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A key member of the team of practitioners who must co-ordinate during surgery is the scrub practitioner. The scrub practitioner works directly with the surgeon(s) during an operation and is responsible for several key tasks including: preparation of instruments and sterile supplies, providing assistance during the procedure and performing the swab / instrument count at the end of the operation. As a key member of personnel the scrub practitioner must be technically competent and utilise a range of non-technical skills.

The aim of the SPLINTS project was to identify the critical non-technical skills for scrub practitioners, develop a behavioural marker system and evaluate the utility of that system and associated training. To read more about the research conducted please click on the links provided below. If you wish to discuss the research further, or would like a copy of the SPLINTS handbook please contact Prof Rhona Flin.

Literature review

This paper reviews the literature to identify non-technical skills relevant for scrub nurses.
Paper

Interview study

This paper conducts a qualitative interview study to identify the critical non-technical skills used by scrub nurses.
Paper

SPLINTS development

This paper describes the use of focus groups to develop the prototype SPLINTS taxonomy.
Paper

Evaluating SPLINTS

This paper describes the evaluation of the SPLINTS system for rating scrub nurse non-technical skills.
Paper

SPLINTS handbook

SPLINTS handbook

Click here to view the SPLINTS handbook.
Handbook

Japanese SPLINTS handbook

Click here to view the Japanese translation of the SPLINTS handbook.
Japanese handbook
  • Dr Amy Irwin

  • Dr Nejc Sedlar

  • Dr Heather Branigan

  • Dr Janine Cooper

  • Linda Engles

  • Prof Rhona Flin

  • Dr Susan Griffiths

  • Dr Helen Knight

  • Dr Peidong Mei

  • Helen Silver-MacMahon

  • Dr Ilinca Ruxandra Tone

  • Apoorva Amirapu

  • Beatrix Duff

  • Sofia Johansson

  • University of Aberdeen
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The Applied Psychology and Human Factors Group | The University of Aberdeen