Presentation
The Future of Healthcare Teams: Navigating Human-Autonomy Team Performance
DescriptionImagine an artificially intelligent (AI) coach for teamwork in the cardiac operating room working alongside medical professionals, including surgeons, nurses, perfusionists, and anesthesiologists. This is a critical environment where every decision and action must be precise, coordinated, and efficient. The AI coach continuously monitors the surgical procedure and other critical data. When it detects a potential issue or deviation from the optimal course, it offers real-time suggestions and guidance to its team. Along with providing technical expertise, it is assisting with communication and coordination among its team members. Such autonomous teammates are being developed to improve patient outcomes, streamline processes, and enhance non-technical skills in several healthcare settings.
The concept of human-autonomy teaming (HAT) has emerged in which a team is made up of at least one autonomous agent and one human member with both relying on each other to achieve a collective goal (O’Neill et al., 2022). As HAT research continues to evolve across domains, including healthcare, there is a growing need to understand how teams are impacted with the addition of an autonomous teammate. Our presentation derives recommendations from a comprehensive review of literature gathered from multiple databases focusing on human-autonomy teaming. We highlight the top five themes, rank ordered by their frequency in the extant literature; the goal is to offer insights into the trajectory of HAT and guide future research. The themes identified were (1) optimizing team performance to enhance teamwork competencies, (2) building trust in autonomous teammates, (3) enhancing communication and transparency, (4) improving team coordination, and (5) embracing adaptability. We examine these themes and offer recommendations based on insights gained from challenges encountered in other domains implementing HAT.
We employed a systematic review approach using specific keywords. These keywords included “human autonom* team*,” “human agent team*,” “human computer team*,” and “human machine team*.” These terms were selected to include a broad range of articles related to human-autonomy teaming. Healthcare-related terminology was excluded. This decision was due to the relatively nascent state of research in HAT, resulting in limited healthcare-specific literature. Instead, we aimed to draw from the broader HAT domain to inform context-specific applications such as healthcare. The search was conducted across three prominent databases: Academic Search Complete, APA PsycINFO, and Business Source Complete. These databases were chosen for their extensive coverage of interdisciplinary research relevant to human factors and ergonomics. This approach allowed us to access a diverse range of scholarly articles, thereby providing a robust foundation for our findings.
Optimizing Team Performance to Enhance Teamwork Competencies. The first theme identified was team performance. Team scientists conceptualize team performance as a dynamic process primarily composed of task and teamwork behaviors (Rosen et al., 2018). Task behaviors can be defined as team members’ interactions with different factors, such as tools or systems to carry out the team’s goal. On the other hand, teamwork behaviors compromise everything the team does in order to achieve that goal, such as communicating or coordinating with team members. Team performance, in the realm of HAT, is a multilevel process that considers individual-level inputs, team-level inputs, and organizational inputs across these categories. Team research in healthcare often centers on teamwork and multilevel outcomes as well, with a focus on effective teamwork behaviors and competencies, interventions to enhance teamwork. Insights into HAT research in the context of team performance provides valuable information for understanding how HAT can be optimized and applied effectively.
Building Trust in Autonomous Teammates. Next, trust was identified as a theme. Trust, at the team-level, is a characteristic that needs to be further investigated in the HAT context (McNeese et al., 2021). Recent literature has explored the theme of trust extensively, examining aspects such as humans trust automation, the impact of feedback modality on perceiving autonomous systems as teammates, trust calibration, and system-wide trust in HAT. Trust is a key factor that ensures for an effective work environment in healthcare teams (Layland, 2018). Understanding trust has far reaching implications that can help inform the design and implementation of effective HAT systems.
Enhancing Communication and Transparency. Examining the influence of communication and transparency on performance, trust, workload, and situational awareness emerged as another core theme. Articles in this category discuss conversational interfaces, bidirectional communication, transparency strategies, and the significance of communicating the autonomous teammate’s intent to their human counterpart. Past research has found that communication is necessary in supporting effective teamwork and treatment outcomes in high-stakes clinical context (Manser, 2009; Castelao Fernandez et al., 2013). Understanding the role of communication and transparency is necessary to explore how traditional modes of human-human communication shift in HAT.
Improving Team Coordination. The relationship between team coordination was another theme. Coordination are the behaviors that a team needs to demonstrate to be effective (Tannenbaum and Salas, 2021). These cooperative elements are critical not only for general team performance but also for enhancing learning, adaptability, and resilience within the team (Traylor et al., 2023). Articles identified in the search explored coordination breakdowns, patterns, dynamics, and coordination differences between human-human teams and HAT. Findings in this area have direct implications for healthcare teams, where precise coordination is crucial to ensure patient safety.
Embracing Adaptability. The final theme discusses the role of adaptability in effective HAT. In human-human teams, adaptability plays an important role in teaming. To mitigate the risk of being unprepared if the environment changes, it is important for team members to be adaptable (Priest et al., 2002). Research indicates that adaptability is an especially important characteristic for team tasks that require innovation of teams that have undergone a setback (Salas, et al., 2005). By embracing change and continuously adapting to the altering task demands, HAT can foster a culture of innovation and resilience, ultimately ensuring optimal performance and effectiveness. Understanding the nuances of adaptability can offer a glimpse into a future of medicine where human expertise and autonomous teammates collaborate and adapt to situational demands to provide a high standard of care.
In conclusion, human-autonomy teaming is a rapidly evolving field that holds tremendous promise across various domains, including healthcare. Our presentation aims to shed light on themes derived from a comprehensive review of the literature and offer recommendations for healthcare. As we continue to explore the multifaceted landscape of HAT, our findings can offer valuable insights into this emerging domain, guiding future research and the development of effective systems within healthcare. These insights aim to enhance patient care, safety, and the overall quality of healthcare services.
