Question

This week our discussion will focus on teamwork within healthcare organizations.

There are often dozens of internal and external factors that separate effective and ineffective teams. Moreover, what makes some teams strong, be it competitiveness, toughness or high energy levels, can make other teams weak; these traits may benefit sports and sales teams, but they are not what you look for in a team in a healthcare organization.

That being said, what are

• some factors that are common to all successful teams?
• some factors that contribute to successful teams in healthcare exclusively?
• some factors unique to healthcare that make teamwork more difficult in this arena than in other organizations?

Answer 1

1)Common factors for all successful teams: a) Better communication and cordination, b)  Commitment,  c)Team cohesiveness,  d)follow through the timeline,  e)effective leadership, f)collective responsibility for success or failure, g)trust, h)accountability and sense of belongingness for team as well as organization, i)Clear direction,  j)Encourange difference in openion.

2)some factors that contribute to successful teams in healthcare exclusively:

An effective teamwork is now recognized as an essential tool for constructing more effective and patient-centred health care delivery system.In health care, efficient teamwork can immediately and positively affect patient safety and outcome. The need for efficient teams is increasing due to increasing co-morbidities and increasing complexity of specialization of care.Factors contributing to better team in healthcare:a)A clear communication between the team members right from process to the patient detailing,b)team members should merge their openion to give a concrete conclusion to the seniors,c) expertise and decision-making responsibilities to optimize patients’ care,d)Thoughtful invovement and presence of mind e)every memeber of team must know their role and the roles of others in the team(s) and interact with one another for goal achievement,f)Act as collective unit,g)Possess specialised and complementary knowledge and skills.

3)some factors unique to healthcare that make teamwork more difficult in this arena than in other organizations:

a)Some basic and specialized medical knowledge so that in case of emergency they can act with their full mind,b) Plan training and practice-specific collaborative care skills,c)Division of workforce as healtcare teams have specialization in their department ,d)Documentation of everything they take care of.