Interprofessional teamwork in healthcare: Observations and the road ahead

ABSTRACT

In this effort we draw from the literature on interprofessional teamwork in high reliability organizations from different fields of study, including healthcare, industrial/organizational psychology, and management. We combine this literature with our collective experience to offer five observations on future needs for the field of team science research and practice. These themes include: (1) exploration of nonclinical teams, (2) evaluation of multi-team systems in healthcare, (3) the study of dyad leadership of teams, (4) the proliferation of virtual healthcare teams, and (5) the continuing integration of organizational and team science into the study of interprofessional teams. By presenting these observations, we argue why each is critical to the overall understanding of interprofessional teamwork in healthcare and provide areas for future scholarly advancement that will inform healthcare practice.

KEYWORDS:

• teams
• teamwork
• collaborative
• team leadership
• leadership
• Virtual teams

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston [UL1TR003167].

Notes on contributors

Daniel J. Ingels

Daniel Ingels, Ph.D. is a Research Scientist at the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO). Daniel’s research interests include healthcare teamwork effectiveness, team training, psychological measurement, and high-stakes assessment. He has published previously in Group & Organization Management and contributed to conference presentations in the psychology, human resources, and healthcare domains.

Stephanie A. Zajac

Stephanie Zajac, Ph.D., ACC works within the Leadership Institute at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Stephanie focuses on designing and implementing interventions to improve team effectiveness. She also coaches institutional leaders and teams. She has contributed to the science through peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Group & Organization Management, Joint Commission on Quality and Patient Safety, and the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Molly P. Kilcullen

Molly Kilcullen, M.A. is a doctoral student at Rice University studying Industrial andsOrganizational Psychology. Molly obtained her master’s degree in Industrial and OrganizationalsPsychology at George Mason University during which time she worked as a fellow at the ArmysResearch Institute. Her research interests include team training, performance, and multi-teamssystems, particularly in the field of healthcare. She also conducts research on safety culture andspatient engagement.

Tiffany M. Bisbey

Tiffany M. Bisbey, Ph.D. is an incoming Assistant Professor in Industrial/Organizational Psychology atsthe George Washington University. Her research interests include teams, employee development,sand safety in high-risk organizations. Her recent work focuses on the effectiveness of safetystraining, fostering resilience in teams, and the role of employee voice in supportingsorganizational safety and success.

Eduardo Salas

Eduardo Salas, Ph.D. is the Allyn R. & Gladys M. Cline Chair Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychological Sciences at Rice University. His expertise includes assisting organizations, including oil and gas, aviation, law enforcement, academia and healthcare industries, in how to foster teamwork, design and implement team training strategies, how to create a safety culture and minimize errors, facilitate learning and training effectiveness, optimize simulation-based training, manage decision making under stress, and develop performance measurement tools.