Teamwork and Communication

Abstract

The delivery of health care has become increasingly complex requiring physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers to bring their individual critical skills, experience, and expertise and work together in the care of the patient. The healthcare environment, however, can be fraught with confusing situations and a profusion of information over a short period of time in which to make critical decisions. This combination of time pressure and confusion is a prerequisite for adverse consequences and error. Fortunately there has been a paradigm shift whereby an interprofessional and interdisciplinary approach to care has emerged. This approach requires effective communication among all healthcare workers with a thorough understanding of their respective roles and a leveling of the hierarchy that can undermine teamwork and communication. The goals of this chapter are to define the concept and key attributes of teams and to highlight the importance of communication in the healthcare setting. The chapter will describe various approaches to improve teamwork and communication in health care including crew resource management (CRM) and TeamSTEPPS™ and describe some practical strategies such as “SBAR” and “CUS” for application in various healthcare settings.