Project Descriptions

The following 12 Doctoral Projects represent a multi-methodological and multidisciplinary approach to teamwork, showcasing the diversity of research in this field. All 12 Doctoral Projects are funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Networks Programme of the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.

Project 1: Psychological safety and conflict management in teamwork in the operating theatre

Recruiting organisation: Copenhagen Academy for Medical Education and Simulation (CAMES), Denmark

Supervisor: Dr. Peter Dieckmann

Doctoral Candidate: Marija Topalovic

Secondments:  UZH, Switzerland, 2 months; Tue Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 3 months

Summary: The PhD project aims to enhance the understanding of conflict management in the operating room (OR) setting by exploring conflicts and respective conflict management strategies and to investigate simulation as a tool for improving conflict management skills among the OR healthcare professionals. Full project description.

Project 2: Wearables for Acute Care Teams (WeACT)

Recruiting organisation: Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. 

Supervisor: Dr. Josette Gevers 

Doctoral Candidate:  Jingwen Yang

Secondments:  Dr. Travis Wiltshire, Tilburg University, The Netherlands (3 months); Prof. Peter Dieckmann, REGIONH, Denmark (3 months)

Summary: The project aims to explore the effectiveness of team biofeedback (using wearables) in acute care context. Its objectives are to: 

  1. Propose a theoretical framework regarding how team biofeedback can be designed in different formats to promote team effectiveness 
  2. Make recommendations of effective biofeedback design for acute care teams by comparing various designs in empirical studies.
    Full project description.

Project 3: An automatic speech recognition tool to assess, feedback and improve team communication in operating room teams

Recruiting organisation: University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland 

Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Guido Beldi, Prof. Dr Tanja Manser, Dr Sandra Keller

Doctoral Candidate: Lilien Schewski 

Secondments:  Bonn University Hospital (UKB) in Germany and REGION HOVEDSTADEN (Region H) in Denmark

Summary: Based on automatic speech analysis, we will facilitate the development of an automated tool that can assess and provide feedback to surgeons on their communication patterns, with a particular focus on the expression of negative emotions and stress in their intra-operative communication. The project has following aims: (1) Identification, in audio-recorded surgical operations, patterns of speech that coincide with sequences stress and experienced negative emotions. (2) Establish a validated methodology to automatically assess negative emotions and stress based on audio-recordings. (3) Prototype a feedback system to inform surgeons on their communication patterns assessed based on audio-recordings of operations. Full project description.

Project 4: Development of a Behavioural Anchored Rating Scale to Assess Reflection Quality During Debriefings

Recruiting organisation: University of Zurich, Switzerland

Supervisor: Prof. Jan Schmutz, Prof. Peter Dieckmann

Doctoral Candidate: Arndt Pool

Secondments:  LMU Munich, Germany (2 months); Copenhagen Academy for Medical Education and Simulation (CAMES), Denmark (3 months)

Summary: evelopment of a Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) to measure Team Reflection in healthcare debriefings is achieved by a multi-pronged approach that combines inductive and deductive approaches:  

  1. Integration of the literature to outline central components and definitions of Team Reflection Quality
  2. Utilizing retranslation of expectations to identify team reflection quality behavioral markers from subject-matter experts
  3.  Quantification of reflection quality behavioral markers in debriefings to derive interventions in support of reflection during debriefings. 

 Full project description.

Project 5: VR-based assessment and training of situation awareness in emergency care teams

Recruiting organisation: University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW)

Supervisor: Prof. Tanja Manser

Doctoral Candidate: Laura Moens

Secondments:  University of Galway, Ireland, for 2 months; ORamaVR, 2 months

Summary: The focus of this PhD fellowship is to utilize VR/AR technology to assess and improve non-technical skills with a particular focus on situation awareness (SA) in emergency care teams. The project aims to:
(1) Establish a VR-based methodology to reliably assess SA during a VR-based emergency care scenario.
(2) Understand situational cues that help or hinder SA in VR-based emergency care scenarios.
(3) Investigate the relationship between SA and several performance markers related to team performance and quality of care.
(4) Develop VR-based trainings to improve SA of healthcare providers in emergency care.
See the Full project description.

