Aims The delivery of high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation is associated with improved patient outcome. UK Resuscitation Council guidelines advise that effective leadership and early identification of roles are associated with improved ‘hands on’ time and time to defibrillation. This single-centre study evaluates the introduction of a daily ‘safety huddle’ on junior doctors’ experiences of working in the Medical Emergency Team. Specifically, looking at the role of ‘non-technical skills’ such as communication, teamwork and leadership, and their influence on the organisation of the team.

Methods Junior doctors (FY1-ST7) working in the Medical Emergency Team in a central London hospital were surveyed. Responses were collected pre- and post-intervention. The intervention was a structured twice-daily briefing, including: team member introductions, role allocation, review of guidelines, ‘question of the day’ and feedback from recent emergencies.

Results Pre-intervention (n=45) and post-intervention (n=40) responses were analysed. Prior to the introduction of safety huddles, 69% of doctors reported never starting the day with introductions and role allocations, compared to 4% post-intervention. 80% reported starting a clinical day without being aware of whom their team members were on >3 occasions. This decreased to 20% post-intervention. Pre-intervention, 67% of doctors surveyed felt unfamiliarity within the team had affected performance; this decreased to 33% post-intervention. Safety huddles were found to have improved both communication (using Likert scale: 1 = Strongly Disagree; 10 =Strongly Agree. Mean response = 8.9) and leadership (mean = 8.7) within the team.

Conclusions The introduction of ‘safety huddles’ results in a measured improvement in junior doctors’ experiences of teamwork, communication and leadership within the Medical Emergency Team. This has the potential to improve both the safety and quality of emergency care to acutely unwell patients.