Familiarity of surgical teams: Impact on laparoscopic procedure time

Surgical performance is a team effort. We examine whether the familiarity among laparoscopic team members will influence the procedure time (PT).A team familiarity score (TFS) and an Index of difficulty of surgery (IDS) was calculated for each of the 360 laparoscopic procedures. Simple linear, multiple linear regressions, and random forest regressions were used for data analyses.Simple linear regression shows for every 1% increase in TFS, PT decreases by about 0.24% (p < 0.001); 7% of PT variability can be explained by TFS alone. Multiple linear regression reported that 49% of PT variability can be explained when considering IDS, team size, and TFS as influencing factors. Random forest regression reported that 52% of PT variability can be explained by taking TFS, Team Size, Patient Age, and IDS into the model.Team familiarity makes a small but significant contribution to the enhancing of surgical team performance in laparoscopic procedure.