4.01 Knowledge: Teamwork and professional collaboration. Transcript (CO1, CO2,
CO4, WO1 to WO6)
"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships." -
Michael Jordan
Teamwork and collaboration is a “function effectively within nursing and inter-
professional teams, fostering open communication, mutual respect, and shared
decision-making to achieve quality patient care (QSEN Advisory Group, 2012, p.
3).
Teamwork is critical to nursing as:
• It improves patient outcomes
• It builds professional relationships
• It promotes learning effective communication
• Teams reduce risk to patient safety and adverse events
• Teamwork makes patient care more efficient
• Teamwork lowers cost of healthcare
• Teamwork improves nurse job satisfaction
• Delegation is a critical skill in teamwork
Key elements of teamwork include:
• Effective communication
• Effective interprofessional collaboration
• Care coordination
• Staff accountability so every team member performs their job
• Nurses need to have integrity and be trustworthy
• Team members need to accept and use feedback
• Team members need to use creativity and share ideas with the team
• Teams need to demonstrate caring for each team member
Improving nurses’ teamwork skills:
• Lifelong learning of communication skills
• Learning to give credit to team members accomplishments
• Learn to not micromanage – assume accountability
• Listen first and then talk – encourage the team to contribute
• If you are skilled in teamwork offer to be a mentor
• Promote a patient-centered care agenda
• Reflect on your teamwork skills and consciously fill gaps
• Model teamwork
• Embrace team diversity
• Understand team member roles
• Promote team honesty and fairness
• Promote strong ethics and moral principles
• Encourage and promote professional development of the team
