Background: Anaesthesia teams are temporarily assembled to cooperate with teams in emergency departments in the immediate management of events compromising patients’ airway, ventilation and circulation.
Purpose: The aim was to describe a temporary ad-hoc anaesthesia team’s performance.
Design: An observational study was conducted.
Methods: Data, collected with 12 non-participatory observations, were analysed using both an thematic method, and a validated assessment tool, the Team Emergency Assessment Measure.
Results: Three themes were identified: (1) flexibility in assuming varying roles, (2) expertise in verbal and non-verbal communication and (3) skills dealing with the challenges of working in unfamiliar dynamic environments. Ninety per cent of anaesthesia teams scored 7.6 (0–10) on the overall assessment according to the Team Emergency Assessment Measure rating.
Conclusion: Ad-hoc anaesthesia team members communicated in various ways and the anaesthesia team adapted well to the unpredictable environment in the emergency department.
Keywords: Anaesthesia; Communication; Emergency; Nursing; Teamwork; Work organisation.