In healthcare, team members are hired based on work experience and education. Healthcare delivery is increasingly based on healthcare teams, with an emphasis on coordination among providers from different disciplines (Miller, Kim, Silverman, & Bauer, 2018).
Depending on your position within a healthcare organization, teams may consist of RNs, PCTs, RTs, PT/OT, Food and Nutrition, Laboratory, and providers/practitioners. Interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary teams involve one or more academic disciplines or fields of study.
Good team functioning is associated with improved patient outcomes, heightened staff satisfaction, and reduced burnout. In contrast, poor team functioning is associated with poor patient care through adverse events, lack of coordination, and spiraling costs. Cain, Frazer, and Kilaberia (2018) state healthcare workers are expected to encounter and work with professional and team-based identities, and that can lead to confusion and conflict.
According to Pype, Mertens, Helewaut, and Krystallidou (2018), interdisciplinary teams are viewed as a complex adaptive system (CAS). CAS focuses on the team members' interactions rather than the characteristics of individual team members (Pype et al.).
When working as a team from an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary approach, projects and high-quality patient care are achieved. "Team-based healthcare is the provision of health services to individuals, families and/or their communities by at least two health providers who work collaboratively with patients and their caregivers—to the extent preferred by each patient—to accomplish shared goals within and across settings to achieve coordinated, high-quality care" (Miller et al., p.147).
The guiding conceptual model is the Team Effectiveness Pyramid. The Team Effectiveness Pyramid was developed based on building effective healthcare teams (Miller et al.).
| Pyramid Level | Description |
|---|---|
|
Level 1: Foundational Resources |
Includes a supportive organizational context, staffing, space, psychological resources (civility, mutual respect), and psychological safety |
|
Level 2: Team-Building Interventions |
Involves improved knowledge of teamwork principles and improved attitudes toward teamwork |
|
Level 3: Enhances Team Functioning |
Consists of role clarity, improved coordination and communication, shared purpose and goals, and the capacity to improve processes |
|
Level 4: Patient Impact |
Includes patient outcomes and patient satisfaction |
Authored by Kerrie Roberson, DHA, MBA, MSN, BSN, RN-BC, CMSRN, WAAD
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