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

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.