Interdisciplinary team communication among forensic nurses and rape victim advocates.

Science.gov (United States)

Patterson, Debra

2014-01-01

Victim advocates and forensic nurses provide integrated care to address the complex legal, medical, and mental health needs of rape survivors. Research suggests that conflict exists between nurses and advocates, but it remains unknown how their communication patterns contribute to or resolve these conflicts. Utilizing a qualitative case study approach, the current study interviewed 24 nurses and advocates from a Midwest organization to better understand team communication patterns when addressing conflicts. The findings suggest that most nurses communicate concerns directly while advocates avoid direct communication. Factors that influenced direct and indirect communication and their implications for practice will be discussed.

Why saying what you mean matters: An analysis of trauma team communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Hee Soo; Warner-Hillard, Charles; Thompson, Ryan; Haines, Krista; Moungey, Brooke; LeGare, Anne; Shaffer, David Williamson; Pugh, Carla; Agarwal, Suresh; Sullivan, Sarah

2018-02-01

We hypothesized that team communication with unmatched grammatical form and communicative intent (mixed mode communication) would correlate with worse trauma teamwork. Interdisciplinary trauma simulations were conducted. Team performance was rated using the TEAM tool. Team communication was coded for grammatical form and communicative intent. The rate of mixed mode communication (MMC) was calculated. MMC rates were compared to overall TEAM scores. Statements with advisement intent (attempts to guide behavior) and edification intent (objective information) were specifically examined. The rates of MMC with advisement intent (aMMC) and edification intent (eMMC) were also compared to TEAM scores. TEAM scores did not correlate with MMC or eMMC. However, aMMC rates negatively correlated with total TEAM scores (r = -0.556, p = 0.025) and with the TEAM task management component scores (r = -0.513, p = 0.042). Trauma teams with lower rates of mixed mode communication with advisement intent had better non-technical skills as measured by TEAM. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Political Science and Speech Communication--A Team Approach to Teaching Political Communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Blatt, Stephen J.; Fogel, Norman

This paper proposes making speech communication more interdisciplinary and, in particular, combining political science and speech in a team-taught course in election campaigning. The goals, materials, activities, and plan of such a course are discussed. The goals include: (1) gaining new insights into the process of contemporary campaigns and…

Exploring Parental Involvement Strategies Utilized by Middle School Interdisciplinary Teams

Science.gov (United States)

Robbins, Chris; Searby, Linda

2013-01-01

Adolescents present a unique collection of characteristics and challenges which middle school interdisciplinary teams were designed to address. This article describes a research study which explored parental involvement strategies employed by interdisciplinary teaching teams from three very different middle schools: an affluent suburban school, a…

Effective healthcare process redesign through an interdisciplinary team approach.

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Snyder, Rita; Huynh, Nathan; Cai, Bo; Vidal, José; Bennett, Kevin

2013-01-01

Healthcare process redesign is a complex and often high risk undertaking. Typically, there is a limited understanding of the baseline process and often inadequate tools by which to assess it. This can be confounded by narrow redesign team expertise that can result in unanticipated and/or unintended redesign consequences. Interdisciplinary research teams of healthcare, biostatistics, engineering and computer science experts provide broad support for a more effective and safer approach to healthcare process redesign. We describe an interdisciplinary research team focused on medication administration process (MAP)redesign and its achievements and challenges.

42 CFR 460.102 - Interdisciplinary team.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... ELDERLY (PACE) PACE Services § 460.102 Interdisciplinary team. (a) Basic requirement. A PACE organization... the following: (i) Managing a participant's medical situations. (ii) Overseeing a participant's use of.... (iii) Documenting changes of a participant's condition in the participant's medical record consistent...

Impact of a Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Educational Program for Interdisciplinary Teams.

