Teamwork: Health Care Teams
The organisational context for teamwork: Comparing health care and business literature
SHARON MICKAN AND SYLVIA RODGER
Sharon Mickan is a PhD student and Sylvia Rodger is a Senior Lecturer in the
Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of Queensland.
Abstract
Teams are a significant tool for promoting and managing change. There are shared definitions of teamwork in the literature, and agreement on general benefits and limitations of working in teams. However, the historical development of teamwork differs between health care and the business environments of manufacturing and service industries. The impact of the organisational context on teamwork appears to differ most, when literature from the two environments is compared. As a result, there are specific issues that are unique to the development and implementation of health care teams. This article summarises the unique team structures and the issue of professionalisation in health care teams, while recommending that team members acknowledge their professional differences and focus foremost on meeting patient needs.
Introduction
Currently, quality health care depends on a wide range of skilled professionals collaborating effectively together. Health care professionals need to continually improve the quality and efficiency of patient services in an environment of constant change. Real improvement requires change of the systems in which health care is delivered. Highly skilled clinicians require appropriate and well-designed organisational structures to deliver the best quality care (Klein 1998). Systems change is often perceived as threatening to the status quo, and must therefore be carefully managed to achieve optimum outcomes.
Teamwork has become an essential tool of quality management, which links efficient organisational practice with high-quality patient care. Teams are one of the most effective ways of integrating individual patient concerns with the bigger
SHARON MICKAN AND SYLVIA RODGER
Sharon Mickan is a PhD student and Sylvia Rodger is a Senior Lecturer in the
Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of Queensland.
Abstract
Teams are a significant tool for promoting and managing change. There are shared definitions of teamwork in the literature, and agreement on general benefits and limitations of working in teams. However, the historical development of teamwork differs between health care and the business environments of manufacturing and service industries. The impact of the organisational context on teamwork appears to differ most, when literature from the two environments is compared. As a result, there are specific issues that are unique to the development and implementation of health care teams. This article summarises the unique team structures and the issue of professionalisation in health care teams, while recommending that team members acknowledge their professional differences and focus foremost on meeting patient needs.
Introduction
Currently, quality health care depends on a wide range of skilled professionals collaborating effectively together. Health care professionals need to continually improve the quality and efficiency of patient services in an environment of constant change. Real improvement requires change of the systems in which health care is delivered. Highly skilled clinicians require appropriate and well-designed organisational structures to deliver the best quality care (Klein 1998). Systems change is often perceived as threatening to the status quo, and must therefore be carefully managed to achieve optimum outcomes.
Teamwork has become an essential tool of quality management, which links efficient organisational practice with high-quality patient care. Teams are one of the most effective ways of integrating individual patient concerns with the bigger