Title

Surgical team communication and operating room safety culture: A mixed methods assessment using safety attitude questionnaires and ethnographic observations

Authors

Prajin Kishore Pushparaj Virgin Rani¹, Varsha Raja Ayyanar^1,* & Sanjay M. Walulkar²

Affiliation

¹Department of Urology, Royal Cornwall Hospital NHS Trust, Cornwall, United Kingdom; ²Department of Anatomy, N.K.P. Salve Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Centre and Lata Mangeshkar Hospital, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Prajin Kishore Pushparaj Virgin Rani - E-mail: prajinkisz@gmail.com; Phone: +44 7352678622

Varsha Raja Ayyanar - E-mail: varsha.rajaayyanar@nhs.net; Phone: +44 7778099469

Sanjay M. Walulkar - E-mail: sanjaymwalulkar@gmail.com

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received July 1, 2026; Revised July 31, 2026; Accepted July 31, 2026, Published July 31, 2026

Abstract

Effective communication among surgical team members is essential for patient safety, as communication failures are a leading cause of preventable adverse events during surgical procedures. Therefore, it is of interest to examine the relationship between communication within surgical teams and the culture of safety in the operating room. Qualitative data will be obtained through ethnographic observations of the surgical environment, while quantitative assessment will be conducted using the validated Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ). The integration of these methods will provide a comprehensive understanding of communication patterns, team dynamics and their influence on safe surgical practices. Thus, data show that barriers and facilitators to effective communication and support strategies to enhance patient safety and surgical team performance.

Keywords

Surgical team communication, operating room safety, patient safety culture, safety attitude questionnaire (SAQ), teamwork in surgery, ethnographic observation, healthcare communication, operating room dynamics, clinical safety practices, mixed methods research

Citation

Rani et al. Bioinformation 22(7): 4375-4379 (2026)

Edited by

A Prashanth

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.