Science.gov (United States)

Murgu, Septimiu; Rabito, Robb; Lasko, Greg; Jackson, Chad; Mino-Kenudson, Mari; Ettinger, David S; Ramalingam, Suresh S; Edell, Eric S

2018-04-01

Successful implementation of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) evidence-based guideline recommendations requires effective educational programs that target all clinicians from interdisciplinary teams. This study describes and evaluates the Engaging an Interdisciplinary Team for NSCLC (GAIN 3.0) experiential learning-based educational curriculum. GAIN 3.0 was designed to enhance interdisciplinary collaboration for effective NSCLC diagnosis, assessment, and treatment. The program used a flipped classroom model that included an e-learning component prior to a live 6-hour interactive program. The interactive program included hands-on simulations, small group workshops, gamification, and case discussions. Participants included academic and community members of multidisciplinary lung cancer teams. Assessments included an online baseline survey, a pretest and posttest, a program evaluation, a long-term survey (LTS), and on-site faculty evaluation of participants. Of 416 attendees to 13 live GAIN 3.0 programs (nine in the United States and four in Europe), 304 (73%) completed the pretest and 187 (45%) completed the posttest. Out of a perfect score of 12 points, program participants had a mean test score of 6.3 ± 2.1 on the pretest (52%) and 7.8 ± 2.1 on the posttest (65%) (P = .03). There was an overall knowledge increase of 13% from pretest to posttest. Most LTS respondents (65%) rated the GAIN 3.0 live programs as "high impact." On the LTS, the areas with the greatest gains in participants who had very high confidence were communication across disciplines, use of a team-based approach, and personalized treatment. GAIN 3.0 was a highly successful interdisciplinary activity that improved participants' knowledge, competence, and likely the clinical care provided to patients with NSCLC. Copyright © 2017 American College of Chest Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Interdisciplinary Team Teaching versus Departmentalization in Middle Schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Alspaugh, John W.; Harting, Roger D.

1998-01-01

Studied the effects of interdisciplinary teaming versus departmentalization on student achievement in middle schools. Found no significant differences for reading, math, science, and social studies achievement. Results suggest that team teaching merits further investigation as a potential strategy for mediating the student achievement loss…

Electronic health record tools' support of nurses' clinical judgment and team communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Kossman, Susan P; Bonney, Leigh Ann; Kim, Myoung Jin

2013-11-01

Nurses need to quickly process information to form clinical judgments, communicate with the healthcare team, and guide optimal patient care. Electronic health records not only offer potential for enhanced care but also introduce unintended consequences through changes in workflow, clinical judgment, and communication. We investigated nurses' use of improvised (self-made) and electronic health record-generated cognitive artifacts on clinical judgment and team communication. Tanner's Clinical Judgment Model provided a framework and basis for questions in an online survey and focus group interviews. Findings indicated that (1) nurses rated self-made work lists and medication administration records highest for both clinical judgment and communication, (2) tools aided different dimensions of clinical judgment, and (3) interdisciplinary tools enhance team communication. Implications are that electronic health record tool redesign could better support nursing work.

Assessing the facilitators and barriers of interdisciplinary team working in primary care using normalisation process theory: An integrative review.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Reilly, Pauline; Lee, Siew Hwa; O'Sullivan, Madeleine; Cullen, Walter; Kennedy, Catriona; MacFarlane, Anne

2017-01-01

Interdisciplinary team working is of paramount importance in the reform of primary care in order to provide cost-effective and comprehensive care. However, international research shows that it is not routine practice in many healthcare jurisdictions. It is imperative to understand levers and barriers to the implementation process. This review examines interdisciplinary team working in practice, in primary care, from the perspective of service providers and analyses 1 barriers and facilitators to implementation of interdisciplinary teams in primary care and 2 the main research gaps. An integrative review following the PRISMA guidelines was conducted. Following a search of 10 international databases, 8,827 titles were screened for relevance and 49 met the criteria. Quality of evidence was appraised using predetermined criteria. Data were analysed following the principles of framework analysis using Normalisation Process Theory (NPT), which has four constructs: sense making, enrolment, enactment, and appraisal. The literature is dominated by a focus on interdisciplinary working between physicians and nurses. There is a dearth of evidence about all NPT constructs apart from enactment. Physicians play a key role in encouraging the enrolment of others in primary care team working and in enabling effective divisions of labour in the team. The experience of interdisciplinary working emerged as a lever for its implementation, particularly where communication and respect were strong between professionals. A key lever for interdisciplinary team working in primary care is to get professionals working together and to learn from each other in practice. However, the evidence base is limited as it does not reflect the experiences of all primary care professionals and it is primarily about the enactment of team working. We need to know much more about the experiences of the full network of primary care professionals regarding all aspects of implementation work. International

