Interdisciplinary Team Communication Skills

 

According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Agency for Healthcare research and Quality:

 “Small groups of individuals work together throughout the health care community, in intensive care units (ICU), operating rooms, labor and delivery wards, and family-medicine practices. Physicians, nurses, pharmacists, technicians, and other health professionals must coordinate their activities, if safe and efficient patient care is to be a priority.

 

Teams make fewer mistakes than do individuals, and this is especially true when every member of a team is as aware of their teammates' responsibilities as they are their own. But the members of these teams are rarely trained together. Moreover, they often come from distinctly different disciplines and diverse educational backgrounds, even though the myriad conditions addressed by health care professionals require interdisciplinary teamwork. The varied nature of the work and the necessity for cooperation among those who perform it make team training an ideal tool in the drive to improve patient safety and reduce medical errors.”