Teamwork themes and illustrations
| Theme | Issues at baseline/aims | Characteristic response |
|---|---|---|
| Aligning the team | Understanding multi-disciplinary perspectives | I think like everyone's responsibility, everyone's responsible for patient care, it's not just a nurse or a doctor's job to do it and just to I think appreciate what different … like coming from the OT [occupational therapist] perspective and the physio's perspective, the role they play in patient care as well, […] that's what I really picked up on. (Staff nurse; ‘delirium’ scenario) We had a mock MDM [multi-disciplinary meeting] when we all have to play different characters in the MDM setting, to kind of like appreciate other people's roles in the whole grasp of things. (Staff nurse; ‘MDM’ exercise) So there was a huge amount of empowerment I felt and that subsequently also transcribed into the day to day practice. They are much more part of a team, much more aligned than they were previously. (Doctor; HPS scenario) |
| Managing variable workload | Asking for help Utilising all resources | If you're busy on the ward it's always good to say ‘well actually could I have a little more help here please?’ and that was what I came away with, not to be frightened to ask for help, not think that I have to do everything myself, that we're a team. (Staff nurse; ‘busy ward’ scenario) I can't do everything by myself and that's why I have to be aware of that. […] of course I can manage it but I have to be very aware that there are also other people there that have skills that are ready to be accessed […] (Staff nurse; ‘hospital at night scenario’) |
| Communication between staff | Shared awareness Assertiveness | […] it's how quickly the nurse had to react and the communication between the nurse and myself, so everybody had their sort of job as it were to do, and if you didn't have the communication then the person bleeding could have died, or could have got worse. So it is important. (HCA; ‘lower GI bleed’ scenario) You've got millions of things you're multi-tasking the whole time […] so it's just a constant communicating and just debriefing every hour or so […] it's just constantly being aware of who is doing what and who's where. (Staff nurse; ‘hospital at night’ scenario) […] probably maybe trying to be more assertive within the team if there's a problem […] be more ready […] to raise concerns. (Staff nurse; ‘hospital at night’ scenario) |
GI, gastro-intestinal; HCA, healthcare assistant; HPS, human patient simulation.