Investigating organizational supports and outcomes of interprofessional team training initiatives in a medical teaching hospital

Healthcare systems are challenged to provide safe, effective, patientcentered care in an ever-changing environment. Studies show that lack of teamwork, communication, and collaboration may contribute to adverse patient and health outcomes (Manojlovich, (2009; Weaver et al., 2014, Jones, Skinner, High, & Reiter-Palmon, 2013). Consequently, more healthcare systems are launching team-training programs in efforts to improve clinical outcomes. Despite team-training efforts, adoption of interprofessional teamwork in practice is slow to transpire. Team training alone is not sufficient to facilitate and sustain teamwork behavior in day-to-day practice. The purpose of this correlational study was to investigate the relationship between key organizational supports (e.g., team climate, team-training, formalization tools) with team-functioning and patient outcomes in an urban medical teaching hospital. Few empirical studies have provided insight into the relationship between these variables. Many studies overlook the organizational context and its effect on team functioning. In this study, researchers used the short-version Team Climate Inventory (TCI-14) and the Brief TeamSTEPPS® Teamwork Perception Questionnaire (Brief T-TPQ) to survey 88 (73.3%) interprofessional health providers on six hospital work units. Retrospective patient-reported data (n=957) were analyzed to examine association between patient satisfaction and interprofessional teamwork. Results found a strong association between team climate and team-functioning on the six hospital work units; a small to moderate relationship between team-training intervention and interprofessional teamwork; no relationship between number of communication tools used on hospital units and team function; and no significant correlation between patient satisfaction and health provider’s perception of teamwork. However, from the patient’s experience, results showed a significant and strong interaction between interprofessional team functioning and patient’s satisfaction. This research adds to the body of knowledge supporting the relevance and implementation of interprofessional teamwork in healthcare environments in efforts to improve quality of care and patient satisfaction. Study outcomes highlight two important considerations: 1) the need for organizational supports to enhance and sustain interprofessional teamwork; and 2) the importance of recognizing the relationship between team functioning and the patient’s experience as reflected in the patient satisfaction survey.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Tracey Vause Earlan