Tools4Teams Doctoral Candidates

9 of the 12 Tools4Teams Doctoral Candidates during the Kick-off meeting in Amsterdam in September. Asma Sabri joined the meeting online, and the remaining 2 candidates will join the team soon!

                                                           Marija Topalovic

Hello! I am Marija, a doctoral candidate at the Copenhagen Academy for Medical Education and Simulation (CAMES). I’m working on Project 1: “Psychological Safety and Conflict Management in Teamwork in the Operating Theatre.” My academic journey has enabled me to master medical skills, delve into research, and embrace leadership and management roles through student council. As a doctor at the Clinic for Pulmonology, I gained a deeper understanding of respiratory diseases, developed professional skills through a residency in internal medicine, actively participated in the work of esteemed consortia, and conducted research primarily in pulmonology, all while recognizing the critical importance of teamwork in healthcare and its direct impact on patient safety. The spark for learning more about team dynamics and communication led me to pursue this position, and I am very grateful to be a part of the T4T network. Our research aims to understand the challenges of communication and teamwork within operating theatres’ fast-paced and often stressful environments and develop improvement solutions that will ultimately lead to delivering exceptional healthcare to our patients. I am excited to be part of the T4T network and make a difference together!

Jingwen Yang

My name is Jingwen Yang. I became a Ph.D. student in the Department of Industry Engineering & Innovative Sciences at Eindhoven University of Technology in September. I acquired my master’s degree in Cognitive Psychology at Kyushu University and, during that time, my research interest mainly concerned cognitive underpinnings of health communication. I also have two years of industry experience in the field of medical equipment. Thanks to my involvement (both in the promotion and in the development of medical equipment) I became not only interested in physiological signals accompanying cognition, but I also had the chance to connect with hospital staff and patients in real medical contexts, which was extremely meaningful to me. These past experiences drove me to apply for the position of project No.2 “Wearables for Acute Care Teams (WeACT)”. I wish to adopt multidisciplinary methods, including psychological and physiological ones, to uncover the possible mechanism underlying effective teamwork in acute care and explore accessible ways to improve their outcome.

Lilien Schewski

Grüessech, my name is Lilien Schewski, a psychologist with specialization in work, economic, and social psychology. I have always had a deep interest in occupational health psychology, as the focus on well-being and health aspects in the workplace has many beneficial effects on teamwork. Good teamwork can lead to better work performance, job satisfaction, and patient outcomes in clinical care. Therefore, I am more than happy to be a part of this project (Project 3 “An automatic speech recognition tool to assess feedback and improve team communication in operating room teams“ ) and work with my team in Bern with the aim to develop an automated tool to detect stress-related cues in speech, provide surgeons with feedback on their communication patterns, and give recommendations. The implementation of machine learning and artificial intelligence in research is a future-directed approach, and I am looking forward to being a part of this network. In the meantime, I would also like to improve my Swiss German (Switzerdütsch).

Arndt Pool

Hi, my name is Arndt, I grew up in Northwestern Germany on a farm. After my abitur, I went on studying business administration (B.A.) and then Psychology (B.Sc.) in Groningen, Netherlands. I then graduated in Work- and Organizational Psychology in the IJRMWOP program. During these eventful years, I grew a strong interest in learning about research and design, as well as an interest in how we as humans cooperate generally. Now, I get to study how they do it properly, under extremely stressful situations with my position with Tools4Teams and at UZH in the Applied Team Research Group (Project 4 “Development of a behavioural anchored rating scale to assess reflection quality during debriefings”). With Tools4Teams, I want to utilize mixed methods approaches to develop a Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) to measure reflection quality in teamwork, specifically applied to teams performing medical acute care. I want to develop this scale to test under what conditions teams reflect well and how team reflection can be improved. Also, I am interested in how teams with good reflection influence the work of various other, connected teams and understand social influence processes of good reflection over time.

Laura Moens

Hello there! I’m Laura, and I am working on Project number 5  “VR-based assessment and training of situation awareness in emergency care teams”. My academic journey started in social psychology, but my passion for leveraging technology to tackle social challenges led me to pursue a second master’s degree in engineering psychology. After graduating, I worked for 3 years as a Human Factors consultant where I was involved in EU-funded projects about human-centred innovation in safety-critical domains such as aviation, manufacturing, and crisis management. However, my heart lies in the healthcare domain and the clinical setting.
As a PhD Candidate, my mission is to develop an innovative VR tool that will aid trainers in assessing and enhancing non-technical skills within emergency care teams. I will collaborate with the University and Hospital of Bern, the Patient Safety Research team at the FHNW and OramaVR to achieve this ambitious goal. I am very excited to work alongside the other candidates of the T4T network to contribute to safer and more effective healthcare!

