NUR 512 Module 3 Discussion: What makes a team?

NUR 512 Module 3 Discussion: What makes a team?

Effective Clinical Teams

Nurses are professionally mandated to provide high-quality care in safe environments. Achieving this critical goal requires interprofessional collaboration and adequate knowledge of health problems and evidence-based interventions. Teamwork in clinical practice is accomplished when multiple providers collaborate to address a common problem. It is among the most encouraged healthcare approaches to achieve health goals and improve patient satisfaction. However, some issues can hamper the effectiveness of clinical teams, and nurses should understand and avoid them. This discussion explores teamwork in clinical practice and what makes effective teams.

From a personal experience as a clinical team member, healthcare providers should embrace teamwork as the foundation of patient-centered, comprehensive care. As clinical team members, nurses get the opportunity to collaborate with their colleagues to share skills, perspectives, and values. Doing so ensures consistent standard care for each patient seeking healthcare services for different conditions. Costello et al. (2021) underlined the significance of teamwork in healthcare to improve effectiveness, efficiency, and the climate of the clinical environment. Besides leading to higher patient safety and creating a healthier workplace, teamwork among clinical teams reduces burnout since team members support, guide, and encourage one another. Importantly, team cohesion increases, resulting in high patient satisfaction and trust in healthcare providers.

Due to the benefits of clinical teams in addressing a shared problem, nursing and other healthcare professionals should understand the elements of effective teams and promote them in regular practice. One of the elements that makes a team effective in achieving expected outcomes for the patients is shared responsibility. An approach to patient care characterized by shared responsibility fosters joint decision-making, ensuring each team member contributes to decision-making and is accountable for the processes and outcomes (Oksavik et al., 2020). Shared responsibility also ensures that patients and families are incorporated into decision-making, leading to the best possible outcomes for patients, nurses, and families. Other characteristics of an effective clinical team include clear communication, clearly defined roles, and mutual respect (Tingvold & Munkejord, 2021). These features reduce team conflicts and enable team members to feel valued as they work to achieve a common goal.

Considering the impact of clinical teams and a culture of shared responsibility, nursing professionals should also understand the barriers to teamwork in the evolving nursing practice. Common barriers include ineffective leadership, conflicting professional values, and poor communication (Buljac-Samardzic et al., 2020; Zajac et al., 2021). The outcomes are profound since a lack of focus and team leadership can cause conflicts, inhibit the team’s motivation, and create an environment where team members do not respect their colleagues. Therefore, individual and system-level factors should be considered when assigning tasks to diverse team members (Etherington et al., 2021). Particular attention to professional and social hierarchies in the care environment and the influence of professional values is also critical.

Patient outcomes vary with healthcare approaches and how diverse team members work to achieve a common goal. As illustrated in this discussion, teamwork is the foundation of interprofessional collaboration since it brings together different healthcare professionals to share skills, values, and perspectives. Shared responsibility, clear roles, and mutual respect characterize effective clinical teams. Barriers to effective teams, like poor communication and unclear roles, should be avoided to enhance focus and prevent team conflicts that affect the team’s spirit negatively.

References

Buljac-Samardzic, M., Doekhie, K. D., & van Wijngaarden, J. D. (2020). Interventions to improve team effectiveness within health care: a systematic review of the past decade. Human Resources for Health, 18(1), 1-42. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-019-0411-3

Costello, M., Rusell, K., & Coventry, T. (2021). Examining the average scores of nursing teamwork subscales in an acute private medical ward. BMC Nursing, 20(1), 84. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-021-00609-z

Etherington, C., Burns, J. K., Kitto, S., Brehaut, J. C., Britton, M., Singh, S., & Boet, S. (2021). Barriers and enablers to effective interprofessional teamwork in the operating room:  qualitative study using the Theoretical Domains Framework. PloS One, 16(4), e0249576. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249576

Oksavik, J. D., Kirchhoff, R., Sogstad, M. K. R., & Solbjør, M. (2020). Sharing responsibility: municipal health professionals’ approaches to goal setting with older patients with multi-morbidity–a grounded theory study. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-4983-3

Tingvold, L., & Munkejord, M. C. (2021). Shared goals, communication and mutual respect in multicultural staff teams: a relational coordination perspective. Nursing Open, 8(2), 957–965. https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.704

Zajac, S., Woods, A., Tannenbaum, S., Salas, E., & Holladay, C. L. (2021). Overcoming challenges to teamwork in healthcare: a team effectiveness framework and evidence-based guidance. Frontiers in Communication, 6, 606445. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2021.606445

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

Reflect on your experiences as a member of a clinical team. What makes a team effective or ineffective in terms of achieving expected outcomes for the patients? (Saunders, 2014)

Submission Instructions:

• Your initial post should be at least 500 words, formatted and cited in current APA style with support from at least 2 academic sources. Your initial post is worth 8 points.
• You should respond to at least two of your peers by extending, refuting/correcting, or adding additional nuance to their posts. Your reply posts are worth 2 points (1 point per response.)
• All replies must be constructive and use literature where possible.
• Please post your initial response by 11:59 PM ET Thursday, and comment on the posts of two classmates by 11:59 PM ET Sunday.
• You can expect feedback from the instructor within 48 to 72 hours from the Sunday due date.

Grading Rubric

Your assignment will be graded according to the grading rubric.