Project 6: Remote monitoring of patients in the community

Recruiting organisation: Discipline of Primary Care, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland.

Supervisors: Dr. Paul O’Connor and Dr. Sinead Lydon

Co-supervisor: Prof. Tanja Manser, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) 

Doctoral Candidate: Sara Cucurachi

Secondments:  Aerogen, Galway (2 months); University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Switzerland (FHNW) (2 months)

Summary: The project aims to explore the barriers and facilitators of remote patient monitoring. Its objectives are to: (1) Identify the challenges and key enablers of remote physiological monitoring from the perspectives of all stakeholders, including healthcare professionals, patients, and technology developers. (2) Develop recommendations to overcome these barriers and enhance team performance in remote monitoring practices. See the full project description.

Project 7: Human-Centered Networked Care in Hand-Wrist Orthopedics 

Recruiting organisation: Department of Public and Occupational Health at the Amsterdam University Medical Center, the Netherlands

Supervisors: Prof. Martine de Bruijne, Dr. Marijke Melles, Dr. Hanneke Merten, Dr. Gerard Kraan

Doctoral Candidate: Yutian (Tony) Sun

Secondments:  Reinier de Graaf HAGA Orthopedic Center in Delft, NL (3 months & 2 months); University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (3 months); Department of Applied Ergonomics and Design, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology (3 months)

Summary

This PhD project aims to investigate communication and collaboration needs between hand-wrist orthopedic patients and healthcare providers. By leveraging Networked Care solutions, the research seeks to enhance patient involvement and interprofessional collaboration, ultimately optimizing treatment outcomes. The project will: (1) Identify the communication and collaboration needs of hand-wrist orthopedic patients during their care process. (2) Understand the needs and challenges faced by healthcare providers in treating patients and collaborating across teams. See the full project description

Project 8: A network communication platform to support transmural care teams

Recruiting organisation: Department of Public and Occupational Health at the Amsterdam University Medical Center, the Netherlands

Supervisors: Prof. Martine de Bruijne; dr. Marijke Melles, Thijs Rietjens, Marit B. Hagland

Doctoral Candidate: Carla Molenaar

Secondments:  Caresharing in the Netherlands (3 months); Valide AS in Norway (3 months)

Summary: The purpose of this project is to adapt, test and implement a digital information integration platform to support transmural care provided by care teams, consisting of professionals in primary and secondary care, the patient and his/her informal care givers. The goals of the project will be achieved through: (1) Investigating the needs, values, facilitators and barriers of stakeholders involved in transmural elderly care by literature review; (2) Explore specific contextual challenges for transmural team functioning and identify specific design opportunities using human centered design research techniques (i.e. a sociotechnical system perspective including stakeholder mapping, context mapping and patient journey mapping); (3) Iterative adaptive design of (extensions of) the information integration platform with support for transmural teams; (4) identify and understand cross-national differences in contextual challenges and use of transmural support tools for transmural care teams; and (5) Evaluate the impact of a tailored integration information platform to support transmural care teams. See the full project description.

Project 9: Multi-Team Systems in the Stroke Patient Trajectory: A Qualitative Approach to Understanding a Complex Care Setting 

Recruiting organisation: Centre for Resilience in Healthcare (SHARE), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stavanger, Stavanger

Supervisors: Prof. Karina Aase, Prof. Sissel Eikeland Husebø, Prof. Randi Ballangrud and Prof. Cordula Wagner.  

Doctoral Candidate: Jicke Höök

Secondments: Amsterdam Public Health Research institute, Department of Public and Occupational Health, VUmc (3 months), and Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL) (3 months), Utrecht, The Netherlands. 

Summary 

The Multi-Team System (MTS) of the stroke patient trajectory is a dynamic and adaptive organisational structure composed of multiple interdependent teams that coordinate patient care across prehospital, hospital, and post-hospital settings. Effective collaboration within the MTS is essential to ensure seamless care transitions, patient safety, and optimal recovery outcomes.