Sara Cucurachi

Hello! My name is Sara and I’ll be a PhD student at the Department of General Practice at Galway University (Ireland). I completed a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology at the University of Turin. While studying for my degrees I also volunteered at nursing homes and worked different jobs, with the main one being a teacher in elementary schools. After completing my master’s degree I spent 14 months at the University of Orebro where I worked in the criminology (CVS) and psychology Department (LEADER). I then moved to Czech Republic to be a consultant for private companies. I’ll be working on project number 6 “Remote monitoring of patients in the community” which aims to highlight the barriers and enablers in the remote monitoring of patients to develop useful guidelines. My goal is to bring a human-centred, empathetic and inclusive approach to chronic decentralised care and, possibly, a significant contribution to academic research and medical discourse. I’m extremely excited to work in such a stimulating environment!

Yutian (Tony) Sun

Hello Everyone! My name is Yutian (Tony) Sun. I am currently a PhD student in the Department of Public Health at Amsterdam UMC, and I am working on project number 7  “Human-centered networked care”. I have a master’s degree in Human-computer Interaction from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from the California College of the Arts. I have worked as a User Experience Designer at Shopee, the University of Illinois Hospital, and Steelcase. For this research project, I aim to identify the facilitators and barriers for all stakeholders in hand-wrist orthopedic care. Then I will investigate and implement networked care through a human-centered design approach. I’m absolutely enthusiastic about contributing to this highly diverse and intellectually stimulating work environment!

Carla Molenaar

My name is Carla. I hold a master’s degree in the field of human nutrition and dietetics. For the last ten years, I have been working in a large academic hospital in a disadvantaged township in South Africa. During this time, I gained valuable experience and insights into health system challenges, multi-disciplinary teamwork, integrated care and social determinants of health care delivery. I developed a passion for healthcare improvements and innovations that will facilitate seamless and comprehensive health care really focusing on the needs and circumstances of individual patients. I furthered my studies with a post-graduate diploma in public health. I will be working on project 8 “A network communications platform to support transmural care teams”. My goal is to bring healthcare team members together in collaboration to optimise effective patient-centred care. I am looking forward to being part of a passionate, energetic team working towards always improving the safety and quality of health care provided.

Jicke Höök

Hello, I am Jicke Höök, a registered nurse and university lecturer. Before embarking on my doctoral journey, I worked as a teacher at the Institute of Health and Care Sciences at the University of Gothenburg. In this role, I facilitated various teamwork exercises, including full-scale simulations, aligning with the theme of my master thesis, which explored nursing students’ experiences of interprofessional simulation with medical students. With experience in nursing across four European countries and proficiency in seven European languages, I am familiar with diverse team structures within European healthcare services. Currently engaged in Project Number 9  “Coordination in multi-team healthcare systems”, my focus is on coordination in multi-team healthcare systems (MTSs). I am motivated to contribute to a safer and more seamless post-hospital care experience for patients throughout Europe. Leveraging my clinical and academic background in teamwork, I am excited about the prospect of gaining a deeper understanding of how MTSs can be successfully coordinated. I look forward to this adventure alongside my fellow doctoral candidates and supervisors.

Kathrin Adamietz

Hi, I am Kathrin and I am a PhD student at the Institute of Patient Safety at the University Hospital in Bonn, Germany. I absolved two master’s degrees (in Global Health as well as in Psychology) at the University of Maastricht to gain a holistic perspective on healthcare, fostering an appreciation for diverse perspectives and interdisciplinary approaches.

I am working on project 10, “Full-scale surgical teamwork training through augmented-reality (AR) simulation: Clinical implementation and effectiveness for provider and patient care performance”. I am excited about the intersection of technology and healthcare and the seamless integration of new AR technologies into clinical practice for optimal outcomes.

Thrilled to be part of this international and interdisciplinary team, I am looking forward to become a better researcher by learning with and from my new colleagues.

Fatama Faraj

Hello there! My name is Fatama Faraj. I hold a master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Science and as a registered pharmacist I have worked closely with various healthcare professionals in the primary sector. While working at a Swedish pharmacy, I developed a passion for patient-centered healthcare, as well as the desire to enhance the interaction between healthcare providers and citizens. I will be working on the doctoral project 11, “Simulation as a tool to support care workers in the primary sector” hosted by Copenhagen Academy for Medical Education and Simulation (CAMES). I intend to identify the challenges, needs, and wishes of care workers interacting with citizens in the primary sector by examining the current care practice. Additionally, I will investigate how well simulation-based training, provided by the Copenhagen municipality, aligns with the required proficiency in real-world practice and how simulation supports care workers in their helping role. I am thrilled to be a member of the Tools4Teams network, and I am sure that our research will make a meaningful impact.

Asma Sabri

Hi! I’m Asma Sabri, a PhD student at the University of Stavanger in Norway. I’m passionate about healthcare and education, and I’m dedicated to improving patient care and safety in acute settings. I have extensive experience as a nurse anaesthetist in both public and private hospitals, and I hold a Master’s degree in Advanced Healthcare from The Health Sciences Institute at Hassan I University in Morocco. In addition to my clinical work, I’ve also taught at a private school of rehabilitation and nursing, where I’ve honed my skills in education and mentorship. I aim to use my expertise to promote person-centred care in acute settings. I want to make a meaningful impact on the lives of patients and their loved ones by ensuring they receive the highest standard of care and support during critical moments in their health journey 
(Project 12 “Patient and family involvement in acute care teamwork”).