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. 2016 Aug;50(4):487-96.
doi: 10.1007/s12160-016-9773-0.

An Ethogram to Quantify Operating Room Behavior

Laura K Jones  1 , Bonnie Mowinski Jennings  2 , Ryan M Goelz  3   4 , Kent W Haythorn  5 , Joel B Zivot  6   7 , Frans B M de Waal  8
Affiliations

An Ethogram to Quantify Operating Room Behavior

Laura K Jones et al. Ann Behav Med. 2016 Aug.

Abstract

Background: The operating room (OR) is a highly social and hierarchical setting where interprofessional team members must work interdependently under pressure. Due primarily to methodological challenges, the social and behavioral sciences have had trouble offering insight into OR dynamics.

Purpose: We adopted a method from the field of ethology for observing and quantifying the interpersonal interactions of OR team members.

Methods: We created and refined an ethogram, a catalog of all our subjects' observable social behaviors. The ethogram was then assessed for its feasibility and interobserver reliability.

Results: It was feasible to use an ethogram to gather data in the OR. The high interobserver reliability (Cohen's Kappa coefficients of 81 % and higher) indicates its utility for yielding largely objective, descriptive, quantitative data on OR behavior.

Conclusions: The method we propose has potential for social research conducted in healthcare settings as complex as the OR.

Keywords: Health communication; Health services research; Worksite health.

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Conflict of interest statement

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Author’s Statement of Conflict of Interest and Adherence to Ethical Standards Authors Laura K. Jones, Bonnie Mowinski Jennings, Ryan M. Goelz, Kent W. Haythorn, Joel B. Zivot, and Frans B. M. de Waal declare that they have no conflict of interest involving anyone/anything associated with this manuscript. The highest ethics were practiced and all IRB stipulations were met.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The image above is an iPad Screen Shot of Neukadye’s Timestamped Field Notes™ (http://www.neukadye.com). The top of the screen shot lists timestamps corresponding to each coded event. The bottom section of the screen shot shows the keys for each code in the ethogram. The shading is for aesthetic purposes and has no meaning beyond its utility for the coders
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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