Despite its critical role, significant knowledge gaps remain regarding the structure, coordination mechanisms, and team competencies that influence MTS performance. This PhD project aims to investigate, analyse, and enhance the MTS of the stroke patient trajectory by See the full project description.

Project 10: Full-scale surgical teamwork training through augmented-reality simulation: Clinical implementation and effectiveness for provider and patient care performance

Recruiting organization: Institute for Patient Safety (IfPS), Bonn University Hospital, Germany, ifps@ukbonn.de, www.ukbonn.de/ifps

Supervisor: Prof. Matthias Weigl

Doctoral Candidate: Kathrin Adamietz

Secondments: Medability GmbH, Munich (2 Months); FH Nordwestschweiz (2 Months)

Summary: Virtual- and augmented-reality technologies offer great potential for skill training of junior surgeons. Our project addresses challenges associated with utilization and implementation of VR/AR-based training technology in surgical practice with particular focus to spine surgery. We plan to (1) Investigate VR/AR-based training as training technology in training of surgeons technical as well as non-technical skills; (2) identify implementation strategies of team training by means of VR/AR based technologies and simulators in spine surgery; (3) define measures for assessment and training of situation awareness and cognitive skills in multi-disciplinary OR teamwork; (4) and to explore consequences for provider and patient outcomes in delivery of surgical care in spine surgery. See the full project description.

Project 11: Citizens as part of the care team

Recruiting organisation: Copenhagen Academy for Medical Education and Simulation (CAMES)

Supervisor: Dr. Peter Dieckmann

Doctoral Candidate:  Fatama Faraj

Secondments:  UiS, Stavanger, Norway, for 3 months. And VUmc Amsterdam, The Netherlands, for 3 months.

Summary: The PhD project is placed in the primary sector. It investigates how the interaction between health care professionals and citizen (i.e. service users) can be supported so that citizen experience a higher degree of empowerment in everyday life, regardless of the extent or type of help and effort that the individual needs. Three studies are planned:

    1. Examine the interaction patterns between citizens and health care professionals that facilitate or hinder the empowerment and involvement of the citizens in their care in daily care situations. Field work resulting in thick descriptions of actual care situations that allow to identify interaction patterns and their context that hinder or facilitate the empowerment and team involvement of the citizen.

    1. Identify the needs and wishes of citizens and health care professionals for empowering and involvement of citizens into their care team, as well as organisational framework conditions of these interactions resulting in comprehensive understanding of the wishes and needs, as well as organisational conditions for the team involvement and empowerment of citizens.

    1. Develop a set of a tool, approaches, and guidance to be used in daily care situations in the community care sector to optimize the interaction between citizen, health care professionals, and the involved organisation, which can be used in or adapted to different primary contexts.

See the full project description.

Project 12: Patient and family involvement in acute care teamwork

Recruiting organisation: Centre for Resilience in Healthcare (SHARE), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stavanger, Stavanger

Supervisors: Prof. Sissel Eikeland Husebø, Prof. Karina Aase

Doctoral Candidate: Asma Sabri

Secondments: Amsterdam Public Health research institute, Department of Public and Occupational Health, VUmc, Amsterdam, Netherlands (3 months) and Copenhagen Academy for Medical Education and Simulation, REGIONH, Copenhagen, Denmark (3 months)

Summary: Patient and family involvement in acute care teamwork is less developed than in non-acute healthcare settings. In an acute situation the involvement of patients and their family members is often neglected. In emergency medical services such as the prehospital setting, further research is needed on the scope, extent and nature of patient and family involvement, the broader contextual processes that shape patient and family involvement, and the bidirectional implications between patient and family involvement and interprofessional teamwork. In this project, the Doctoral Candidate will therefore develop guidance on tools to support the role of patients and their family members in an acute prehospital teamwork setting. The project will identify distinct characteristics of the role of patient and family, map contextual challenges and needs, and co-develop and test a tool-bundle in a simulated setting. See the full project description.