Evaluation of the Critical Care Team Training and Clinical Excellence (TTrACE) Academy

Abstract

Purpose: Sustaining high-functioning interprofessional teamwork in intensive care settings is essential for patient safety, workforce well-being, and reliable care delivery. However, evidence regarding the role of structured team training interventions in already high-performing critical care teams remains limited. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of the Team Training and Clinical Excellence Academy (TTrACE), a structured interprofessional team training program, on collaboration, psychological safety, need satisfaction, and team effectiveness in a critical care setting. Methods: We conducted a prospective pre–post evaluation of an interprofessional critical care team training program in a medical/surgical ICU at a large academic hospital. The evaluation used previously published measures of collaborative environments and psychological need satisfaction, along with exploratory team-functioning items assessing shared mental models, psychological safety and communication, and perceived team effectiveness. Results: Of the 35 TTrACE enrollees, 28 (80%) consented to participate in the evaluation study. Baseline scores across collaboration, psychological need satisfaction, and team functioning were high and remained stable at one-month follow-up, suggesting preservation of strong team functioning over time. Descriptive improvements were observed in perceived teamness and shared mental models. Most respondents reported having an opportunity to implement TTrACE learnings in practice (11/13, 84.6%; 1 missing response). All respondents who answered the recommendation item indicated they were likely or very likely to recommend TTrACE to colleagues. Conclusions: In high-performing critical care environments, structured interprofessional training may contribute less to large measurable performance gains and more to reinforcing and sustaining relational, communicative, and psychological processes essential for safe patient care. These findings suggest that TTrACE may support the maintenance of high-functioning team environments in critical care, while future longitudinal and comparative studies are needed to examine longer-term impacts on team functioning, workforce well-being, and patient safety outcomes.