Sustaining multidisciplinary team training in New Zealand hospitals: a qualitative study of a national simulation-based initiative.

Aim: Healthcare is delivered by teams, but the training of healthcare staff is commonly undertaken in professional silos. This study investigated local perspectives on the sustainability of NetworkZ, a New Zealand national simulation-based multi-disciplinary operating room team training programme.

Method: Local course instructors and managers were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews. Diffusion of innovations theory was utilised to frame deductive thematic analysis of interview data.

Results: Twenty-seven people participated. Interviewees described valuing NetworkZ for its multi-disciplinary orientation, in-situ delivery, scenario realism, relevance to teamwork and communication and potential for generalisability to other settings. Interviewees also identified NetworkZ as generating improvements in teamwork and crisis management. NetworkZ was described as complex, due to multidisciplinary participation and the multiple roles and skillsets of instructors needed to run simulations smoothly, making the programme resource intensive to deliver.

Conclusion: NetworkZ is appreciated as a valuable and unique programme for developing important teamwork and communication skills. Its sustainability is dependent on adequate resourcing and funding.