Teams and Teamwork in Emergency Medical Services

Abstract

The core components of teamwork include five overarching constructs: team leadership, team orientation, mutual performance monitoring, backup behavior, and adaptability. Many clinicians will describe teamwork as a vitally important component of emergency medical service (EMS) work. The patient's condition, the scene, and numerous other factors have an impact on the EMS team's actions and teamwork. For many EMS teams, teamwork may occur without verbal direction or communication. EMS teams often include a combination of any two of the following types of EMS clinicians: first responders, emergency medical technician basics, emergency medical technician intermediates, and emergency medical technician paramedics. In addition to the common forms of EMS training, there are various voluntary, specialty certifications offered by independent organizations and advisory committees. Team configuration can differ based on the type of EMS organization and its mission. Standard measures of EMS team performance are lacking, which makes it difficult to quantitatively assess EMS team performance.