dynamics; Teams; Trauma surgery
• ISSN: 1749-7922; 1749-7922
• DOI: 10.1186/s13017-022-00446-8

Background Investigating the context of trauma and acute care surgery, the article aims at understanding the factors that can enhance some ethical aspects, namely the importance of patient consent, the perceptiveness of the ethical role of the trauma leader, and the perceived importance of ethics as an educational subject. Methods The article employs an international questionnaire promoted by the World Society of Emergency Surgery. Results Through the analysis of 402 fully filled questionnaires by surgeons from 72 different countries, the three main ethical topics are investigated through the lens of gender, membership of an academic or non-academic institution, an official trauma team, and a diverse group. In general terms, results highlight greater attention paid by surgeons belonging to academic institutions, official trauma teams, and diverse groups. Conclusions Our results underline that some organizational factors (e.g., the fact that the team belongs to a university context or is more diverse) might lead to the development of a higher sensibility on ethical matters. Embracing cultural diversity forces trauma teams to deal with different mindsets. Organizations should, therefore, consider those elements in defining their organizational procedures. Level of evidence Trauma and acute care teams work under tremendous pressure and complex circumstances, with their members needing to make ethical decisions quickly. The international survey allowed to shed light on how team assembly decisions might represent an opportunity to coordinate team member actions and increase performance.