Anna B. Newcomb

Objective: To assess the impact of a simulation-based communication workshop (GoodTalk) on teamwork, psychological safety, and communication among a culturally diverse nursing unit team. Background: As the US nursing workforce grows more diverse, nurse leaders must address challenges related to integration, communication, and team cohesion. Ineffective communication can negatively impact engagement, retention, and patient outcomes. Relationship-focused communication skills can enhance teamwork and feelings of belonging. Methods: A quasi-experimental design was implemented on a 25-bed acute rehabilitation unit in a 1036-bed academic medical center. All clinical staff participated in a tailored GoodTalk workshop. Pre and post-surveys, behavioral ratings, and qualitative feedback assessed outcomes related to teamwork, psychological safety, and communication. Results: Of 51 participants, 44 (86%) consented to research; 94% reported racial and cultural diversity, and 82% spoke English as a second language. Participants reported significant gains in confidence post-workshop in providing feedback (+0.85, P P P <0.001). Conclusions: Simulation-based communication training enhanced team culture, cohesion, and inclusivity. Nurse leaders can use this workshop blueprint for teams seeking to build cohesion, psychological safety, and strengthen engagement while advancing patient-centered care.

Background: Understanding what matters most to patients is central to person‐centered care, particularly in surgical oncology, where decisions often involve significant tradeoffs. We explored how surgeons elicit, integrate, document, and support patient values in cancer‐related decision‐making. Methods: This qualitative descriptive study involved semi‐structured interviews with surgical oncologists (June–September 2025). Participants were purposively sampled from a prior international survey to ensure variation in demographics. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Participant characteristics were summarized descriptively. Results: Fourteen surgeons participated. Most were male (71%), White (86%), and early‐career (43%), practicing primarily in gastrointestinal or hepatobiliary surgery (each 43%) at academic centers (57%) in the U.S. South or Midwest (each 36%). Surgeons described various approaches to eliciting values, including inferring values from contextual clues and clarifying tradeoffs between survival and quality‐of‐life. Values elicitation was largely situational, occurring in high‐risk or preference‐sensitive contexts. When values conflicted with recommendations, surgeons adapted plans within oncologic safety. Documentation varied and was shaped by relevance, medicolegal concerns, and workflow. Barriers included time limitations, emotional distress, family dynamics, and limited training. Conclusions: Values elicitation was inconsistent and situational rather than routine. More structured, earlier approaches and system‐level support may better align surgical decisions with patient values.

The Injury Research Engagement Project (I-REP) panel of trauma survivors and patient caregivers was established to maximize patient-centered outcomes by providing a more formal partnership between trauma researchers and injured patients. This article explores the first year of the I-REP panel, including the types of studies presented, questions asked and how panelists responded, and how the panelists engaged with the various topics and questions. During an end-of-year reflection session, panelists discussed their motivations for joining, reasons to continue, and individual experiences of participation.

Trauma centers have the important task of navigating a patient through the complex process of obtaining services and tools for success and addressing important social determinants / drivers of health. This summary from the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) Prevention and Geriatric Committees focuses on the history, development, and patient empowerment of the Trauma Survivors Network (TSN), its importance in collaboration with palliative care teams, and the value of Trauma-informed Care. Palliative Care and Trauma-iInformed Care are principles thought to be important enough to include in the upcoming updated Advanced Trauma Life Support 11th edition course as stand-alone chapters. This publication provides a history of the TSN and how it developed from the grass roots, the core elements of the TSN, a patient experience with the program, a basic toolkit on implementation of the TSN, and the importance of the TSN working together with palliative care. It was presented as a lunch session at the AAST’s 83rd Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, 2024. None of the authors have any financial relationships or conflicts of interest to any of the products discussed.

Collaborative care interventions emphasize the active partnership between patients and their healthcare providers and have proven effective in the context of numerous chronic conditions. As the focus of trauma care transitions from ensuring survival to recognizing the lifelong impact of traumatic injury, a select group of trauma centers has applied this approach to the acute trauma setting.1 2

The Trauma Survivors Network (TSN), a program of the American Trauma Society (ATS), has a unique history spanning decades with a vision to continue expanding and strengthening services to support survivors and families impacted by traumatic injury. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the ATS has adapted TSN services to provide both virtual and in-person services for trauma survivors, increasing equity and inclusion for many survivors to access TSN services for the first time. The recent policy changes in the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma New Standards for Care of the Injured Patient provide an impetus for the TSN to grow and expand services in support of a diverse group of trauma survivors and their loved ones. This paper highlights the collateral impact of traumatic injury, the history and ongoing growth of the TSN and its services to date, the challenges encountered in establishing and maintaining the TSN program, and the equity and inclusion that the TSN offers internationally to support a diverse range of survivors with various forms of trauma and polytrauma.