Interprofessional non-technical skills for surgeons in disaster response: a qualitative study of the Australian perspective.

Interprofessional non-technical skills for surgeons in disaster response have not yet been developed. The aims of this study were to identify the non-technical skills required of surgeons in disaster response and training for disaster response and to explore the barriers and facilitators to interprofessional practice in surgical teams responding to disasters. Twenty health professionals, with prior experience in natural disaster response or education, participated in semi-structured in-depth interviews. A qualitative matrix analysisdesign was used to thematically analyze the data. Non-technical skills for surgeons in disaster response identified in this study included skills for austereenvironments, cognitive strategiesand interprofessional skills. Skills for austereenvironments were physical self-careincluding survival skills, psychological self-care, flexibility, adaptability, innovation and improvisation. Cognitive strategiesidentified in this study were “big picture” thinking, situational awaren...