The rehabilitation team: staff perceptions of the hospital environment, the interdisciplinary team environment, and interprofessional relations.

Science.gov (United States)

Strasser, D C; Falconer, J A; Martino-Saltzmann, D

1994-02-01

Although inpatient rehabilitation is an interdisciplinary activity organized around a treatment team, there is a limited understanding of the workings of the interdisciplinary process. To elucidate staff perceptions of key aspects of the rehabilitation treatment process, we surveyed staff (n = 113) from selected inpatient teams. The staff completed social psychological instruments that measure perceptions of the hospital environment (The Ward Atmosphere Scale [WAS]), the team's environment (the Group Environment Scale [GES]), and interprofessional relations (Interprofessional Perception Scale [IPS]). Rehabilitation staff generally endorse the team approach, but express concerns over professional boundaries. Interprofessional difficulties seemed to be independent of team membership or professional training. Compared with published data from other settings, rehabilitation teams resembled task-oriented groups, but showed significant differences across teams in their perceptions of the team and hospital environments. The task-oriented character of rehabilitation teams, team-specific characteristics, and discord in interprofessional relationships may need to be considered in studies of rehabilitation teams effectiveness.

Overcoming parochialism: interdisciplinary training of the generalist team.

Science.gov (United States)

Benson, J A

1997-01-01

The work force that will staff most health care systems of the future will include a complex array of professionals working together in teams. The traditional inpatient model of patient care has been only multidisciplinary--nurses, medical social workers, dietitians, pharmacists, and physicians, all interested in each patient, but with divided responsibilities, training formats, and faculties--whereas interdisciplinary teams openly share decision making, expectations for care, goals for the team, and mutual respect.

Three images of interdisciplinary team meetings.

Science.gov (United States)

Crepeau, E B

1994-08-01

Teams are an essential aspect of health care today, especially in rehabilitation or chronic illness where the course of care is frequently long, complex, and unpredictable. The coordinative function of teams and their interdisciplinary aspects are thought to improve patient care because team members bring their unique professional skills together to address patient problems. This coordination is enacted through the team meeting, which typically results in an integrated care plan. This professional image of team meetings is explicit and addresses the description and provision of care as objective and rational activities. In contrast, the constructed and ritualistic images of health care team meetings are implicit and concern the less objective and rational aspects of planning care. The constructed image pertains to the definitional activity of team members as they try to understand patient troubles and achieve consensus. This process involves the individual clinical reasoning of team members and the collective reasoning of the group. The ritualistic image is that aspect of team meetings in which the team affirms and reaffirms its collective identity. Drawing from field research of geropsychiatric team meetings, this article defines and explicates these images, focusing on the constructed and ritualistic aspects of team meetings and the influence of these images on group function.

Improving Interdisciplinary Relationships in Primary Care with the Implementation of TeamSTEPPS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicole Siddons

2016-03-01

Full Text Available A major challenge in healthcare is lack of interdisciplinary collaboration (O’Daniel & Rosenstein, 2008. The Institute of Medicine report, To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System (1999, shows that errors often occur due to lapses in partnership and communication. This article describes the implementation of TeamSTEPPS, an evidence-based tool for optimizing staff relationships and partnership, in a clinic in which a change in the care model had affected interprofessional collaboration and teamwork, threatening healthcare outcomes and staff engagement. The implementation of TeamSTEPPS, customized using elements of IDEO’s (2015 Human-Centered Design, shifted the culture of the clinic towards partnership, resulting in improved staff perceptions of teamwork and statistically significant improvements in the quality of patient care.

