Why teamwork works

This post courtesy of Anne Taylor-Vaisey: Baker DP, Salas E, King H, Battles

J, Barach P. The role of teamwork in the

professional education of physicians: current status and assessment

recommendations

. Jt Comm J Qual

Patient Saf

2005; 31(4):185-202.

BACKGROUND: The Institute of

Medicine (IOM) has recommended that organizations establish interdisciplinary

team training programs that incorporate proven methods for team management.

Teamwork can be assessed during physician medical education, board

certification, licensure, and continuing practice. Team members must possess

specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs), such as the ability to

exchange information, which enable individual team members to coordinate.

ASSESSING PHYSICIAN TEAMWORK: KSAs might be elicited and assessed across a

physic! ian's career, starting in medical school and continuing through

licensure and board certification. Professional bodies should be responsible for

the development of specific team knowledge and skill competencies and for

promoting specific team attitude competencies. Tools are available to assess

medical student, resident, and physician competence in these critical team KSAs.

CHALLENGES AND COMPLEXITIES IN TEAM PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT: For teamwork

skills to be assessed and have credibility, team performance measures must be

grounded in team theory, account for individual and team-level performance,

capture team process and outcomes, adhere to standards for reliability and

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