Getting in the Zone: How Simple Tools Unlock Complex Teamwork

We have been using VEMS to explore teamwork with senior emergency fellows and nursing leaders. This simple tool has allowed in depth exploration of teamwork principles. 

At first glance, it looks simple.

A group of physicians and nurses standing around a table. A laminated patient visual. A few pieces of equipment laid out to represent monitors, oxygen, airway tools, and medications.

But within minutes of starting the case, the room filled with the familiar energy of a resuscitation.

People speaking with urgency.
Information exchanging.
Roles distributing.
Decisions being debated.

The noise, the cognitive load, the prioritisation—everything that makes trauma care complex—begins to unfold.

And yet this entire scenario is happening in a classroom with almost no setup.

This is the power of Visually Enhanced Mental Simulation (VEMS).

So what team principles did we explore?

As the debrief unfolded we quickly moved beyond simply discussing clinical management and "closed loop communication". The conversation shifted toward the deeper dynamics of teamwork that shape how resuscitations actually unfold.

Questions emerged that every emergency team encounters:

• When should sub-teams operate autonomously?

• Which tasks should happen sequentially and which should happen in parallel?

• How does the team maintain a shared understanding of the patient’s status?

• How do clinicians build trust in each other’s decisions under pressure?

These are the kinds of issues that often remain invisible in the middle of real patient care. But simulation—even very simple simulation—creates the space to slow down and explore them together.

Getting in the zone...

So it seems like all this team needed was a few simple tools to get in the zone.

No complex simulation centre.
No mannequins.
No elaborate setup.

Just a shared space, some visual prompts, a challenging clinical scenario, and a team willing to think together.

Sometimes that’s all it takes to unlock meaningful learning about how we work together when it matters most.

If you are interested in simple tools to help teams train explore our products here.