Assessing the facilitators and barriers of interdisciplinary team working in primary care using normalisation process theory: An integrative review

Science.gov (United States)

O’Reilly, Pauline; Lee, Siew Hwa; O’Sullivan, Madeleine; Cullen, Walter; Kennedy, Catriona; MacFarlane, Anne

2017-01-01

Background Interdisciplinary team working is of paramount importance in the reform of primary care in order to provide cost-effective and comprehensive care. However, international research shows that it is not routine practice in many healthcare jurisdictions. It is imperative to understand levers and barriers to the implementation process. This review examines interdisciplinary team working in practice, in primary care, from the perspective of service providers and analyses 1 barriers and facilitators to implementation of interdisciplinary teams in primary care and 2 the main research gaps. Methods and findings An integrative review following the PRISMA guidelines was conducted. Following a search of 10 international databases, 8,827 titles were screened for relevance and 49 met the criteria. Quality of evidence was appraised using predetermined criteria. Data were analysed following the principles of framework analysis using Normalisation Process Theory (NPT), which has four constructs: sense making, enrolment, enactment, and appraisal. The literature is dominated by a focus on interdisciplinary working between physicians and nurses. There is a dearth of evidence about all NPT constructs apart from enactment. Physicians play a key role in encouraging the enrolment of others in primary care team working and in enabling effective divisions of labour in the team. The experience of interdisciplinary working emerged as a lever for its implementation, particularly where communication and respect were strong between professionals. Conclusion A key lever for interdisciplinary team working in primary care is to get professionals working together and to learn from each other in practice. However, the evidence base is limited as it does not reflect the experiences of all primary care professionals and it is primarily about the enactment of team working. We need to know much more about the experiences of the full network of primary care professionals regarding all aspects

Interdisciplinary collaboration within project-level NEPA teams in the US Forest Service

Science.gov (United States)

James W. Freeman; Marc J. Stern; Michael Mortimer; Dale J. Blahna; Lee K. Cerveny

2011-01-01

Interdisciplinary teamwork has become a foundation of natural resources planning and management in the US. Yet, we know little about the degree of interdisciplinary collaboration of natural resource planning teams. We conducted 10 case studies of Forest Service NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) teams working on projects related to the 2005 Travel Management Rule...

The codesign of an interdisciplinary team-based intervention regarding initiating palliative care in pediatric oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, Douglas L; Walter, Jennifer K; Casas, Jessica A; DiDomenico, Concetta; Szymczak, Julia E; Feudtner, Chris

2018-04-07

Children with advanced cancer are often not referred to palliative or hospice care before they die or are only referred close to the child's death. The goals of the current project were to learn about pediatric oncology team members' perspectives on palliative care, to collaborate with team members to modify and tailor three separate interdisciplinary team-based interventions regarding initiating palliative care, and to assess the feasibility of this collaborative approach. We used a modified version of experience-based codesign (EBCD) involving members of the pediatric palliative care team and three interdisciplinary pediatric oncology teams (Bone Marrow Transplant, Neuro-Oncology, and Solid Tumor) to review and tailor materials for three team-based interventions. Eleven pediatric oncology team members participated in four codesign sessions to discuss their experiences with initiating palliative care and to review the proposed intervention including patient case studies, techniques for managing uncertainty and negative emotions, role ambiguity, system-level barriers, and team communication and collaboration. The codesign process showed that the participants were strong supporters of palliative care, members of different teams had preferences for different materials that would be appropriate for their teams, and that while participants reported frustration with timing of palliative care, they had difficulty suggesting how to change current practices. The current project demonstrated the feasibility of collaborating with pediatric oncology clinicians to develop interventions about introducing palliative care. The procedures and results of this project will be posted online so that other institutions can use them as a model for developing similar interventions appropriate for their needs.

Team Mentoring for Interdisciplinary Team Science: Lessons From K12 Scholars and Directors.

