A complete introductory guide to the principles and clinical application of teamwork in health care Understanding Teamwork in Health Care emphasizes the essential competencies necessary to implement teamwork in health care in a complex hospital or primary care setting. Unlike similar books on the subject which are theoretical or policy-oriented, this text offers practical, real-world coverage. Valuable for health care professionals seeking a thorough explanation of teamwork and for trainers working in hospitals or primary care settings; could also be used as a textbook. Mini-cases throughout the text help readers appreciate real-world application of principles Written to a level suited for the non-specialist

Both comprehensive and accessible, this is an ideal resource for anyone who plans to teach or practice integrated, cost-effective healthcare in the 21st century. Currently, there is no coordinated system for training health-profession students to address the needs of patients with complex illnesses, nor is there a coordinated system for effectively delivering care to these patients. This book explores both sides of the problem, bringing interprofessional practice and education together to show how they are complementary—and how they can be integrated to provide better care. In many respects, this book is a personal account of the authors' experience with interprofessional teamwork and education over the past 40 years. It discusses what works and what doesn't and includes interviews, examples, and case studies that illustrate the perspectives of healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers. This second edition illuminates ways in which today's business model has changed interprofessional healthcare team practice and education, and it examines the needs of patients relative to healthcare teams and practitioner education. An entire chapter is devoted to the patient's position as both teacher and learner in relation to the team. The theoretical foundations of practice and education are highlighted, but the book also shares models that can be used for the practical development of programs.

Teamwork is essential to improving the quality of patient care and reducing medical errors and injuries. But how does teamwork really function? And what are the barriers that sometimes prevent smart, well-intentioned people from building and sustaining effective teams? Collaborative Caring takes an unusual approach to the topic of teamwork. Editors Suzanne Gordon, Dr. David L. Feldman, and Dr. Michael Leonard have gathered fifty engaging first-person narratives provided by people from various health care professions.Each story vividly portrays a different dimension of teamwork, capturing the complexity—and sometimes messiness—of moving from theory to practice when it comes to creating genuine teams in health care. The stories help us understand what it means to be a team leader and an assertive team member. They vividly depict how patients are left out of or included on the team and what it means to bring teamwork training into a particular workplace. Exploring issues like psychological safety, patient advocacy, barriers to teamwork, and the kinds of institutional and organizational efforts that remove such barriers, the health care professionals who speak in this book ultimately have one consistent message: teamwork makes patient care safer and health care careers more satisfying. These stories are an invaluable tool for those moving toward genuine interprofessional and intraprofessional teamwork.

Healthcare reform in the United States is a significant, strongly debated issue that has been argued since the early 1900s. Though this issue has been in circulation for decades, by integrating various new models and approaches, a more sustainable national healthcare system can perhaps be realized. Evaluating Challenges and Opportunities for Healthcare Reform presents comprehensive coverage of the development of new models of healthcare systems that seek to create sustainable and optimal healthcare by improving quality and decreasing cost. While highlighting topics including high-value care, patient interaction, and sustainable healthcare, this book is ideally designed for government officials, policymakers, lawmakers, scholars, physicians, healthcare leaders, academicians, practitioners, and students and can be used to help all interested stakeholders to make well-informed decisions related to healthcare reform and policy development for the United States and beyond, as well as to help all individuals and families in their decisions related to choices of optimal healthcare plans.

One of the most important advances in the delivery of healthcare has been recognition of the need for developing highly functioning multi-disciplinary teams. Such teams, when structured in a cohesive fashion, can function more effectively and efficiently than the sum of their parts. The benefits of teamwork extend from the delivery of care to a single patient to the overall structure and function of entire care delivery systems. Recognizing the value of collaborative approaches for improving all aspects of healthcare delivery and having champions, leaders, structure, function, goals, and accountability are paramount to success, regardless of how defined. Another important pillar of teamwork is excellent communication with clearly defined information flows and cross-verification mechanisms. This book outlines how to work together for shared goals in a complex, diverse, and constantly evolving health care system.

The U.S. healthcare system is now spending many millions of dollars to improve "patient safety" and "inter-professional practice." Nevertheless, an estimated 100,000 patients still succumb to preventable medical errors or infections every year. How can health care providers reduce the terrible financial and human toll of medical errors and injuries that harm rather than heal? Beyond the Checklist argues that lives could be saved and patient care enhanced by adapting the relevant lessons of aviation safety and teamwork. In response to a series of human-error caused crashes, the airline industry developed the system of job training and information sharing known as Crew Resource Management (CRM). Under the new industry-wide system of CRM, pilots, flight attendants, and ground crews now communicate and cooperate in ways that have greatly reduced the hazards of commercial air travel. The coauthors of this book sought out the aviation professionals who made this transformation possible. Beyond the Checklist gives us an inside look at CRM training and shows how airline staff interaction that once suffered from the same dysfunction that too often undermines real teamwork in health care today has dramatically improved. Drawing on the experience of doctors, nurses, medical educators, and administrators, this book demonstrates how CRM can be adapted, more widely and effectively, to health care delivery. The authors provide case studies of three institutions that have successfully incorporated CRM-like principles into the fabric of their clinical culture by embracing practices that promote common patient safety knowledge and skills.They infuse this study with their own diverse experience and collaborative spirit: Patrick Mendenhall is a commercial airline pilot who teaches CRM; Suzanne Gordon is a nationally known health care journalist, training consultant, and speaker on issues related to nursing; and Bonnie Blair O'Connor is an ethnographer and medical educator who has spent more than two decades observing medical training and teamwork from the inside.

Practical, proven techniques for improving team performance in the health care world Teams and collaboration have become an expectation in most healthcare facilities and environments. It is accepted that high performance, patient focused teams are critical to quality patient care. However, there is often a wide gap between traditional practices and the new behaviours and practices required for teamwork and collaboration. Improving Health Care Team Performance goes beyond theory to provide the knowledge, tools, and techniques required to develop a single team, or to develop an organization wide team based culture, from which exceptional patient care emerges. Most uniquely it emphasizes that effective teamwork goes far beyond team dynamics and provides detailed description of additional requirements, such as shared learning and change compatibility, and how to fulfill them. A practical handbook for healthcare leaders striving to ensure a superior patient experience and high quality of care, Improving Healthcare Team Performance not only provides specifics on how to develop high functioning teams, whether multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, or departmental but also offers those dealing with the common healthcare leadership challenges of low morale, poor communication, interpersonal conflict, and lack of knowledge sharing the tools to take immediate action to improve performance. Providing a proven approach to addressing and preventing everyday issues impacting patient care, Improving Health Care Team Performance contains everything needed to identify areas of greatest need within a team or department, take targeted action to address key gaps, and measure progress towards positive change. Presents a clear depiction of what constitutes collaboration and a high-performing patient focused team. This includes the skills and practices required to improve team performance and ultimately the quality of patient care, how to develop new attitudes and behaviours within the team, as well as the leadership requirements for success in a patient focused, team based culture. Provides a set of development tools accessible online to help the reader quickly and easily apply the knowledge gleaned. Offers targeted solutions including tips/recommendations, a step-by-step approach for affecting necessary change at every level of the organization, and skills and team development activities. Designed for leaders working in any healthcare environment, Improving Health Care Team Performance is a practical approach to improving team performance and the quality of patient care.