Clinical work is a highly collaborative occupation and is best executed with highly positive patient outcomes from within a team environment. Many healthcare institutions will possess a working culture that encourages teamwork in most areas of clinical work to enhance efficiency and enhance customer satisfaction (Sangaleti et al., 2017). Working within a team has taught me to be accommodative of team members’ talents and strengths. For example, a member of my team may be very apt with a local language that is not familiar to most of us on the team, and this will help in the elimination of the language barrier when handling a patient or family that does not speak English as their first or second language. Being multilingual is a strength that would be instrumental in expediting quality care to the patient more efficiently. Additionally, a team dynamic also enhances and embraces the cultural diversity from within the team to help in the provision of professional service to the health care facility. Differently cultured individuals who hold different beliefs and practices are also an aspect that I have come to appreciate as an element that encourages harmony within the team and subsequently improves individual productivity.
A functioning clinical team will also have a strong communication framework. This means open channels to all members of the team and a framework that enables them to make reports of failures and successes known to all at the appropriate time. My experience with this is that when there was the introduction of new communication through official means, it immediately reached me as soon as it was sent. This made my work very efficient since I immediately acted on the communication as required. My experience has taught me that team leadership is a critical component of an effective clinical team. Good leadership will always reflect on the outcomes of patients, especially when the team members’ activities and roles are guided by the leader. Once every fortnight, team meetings with our leader would see the team reassess and clarify different tasks and roles to ensure that all patients’ needs are met accurately, urgently, and with dignity.
Contemporary clinical training and education focuses on the emphasis on accuracy and error-free clinical practices. Error-free clinical work requires a high level of individual focus that can sometimes put pressure on the clinical professional to achieve perfection (O’Daniel & Rosenstein, 2008). Even with these high stakes and standards, the individual can be fleeting, and the team dynamic facilitates collaborative efforts across different areas to eradicate as much error as possible and improve patient outcomes (Zajac et al., 2021). Other challenges that I have experienced in clinical team dynamics that have been tackled through a team effort include conflict management and decision-making processes (Zajac et al., 2021). Effective and efficient care delivery is dependent on these two factors, especially when making a diagnosis and treatment in an emergency situation. By maintaining calm under pressure and focusing on one suggestion at a time, I have learned that conflicts in the team can be avoided and mitigated adequately to reduce errors and increase efficiency in care delivery.
With different healthcare facilities emerging with different organizational cultures, the clinical team is also required to align with these organizational values and practices in order to achieve improved patient outcomes. For example, in my experience, I worked in an organization where the team was encouraged to incorporate spiritual approaches in patient care, such as bible readings and prayer, to help the patients deal with the psychological impacts of their illnesses. The outcomes for the team were markedly good for many patients who accepted this approach, and the team spirit was always uplifted whenever these improved patient outcomes were reported.
References
O’Daniel, M., & Rosenstein, A. H. (2008). Professional communication and team collaboration. Patient safety and quality: An evidence-based handbook for nurses.
Sangaleti, C., Schveitzer, M. C., Peduzzi, M., Zoboli, E. L. C. P., & Soares, C. B. (2017). Experiences and shared meaning of teamwork and interprofessional collaboration among health care professionals in primary health care settings: a systematic review. JBI Evidence Synthesis, 15(11), 2723-2788.
Zajac, S., Woods, A., Tannenbaum, S., Salas, E., & Holladay, C. L. (2021). Overcoming challenges to teamwork in healthcare: a team effectiveness framework and evidence-based guidance. Frontiers in Communication, 6, 606445.
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