Decoding healthcare teamwork: a typology of hospital teams

Figures & data

Table 1. Wards observed, duration of observation per ward, and description of ward areas.

Clinical Area	Total Duration of Observation (hours)	Description of Area
Surgical wards	35	Multi-bay wards with patients who are managed by surgical teams
Older Adult	23	Multi-bay wards with elderly patients who are managed by a team specializing in frailty and geriatrics
Critical Care	7.5	Multi-bay ward with critically ill patients. Patients are managed by a specialized critical care team
AAU	23	Unit consisting of multiple multi-bay wards with patients cared for by a medical team. Patients have a maximum stay of 48-hours before being either discharged from the hospital or transferred to another ward

Figure 1. Team typology decision tree.

Table 2. Description of team types.

Team Type	Teamworking Style	Location	Membership	Description of Team and Tasks	Team(s) Observed in this Study
Structural	Sustained	Fixed	Stable membership	Ward-based teams who provide routine inpatient care with all members of the team consistently co-located together on the ward	Geriatric Ward; Critical Care Ward
Hybrid	Sustained	Fixed	Some stable members and some unstable members	Ward-based teams who provide routine inpatient care with only some members of the team consistently co-located together on the ward	Acute Assessment Unit
Satellite	Sustained or episodic	Mobile	Stable membership	Mobile teams who provide consulting clinical care (such as monitoring, assessing, and care planning) for patients on multiple wards, whilst coordinating with the primary ward team	Surgical team
Responsive	Episodic	Mobile	Unstable membership	Mobile clinical teams formed episodically to respond to deteriorating patient condition, such as cardiac arrest	Not observed
Coordinating	Sustained	Fixed	Some stable members and some unstable members	Office-based teams who manage organizational goals, challenges, and priorities. This team can also include representatives from multiple teams across the hospital to exchange information and plan	Bed management team; patient flow team