Leadership is the essential human factor in the trauma team – results of a qualitative study

Introduction Trauma is the leading cause of death for young people in Norway [1]. Studies indicate that several of these deaths are avoidable if the patient receives correct initial treatment [2-4]. The trauma team is responsible for initial hospital treatment of traumatized patients, and team members have previously reported that non-technical skills as communication, leadership and cooperation are the major challenges [5]. Better team function could improve patient outcome. The aim of this study was to obtain a deeper understanding of which human factors are important to members of the trauma team during initial examination and treatment of trauma patients.