Interdisciplinary Teamwork:Parts of the Whole

Working Together as One

The result of one inefficient system affecting all other systems…

Who wants to work for an organization where one unit constantly berates another, where one shift criticizes another, where everyone seems to be working toward their own goals with very little teamwork among workers? This type of environment creates tension, high employee turnover, and affects overall patient care.

Respect

• Let’s begin our presentation with showing respect to our coworkers. Each person here please stand and introduce yourself

• Tell us something about your life outside the workplace.

• What is your role within the organization?• What is your role in working toward the mission of

the organization?• Others in the group please express why this

person’s role is important to your own position and the health of your patients?

Empathy

We would not be in the health care profession if we did not have empathy for others.

This exercise shows how even those working in the same group toward the same goals think very differently: yet

no one is right and no one is wrong – and everyone’s opinion counts.

Day Colors Exercise from Chapman, 2011.

• Close your eyes and imagine the days of the week• What color is each day?• Write down the color of each day • Do you know why you chose the colors you did?

“Human beings will never see things in exactly the same way - this is not the aim of work or life - instead the aim should be to understand each other's views

far better, so that we can minimize conflict and maximize cooperation” (Chapman, 2011).

Communication• We’ve all encountered miscommunication

in the workplace, from incorrect information being passed on to just plain gossip. Sit in a circle and let our “manager” whisper an essential medical order to the person on his or her right. Each employee will then pass it on in a whisper to the person to his or her right. The final person who will carry out the medical order will speak what he hears out loud.

Communication

• Prevent a broken link in communication…• Do not listen to or help spread gossip. • Engage in weekly and monthly meetings to discuss

problems and find solutions together. • Teams consisting of members from each discipline

should work together to find solutions.• Every employee's voice must be heard, without

criticism, during workplace discussions.• Solutions and decisions must be clearly stated and

disseminated to others.• Opportunities to discuss concerns in a controlled

setting must be offered.

Education

Education is often the key to understanding yourself and others,

enabling individuals to work together as a team.

EducationAn education session can be held each month in which a discipline can give a presentation on a topic unfamiliar to other disciplines, or a topic of interest to everyone in the organization.

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According to the University of North Carolina Chapel School of Medicine

(2011), there are four main areas where interdisciplinary teamwork has

advantages:

For patients, working as a team:

• “Improves care by increasing coordination of services, especially for complex problems

• Integrates health care for a wide range of problems and needs

• Empowers patients as active partners in care

• Can serve patients of diverse cultural backgrounds

• Uses time more efficiently”

For health care professionals,working together:

“Increases professional satisfaction • Facilitates the shift in emphasis from

acute, episodic care to long-term preventive care

• Enables the practitioner to learn new skills and approaches• Encourages innovation• Allows providers to focus on individual areas of expertise”

For the health care delivery system, teamwork:

• “Holds potential for more efficient delivery of care

• Maximizes resources and facilities• Decreases burden on acute care facilities as a result of increased

preventive care• Facilitates continuous quality improvement efforts”

For educators and students, interdisciplinary teamwork:

• “Offers multiple health care approaches to study• Fosters appreciation and understanding of other disciplines• Models strategies for future practice • Promotes student

participation • Challenges norms and

values of each discipline”

Be a part of the solution• Please take a look around you. The people you see in

this room, those close to you and those further away, are here for the same reason as yourself. Their roles within the organization vary, their views on the best way of reaching our common goals differ, yet they are just as determined as yourself to give their best to our patients as we work toward those goals.

• By combining the many individuals within this room, working together as one team, we as an organization and you as an unique individual can reach these goals in much more creative and efficient ways than otherwise possible.

Parts of the whole

working together as one

For more activities to help build effective teams, go to:

http://www.businessballs.com/teambuildinggames.htm#team-building-games-exercises-activities

http://wilderdom.com/games/FreeTeamBuildingActivities.html

References

Chapman, A. (2011). Day colours/colors exercise (individual perspectives, emotional triggers, empathy, johari

window, respecting personal differences). Retrieved from http://www.businessballs.com/freeteambuildingactivities.htm#day-colours-exercise.s

University of North Carolina at Chapel School of Medicine (2011). Module 4: Interdisciplinary teamwork in health care.

Retrieved from http://www.med.unc.edu/epic/module4/m4to.htm.