Science.gov (United States)

Guise, Jeanne-Marie; Geller, Stacie; Regensteiner, Judith G; Raymond, Nancy; Nagel, Joan

2017-02-01

Mentoring is critical for academic success. As science transitions to a team science model, team mentoring may have advantages. The goal of this study was to understand the process, benefits, and challenges of team mentoring relating to career development and research. A national survey was conducted of Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) program directors-current and former scholars from 27 active National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded BIRCWH NIH K12 programs-to characterize and understand the value and challenges of the team approach to mentoring. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively, and qualitative data were analyzed thematically. Responses were received from 25/27 (93%) program directors, 78/108 (72%) current scholars, and 91/162 (56%) former scholars. Scholars reported that team mentoring was beneficial to their career development (152/169; 90%) and research (148/169; 88%). Reported advantages included a diversity of opinions, expanded networking, development of stronger study designs, and modeling of different career paths. Challenges included scheduling and managing conflicting opinions. Advice by directors offered to junior faculty entering team mentoring included the following: not to be intimidated by senior mentors, be willing to navigate conflicting advice, be proactive about scheduling and guiding discussions, have an open mind to different approaches, be explicit about expectations and mentors' roles (including importance of having a primary mentor to help navigate discussions), and meet in person as a team. These findings suggest that interdisciplinary/interprofessional team mentoring has many important advantages, but that skills are required to optimally utilize multiple perspectives.

Conveying empathy to hospice family caregivers: team responses to caregiver empathic communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Wittenberg-Lyles, Elaine; Debra, Parker Oliver; Demiris, George; Rankin, Anna; Shaunfield, Sara; Kruse, Robin L

2012-10-01

The goal of this study was to explore empathic communication opportunities presented by family caregivers and responses from interdisciplinary hospice team members. Empathic opportunities and hospice team responses were analyzed from bi-weekly web-based videoconferences between family caregivers and hospice teams. The authors coded the data using the Empathic Communication Coding System (ECCS) and identified themes within and among the coded data. Data analysis identified 270 empathic opportunity-team response sequences. Caregivers expressed statements of emotion and decline most frequently. Two-thirds of the hospice team responses were implicit acknowledgements of caregiver statements and only one-third of the team responses were explicit recognitions of caregiver empathic opportunities. Although hospice team members frequently express emotional concerns with family caregivers during one-on-one visits, there is a need for more empathic communication during team meetings that involve caregivers. Hospice clinicians should devote more time to discussing emotional issues with patients and their families to enhance patient-centered hospice care. Further consideration should be given to training clinicians to empathize with patients and family caregivers. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Interdisciplinary Team Project: Psychology and Computer Science Students Create Online Cognitive Tasks

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Flannery, Kathleen A.; Malita, Mihaela

2014-01-01

We present our case study of an interdisciplinary team project for students taking either a psychology or computer science (CS) course. The project required psychology and CS students to combine their knowledge and skills to create an online cognitive task. Each interdisciplinary project team included two psychology students who conducted library…

Mobile Real-time Tracking of Acute Stroke Patients and Instant, Secure Inter-team Communication - the Join App.

Science.gov (United States)

Munich, Stephan A; Tan, Lee A; Nogueira, Danilo M; Keigher, Kiffon M; Chen, Michael; Crowley, R Webster; Conners, James J; Lopes, Demetrius K

2017-09-01

The primary correlate to survival and preservation of neurologic function in patients suffering from an acute ischemic stroke is time from symptom onset to initiation of therapy and reperfusion. Communication and coordination among members of the stroke team are essential to maximizing efficiency and subsequently early reperfusion. In this work, we aim to describe our preliminary experience using the Join mobile application as a means to improve interdisciplinary team communication and efficiency. We describe our pilot experience with the initiation of the Join mobile application between July 2015 and July 2016. With this application, a mobile beacon is transported with the patient on the ambulance. Transportation milestone timestamps and geographic coordinates are transmitted to the treating facility and instantly communicated to all treatment team members. The transport team / patient can be tracked en route to the treating facility. During our pilot study, 62 patients were triaged and managed using the Join application. Automated time-stamping of critical events, geographic tracking of patient transport and summary documents were obtained for all patients. Treatment team members had an overall favorable impression of the Join application and recommended its continued use. The Join application is one of several components of a multi-institutional, interdisciplinary effort to improve the treatment of patients with acute ischemic stroke. The ability of the treatment team to track patient transport and communicate with the transporting team may improve reperfusion time and, therefore, improve neurologic outcomes.

