Multi-Disciplinary Trauma Evaluation and Management Simulation (MD-TEAMS) training for emergency medicine and general surgery residents

Successful trauma resuscitation relies on multi-disciplinary collaboration. In most academic programs, general surgery (GS) and emergency medicine (EM) residents rarely train together before functioning as a team. In our Multi-Disciplinary Trauma Evaluation and Management Simulation (MD-TEAMS), EM and GS residents completed manikin-based trauma scenarios and were evaluated on resuscitation and communication skills. Residents were surveyed on confidence surrounding training objectives. Residents showed improved confidence running trauma scenarios in multi-disciplinary teams. Residents received lower communication scores from same-discipline vs cross-discipline faculty. EM residents scored higher in evaluation and planning domains; GS residents scored higher in action processes; groups scored equally in team management. Strong correlation existed between team leader communication and resuscitative skill completion. MD-TEAMS demonstrated correlation between communication and resuscitation checklist item completion and communication differences by resident specialty. In the future, we plan to evaluate training-related resident behavior changes and specialty-specific communication differences by residents. •Residents receive lower communication scores from same-discipline vs cross-discipline faculty.•Communication styles in trauma simulations vary by resident specialty.•Communication scores strongly predict completion of resuscitation checklist items.