Due to the word limit, the references are not included. They can be provided upon request.
The concept of human-autonomy teaming (HAT) has emerged in which a team is made up of at least one autonomous agent and one human member with both relying on each other to achieve a collective goal (O’Neill et al., 2022). As HAT research continues to evolve across domains, including healthcare, there is a growing need to understand how teams are impacted with the addition of an autonomous teammate. Our presentation derives recommendations from a comprehensive review of literature gathered from multiple databases focusing on human-autonomy teaming. We highlight the top five themes, rank ordered by their frequency in the extant literature; the goal is to offer insights into the trajectory of HAT and guide future research. The themes identified were (1) optimizing team performance to enhance teamwork competencies, (2) building trust in autonomous teammates, (3) enhancing communication and transparency, (4) improving team coordination, and (5) embracing adaptability. We examine these themes and offer recommendations based on insights gained from challenges encountered in other domains implementing HAT.
We employed a systematic review approach using specific keywords. These keywords included “human autonom* team*,” “human agent team*,” “human computer team*,” and “human machine team*.” These terms were selected to include a broad range of articles related to human-autonomy teaming. Healthcare-related terminology was excluded. This decision was due to the relatively nascent state of research in HAT, resulting in limited healthcare-specific literature. Instead, we aimed to draw from the broader HAT domain to inform context-specific applications such as healthcare. The search was conducted across three prominent databases: Academic Search Complete, APA PsycINFO, and Business Source Complete. These databases were chosen for their extensive coverage of interdisciplinary research relevant to human factors and ergonomics. This approach allowed us to access a diverse range of scholarly articles, thereby providing a robust foundation for our findings.
Optimizing Team Performance to Enhance Teamwork Competencies. The first theme identified was team performance. Team scientists conceptualize team performance as a dynamic process primarily composed of task and teamwork behaviors (Rosen et al., 2018). Task behaviors can be defined as team members’ interactions with different factors, such as tools or systems to carry out the team’s goal. On the other hand, teamwork behaviors compromise everything the team does in order to achieve that goal, such as communicating or coordinating with team members. Team performance, in the realm of HAT, is a multilevel process that considers individual-level inputs, team-level inputs, and organizational inputs across these categories. Team research in healthcare often centers on teamwork and multilevel outcomes as well, with a focus on effective teamwork behaviors and competencies, interventions to enhance teamwork. Insights into HAT research in the context of team performance provides valuable information for understanding how HAT can be optimized and applied effectively.
Building Trust in Autonomous Teammates. Next, trust was identified as a theme. Trust, at the team-level, is a characteristic that needs to be further investigated in the HAT context (McNeese et al., 2021). Recent literature has explored the theme of trust extensively, examining aspects such as humans trust automation, the impact of feedback modality on perceiving autonomous systems as teammates, trust calibration, and system-wide trust in HAT. Trust is a key factor that ensures for an effective work environment in healthcare teams (Layland, 2018). Understanding trust has far reaching implications that can help inform the design and implementation of effective HAT systems.
Enhancing Communication and Transparency. Examining the influence of communication and transparency on performance, trust, workload, and situational awareness emerged as another core theme. Articles in this category discuss conversational interfaces, bidirectional communication, transparency strategies, and the significance of communicating the autonomous teammate’s intent to their human counterpart. Past research has found that communication is necessary in supporting effective teamwork and treatment outcomes in high-stakes clinical context (Manser, 2009; Castelao Fernandez et al., 2013). Understanding the role of communication and transparency is necessary to explore how traditional modes of human-human communication shift in HAT.
Improving Team Coordination. The relationship between team coordination was another theme. Coordination are the behaviors that a team needs to demonstrate to be effective (Tannenbaum and Salas, 2021). These cooperative elements are critical not only for general team performance but also for enhancing learning, adaptability, and resilience within the team (Traylor et al., 2023). Articles identified in the search explored coordination breakdowns, patterns, dynamics, and coordination differences between human-human teams and HAT. Findings in this area have direct implications for healthcare teams, where precise coordination is crucial to ensure patient safety.
Embracing Adaptability. The final theme discusses the role of adaptability in effective HAT. In human-human teams, adaptability plays an important role in teaming. To mitigate the risk of being unprepared if the environment changes, it is important for team members to be adaptable (Priest et al., 2002). Research indicates that adaptability is an especially important characteristic for team tasks that require innovation of teams that have undergone a setback (Salas, et al., 2005). By embracing change and continuously adapting to the altering task demands, HAT can foster a culture of innovation and resilience, ultimately ensuring optimal performance and effectiveness. Understanding the nuances of adaptability can offer a glimpse into a future of medicine where human expertise and autonomous teammates collaborate and adapt to situational demands to provide a high standard of care.
In conclusion, human-autonomy teaming is a rapidly evolving field that holds tremendous promise across various domains, including healthcare. Our presentation aims to shed light on themes derived from a comprehensive review of the literature and offer recommendations for healthcare. As we continue to explore the multifaceted landscape of HAT, our findings can offer valuable insights into this emerging domain, guiding future research and the development of effective systems within healthcare. These insights aim to enhance patient care, safety, and the overall quality of healthcare services.
Due to the word limit, the references are not included. They can be provided upon request.
Event Type
Oral Presentations
TimeWednesday, March 2711:30am - 12:00pm CDT
LocationSalon A-3
Patient Safety Research and Initiatives