Staff perceptions of interdisciplinary team training and its effectiveness in reducing medical errors

ABSTRACT

The increasing complexity of healthcare systems and the growing need to coordinate efforts of multiple highly specialized experts toward a shared goal have emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary teams in patient care. While clinical training remains focused on individual responsibilities, the growing recognition of the advantages of the interdisciplinary team approach has highlighted the need for more opportunities for team training programs. To promote effective team functioning, it is vital to understand attitudes and perspectives of healthcare providers toward interdisciplinary team training (ITT). This empirical study utilizes a questionnaire survey of 51 direct care professionals who have previously participated in ITT to gauge the perceptions of U.S. clinicians concerning the value of ITT and its potential to improve patient outcomes and reduce medical errors. Overall, participants viewed ITT as effective in improving communication, teamwork, and patient safety. However, less than half of the respondents had favorable perceptions of the usefulness and appropriateness of ITT sessions for their current clinical setting. Less than two-thirds had positive perceptions of the sufficiency of training time and frequency. The biggest opportunity identified was in improving the quality of ITT sessions themselves and developing knowledgeable ITT facilitators who understand their audience and team dynamics.

KEYWORDS:

• Interdisciplinary team training
• perception
• healthcare
• patient safety
• medical errors

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

T. Arien Herrmann

Arien Herrmann manages the Regional Hospital Coordinating Center. He is responsible for communication and coordination of disaster response activities for counties in Southern Illinois. Arien earned his MS in Healthcare Management from Southeast Missouri State University and has over 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry.

Natallia Gray

Natallia Gray is an Associate Professor of Teaching in the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship at Iowa State University. She earned her PhD from the University of South Florida in 2014. Her research interests include healthcare management, economics, health economics, and policy.

Olga Petrova

Olga Petrova is an Assistant Professor of Economics in the Sykes College of Business at The University of Tampa. Her primary research interests are in the areas of health economics, economic development, and public policy.