Table 1 Roles and goals of resuscitation team members described during 18 interviews

Attending emergency physician, 4

• Provide the best care in a timely organized manner that is safe for the patient

• Effectively resuscitate a patient and either deliver definitive care or delineate what definitive care is required

• Overall patient survival, identifying injuries needing treatment urgently, identifying what services need to be involved, what needs to be done now—prioritizing what treatments are needed, what services needed to be involved and what investigations need to be done

Trauma team leader, 2

• Keep patient alive, treat any presenting injury in the best way possible, as quickly as possible

• “global vision” of the resuscitation scenario

• Take the injured patient, resuscitate them, identify all their injuries and make sure that all of their injuries are dealt with in a timely manner

• Coordinate everyone else, all bodily systems get dealt with

Charting nurse, 1

• Have a complete oversight of the whole resuscitation situation, ensuring that all critical information, times, interventions, medication administrations and specialist involvement are documented for patient and hospital records

Task nurse (intravenous access), 1

• Efficiently and effectively gain IV access on the patient upon arrival and obtain, send and receive laboratory work and results expediently

Task nurse (monitor), 1

• Efficiently and effectively hook up the patient to monitors upon arrival

• Taking care of the patient and continuing care ensuring there is follow up after blood results

• Give proper treatment

• Foresee if the patient is deteriorating

Emergency medicine resident, 2

• Participate in the treatment and management of the patient to obtain further experience in emergency situations

Respiratory therapist, 2

• To help the patient achieve a clear airway

Administrative clerk, 2

• Quickly and efficiently page for or locate any supplies, services or devices required for the physicians and nurses to effectively manage and treat the patient

Patient care assistant, 1

• Quickly and efficiently moving or transferring the patient to appropriate location, being “hyper aware” for any missed injuries or contusions on the patient’s body

Social worker, 1

• Working in parallel alongside the resuscitation team as both the patient’s and family member’s advocate, being the family members eyes and ears in the trauma situation.

• Attend to the family’s needs in the most efficient and effective way possible

Paramedic, 1

• Safely transport the patient to the care of the hospital with all the information that has directed care up until that point and will continue to direct care when the hospital team takes over