Teamwork in Health Care: Quality Care Through Communication & Problem Solving - Essay Sample

Introduction

Teamwork in health care is vitally important in delivering quality patient care, safety, and treatment. To achieve this, however, involves cooperation and coordination of activities from various multi-disciplines. The combination of multiple skills, resources, and experiences from different individuals in healthcare is what yields excellent health outcomes for patients. Proper communication and problem solving across various disciplines in health care are essential for effective and efficient team outcomes.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Effective Team Features

Good leadership of the team and mutual performance monitoring are essential characteristics of effective teams. It is upon the leader to develop a positive atmosphere and motivate the team members accordingly. The leader also requires to apply vigilance to all team members to identify challenges when they arise, for instance, work overload. Good team orientation, back up behavior, and adaptability ensures individuals focus on the team's goals and also appreciate and respect each other's ideas. It also helps the team members to understand tasks allocated to each other and also adapt to changes meant for proper management of the patient.

Nevertheless, team members should play their part in delivering their duties. The individuals should have mutual trust and respect for each other. They should also have excellent communication skills and possess a shared mental model. A shared mental model enables individuals to act collaboratively with similarity and accuracy.

Challenges to the Development of Effective Health Care Teams

The main problem facing health care teams is inadequate communication caused by organizational, educational, and psychological factors. The geographical location of the hospital and the patients within it is an organizational problem that hinders effective communication. Having the staff coordinating multiple wards at once make it difficult for doctors to convey information to relevant individuals. The hierarchical structure in healthcare is another factor that psychologically affects junior staff, hindering effective communication to their senior staff for fear of challenging them. Lastly, health care professionals receive insufficient training in teamwork, which poses a challenge when communicating with their colleagues.

Overcoming Barriers to Effective Teamwork in Healthcare

Educational obstacles can be tackled through the teaching of effective communication strategies and training teams together. For instance, training of surgery and obstetrics teams together has shown an improvement in patient health and a reduction in errors (Weller et al., 2014). Also, the preparation of teams using simulation enhances a better understanding of the importance of everyone's input. Secondly, psychological barriers are capable of being overcome through the creation of democratic and inclusive teams whereby everything has a chance of being heard, and their feedback to the care of the patient is valued. Lastly, creating protocols and procedures where everybody in the team is present when making decisions can help break the organizational barrier.

Conclusion

Proper communication and problem solving across various disciplines in health care are essential for effective and efficient team outcomes. Addressing the psychological, educational, and organizational barriers contributes significantly to effective communication, which results in excellent patient health outcomes. It is imperative to value teamwork and respect everyone's opinions. The combined ideas, experiences, and skills are what produce better results that can't get achieved individually. The knowledge I have gained will help me relate well with my colleagues as well as be a good team leader.

Reference

Weller, J., Boyd, M., & Cumin, D. (2014). Teams, tribes and patient safety: overcoming barriers to effective teamwork in healthcare. Postgraduate Medical Journal, 90(1061), 149-154. https://pmj.bmj.com/content/90/1061/149