Healthcare professionals’ perception of safety culture and the Operating Room (OR) Black Box technology before clinical implementation: a cross-sectional survey

INTRODUCTION: Comprehensive data capture systems such as the Operating Room Black Box (OR Black Box) are becoming more widely implemented to access quality data in the complex environment of the OR. Prior to installing an OR Black Box, we assessed perceptions on safety attitudes, impostor phenomenon and privacy concerns around digital information sharing among healthcare professionals in the OR. A parallel survey was conducted in Canada, hence, this study also discusses cultural and international differences when implementing new technology in healthcare. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey using three previously validated questionnaires (Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ), Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale, Dispositional Privacy Concern) was distributed through Research Electronic Data Capture to 145 healthcare professionals from the OR (July to December 2019). Analysis of variance and analysis of covariance were used to test for differences. RESULTS: 124 responded (86%): 100 completed the survey (69%) (38 nurses, 10 anaesthesiologists, 36 obstetricians/gynaecologists, 16 residents). Significant variability in all six SAQ domains, safety climate and teamwork being the lowest ranked and job satisfaction ranked highest for all groups. The SAQ varied in all domains in Canada. Moderate to frequent impostor phenomenon was experienced by 71% predominantly among residents (p=0.003). 72% in the Canadian study. Residents were most comfortable with digital information sharing (p<0.001), only 13% of all healthcare professionals were concerned/heavy concerned compared with 45% in Canada. CONCLUSIONS: The different healthcare professional groups had diverse perceptions about safety culture, but were mainly concerned about safety climate and teamwork in the OR. Impostor phenomenon decreased with age. All groups were unconcerned about digital information sharing. The Canadian study had similar findings in terms of impostor phenomenon, but a variety within the SAQ and were more concerned about data safety, which could be due to medical litigation per se and is not widespread in Scandinavia compared with North America.