Teamwork and patient safety in dynamic domains of healthcare: a review of the literature

2009/01/19 by Tanja Manser, T. MANSER · 2 citations
Health Professions · Medicine · #Interprofessional Education and Collaboration #Patient Safety and Medication Errors #Simulation-Based Education in Healthcare

paper · doi:10.1111/j.1399-6576.2008.01717.x

crossref issued 2009/01/19 · crossref published 2009/01/19 · crossref published-online 2009/01/19 · openalex publication_date 2009/01/19 · crossref created 2009/01/19 · crossref published-print 2009/02/01 · crossref deposited 2023/10/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/08/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

AIMS/BACKGROUND: This review examines current research on teamwork in highly dynamic domains of healthcare such as operating rooms, intensive care, emergency medicine, or trauma and resuscitation teams with a focus on aspects relevant to the quality and safety of patient care. RESULTS: Evidence from three main areas of research supports the relationship between teamwork and patient safety: (1) Studies investigating the factors contributing to critical incidents and adverse events have shown that teamwork plays an important role in the causation and prevention of adverse events. (2) Research focusing on healthcare providers' perceptions of teamwork demonstrated that (a) staff's perceptions of teamwork and attitudes toward safety-relevant team behavior were related to the quality and safety of patient care and (b) perceptions of teamwork and leadership style are associated with staff well-being, which may impact clinician' ability to provide safe patient care. (3) Observational studies on teamwork behaviors related to high clinical performance have identified patterns of communication, coordination, and leadership that support effective teamwork. CONCLUSION: In recent years, research using diverse methodological approaches has led to significant progress in team research in healthcare. The challenge for future research is to further develop and validate instruments for team performance assessment and to develop sound theoretical models of team performance in dynamic medical domains integrating evidence from all three areas of team research identified in this review. This will help to improve team training efforts and aid the design of clinical work systems supporting effective teamwork and safe patient care.

Citations

• Error Reduction and Performance Improvement in the Emergency Department through Formal Teamwork Training: Evaluation Results of the MedTeams Project
• Disruptions in surgical flow and their relationship to surgical errors: An exploratory investigation
• To Err Is Human

Cited by

• Implementing a pre‐operative checklist to increase patient safety: a 1‐year follow‐up of personnel attitudes
• Empowering Sustained Patient Safety
• Strategies and tools to learn from work that goes well within healthcare patient safety practices: a mixed methods systematic review

Related

• Teams, tribes and patient safety: overcoming barriers to effective teamwork in healthcare
• The experiences of cardiovascular surgeons and nurses with mutual support through interprofessional collaboration in the intensive care unit
• Error Reduction and Performance Improvement in the Emergency Department through Formal Teamwork Training: Evaluation Results of the MedTeams Project
• Patient safety culture in a university hospital emergency department in Switzerland – a survey study
• Strategies and tools to learn from work that goes well within healthcare patient safety practices: a mixed methods systematic review