Teamwork in Health Care Services Delivery in Nigeria: A Mixed Methods Assessment of Perceptions and Lived Experiences of Pharmacists in a Tertiary Hospital

Figures & data

Figure 1 Socio-demographic profile of the participants showing (A) Age distribution, (B) Gender distribution (C) Highest professional educational qualification (D) Years of work experience.

Abbreviations: B Pharm, Bachelor of Pharmacy; FPCPharm, Fellowship of West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacy.

Table 1 Awareness, Practices and Perceptions of Hospital Pharmacists About Teamwork

Statement/Question	Numerical Response		Remark
	Mean	SD
I am a team player.	4.33	0.89	Agree
I am comfortable participating in teamwork.	4.33	0.89	Agree
My colleagues (pharmacists) and I do share similar ideas about teamwork.	4.00	0.60	Agree
My colleagues (pharmacists) understand the roles and responsibilities of all intradisciplinary team members.	3.58	1.24	Agree
An individual’s expertise is appreciated and valued by intraprofessional team members (ie, pharmacists).	3.42	1.08	Agree
My colleagues (pharmacists) are willing to cooperate on new practices.	3.67	0.65	Agree
Do you feel that working as a team has positively affected the patients/clients at your workplace?	3.67	0.98	Agree
Health professionals working as a team (intra- and interdisciplinary) is in the public interest.	4.25	1.22	Agree
There is effective collaboration between pharmacists and allied health care professionals in the hospital	1.08	0.29	Disagree

Abbreviation: SD, standard deviation.

Table 2 Quantitative Assessment of Factors That Influence Teamwork in the Workplace

Statement/Question	Numerical Response		Remark
	Mean	SD
My workplace supports teamwork.	2.33	1.03	Disagree
There are turf areas that some members of the interdisciplinary team see as their territory.	3.08	1.16	Agree
Effective interdisciplinary collaborative practices that promote teamwork exist in the hospital	1.17	0.39	Disagree
The sharing of responsibilities and goals for patient care provides opportunities to promote teamwork at the workplace.	3.08	0.79	Agree
Do you feel that your remuneration reflects your worth to the team and by extension the organization?	2.33	1.15	Disagree
Do you feel that management actions or inactions promote teamwork at your workplace?	2.92	1.24	Disagree
Opportunities to learn new skills through formal training are abundant in my workplace.	2.17	0.94	Disagree

Abbreviation: SD, standard deviation.

Table 3 Factors Identified to Influence Teamwork in the Hospital

Enabling Factors	Constraints
Team member’s proficiency	Poor interprofessional collaboration
Sharing of responsibilities and goals for patient care	Existence of turf areas
Team members’ appreciation of individual colleague’s expertise.	Interdisciplinary rivalry
Understanding of the roles and responsibilities of team members	Workplace policies
Willingness to accept positive change	Defective leadership
Appreciation that teamwork by health professionals is essential for optimum health care delivery	Lack of adequate in-service training
	Poor remuneration
	Salary disparity
	Poor communication

Table 4 Qualitative Assessment of Workplace Teamwork

Theme	Subthemes
Theme 1: Attitudes and behaviors of allied health care professionals	Doctor’s claim of ownership of patients
	Doctor’s dominance
	Allied professionals’ lack of knowledge and understanding of the role of pharmacists
	Interdisciplinary rivalry
	Turf protection and resistance by other health care professionals
	Other health professionals not amenable to professional judgements of pharmacists
Theme 2: Health system structure	Uncharted practice territory for pharmacists
	Disparity in remuneration
Theme 3: Administrative factors	Poor communication
	Resistance to change and new ideas
	Workplace policies
	Defective leadership style