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TRAUMA QUALITY IMPROVEMENT

Lead the room: Impact of leadership style on team resilience among trainees in the trauma bay

Succar, Bahaa MD; Hazime, Alaa BS; Johnston, Michael MD; Daniel, William MD, MBA; Holroyd, Ashley F. BIE, MEd; Dumas, Ryan P. MD, FACS

Published by

Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery cover image
Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery cover image
Overview

Leadership plays a vital role in team performance, particularly during high-pressure scenarios such as trauma resuscitations. While leadership’s impact on clinical outcomes is recognized, limited research has addressed how specific leadership styles influence team behaviors, especially among trainees. This study investigated the relationship between leadership style—transformational, transactional, and passive—and team resilience behaviors including speaking up, knowledge sharing, and cooperation during trauma activations. Using post hoc video analysis and behaviorally anchored rating scales, the study aimed to determine whether certain leadership styles foster stronger team dynamics.

In this single-center cross-sectional study, trauma resuscitations involving adult patients were retrospectively analyzed, focusing on how trainee leadership correlated with key resilience behaviors among team members. The researchers hypothesized that transformational leadership would be most prevalent and positively associated with improved team behaviors.

Results

Analysis of 118 trauma resuscitations revealed that passive leadership was most commonly observed among trainees, followed by transactional and transformational styles. However, both transformational and transactional leadership were significantly associated with higher levels of speaking up, knowledge sharing, and cooperation among team members (all p < 0.001). In contrast, passive leadership was negatively correlated with all three resilience behaviors. These findings suggest that active leadership styles are more effective in fostering resilient, communicative trauma teams.

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A world where every procedure advances the next.

One World Trade Center,
New York, NY 10007, USA

20 Queen St W, Toronto,
ON M5H 3R3, Canada

© 2026 Aimbient. All Rights Reserved.

A world where every procedure advances the next.

One World Trade Center,
New York, NY 10007, USA

20 Queen St W, Toronto,
ON M5H 3R3, Canada

© 2026 Aimbient. All Rights Reserved.