Knowledge and attitude toward interdisciplinary team working among obstetricians and gynecologists in teaching hospitals in South East Nigeria.

Science.gov (United States)

Iyoke, Chukwuemeka Anthony; Lawani, Lucky Osaheni; Ugwu, George Onyemaechi; Ajah, Leonard Ogbonna; Ezugwu, Euzebus Chinonye; Onah, Paul; Onwuka, Chidinma Ifechi

2015-01-01

Interdisciplinary team working could facilitate the efficient provision and coordination of increasingly diverse health services, thereby improving the quality of patient care. The purpose of this study was to describe knowledge of interdisciplinary team working among obstetricians and gynecologists in two teaching hospitals in South East Nigeria and to determine their attitude toward an interdisciplinary collaborative approach to patient care in these institutions. This was a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics and was carried out using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software version 17.0 for Windows. In total, 116 doctors participated in the study. The mean age of the respondents was 31.9±7.0 (range 22-51) years. Approximately 74% of respondents were aware of the concept of interdisciplinary team working. Approximately 15% of respondents who were aware of the concept of interdisciplinary team working had very good knowledge of it; 52% had good knowledge and 33% had poor knowledge. Twenty-nine percent of knowledgeable respondents reported ever receiving formal teaching/training on interdisciplinary team working in the course of their professional development. About 78% of those aware of team working believed that interdisciplinary teams would be useful in obstetrics and gynecology practice in Nigeria, with 89% stating that it would be very useful. Approximately 77% of those aware of team working would support establishment and implementation of interdisciplinary teams at their centers. There was a high degree of knowledge of the concept and a positive attitude toward interdisciplinary team working among obstetricians and gynecologists in the study centers. This suggests that the attitude of physicians may not be an impediment to implementation of a collaborative interdisciplinary approach to clinical care in the study centers.

Exploring effectiveness of team communication: Balancing synchronous and asynchronous communication in design teams

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Otter, den A.F.H.J.; Emmitt, S.

2007-01-01

Purpose – Effective teams use a balance of synchronous and asynchronous communication. Team communication is dependent on the communication acts of team members and the ability of managers to facilitate, stimulate and motivate them. Team members from organizations using different information systems

Entrepreneurial Thinking in Interdisciplinary Student Teams

Science.gov (United States)

Neumeyer, Xaver; McKenna, Ann

2016-01-01

Our work investigates students' perception of collaborative expertise and the role of inquiry-based learning in the context of team-based entrepreneurship education. Specifically, we examine students' perception of communication, division of work, shared goals, team conflicts and leadership in their respective teams. In addition, we look at the…

Performance feedback: An exploratory study to examine the acceptability and impact for interdisciplinary primary care teams

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Background This mixed methods study was designed to explore the acceptability and impact of feedback of team performance data to primary care interdisciplinary teams. Methods Seven interdisciplinary teams were offered a one-hour, facilitated performance feedback session presenting data from a comprehensive, previously-conducted evaluation, selecting highlights such as performance on chronic disease management, access, patient satisfaction and team function. Results Several recurrent themes emerged from participants' surveys and two rounds of interviews within three months of the feedback session. Team performance measurement and feedback was welcomed across teams and disciplines. This feedback could build the team, the culture, and the capacity for quality improvement. However, existing performance indicators do not equally reflect the role of different disciplines within an interdisciplinary team. Finally, the effect of team performance feedback on intentions to improve performance was hindered by a poor understanding of how the team could use the data. Conclusions The findings further our understanding of how performance feedback may engage interdisciplinary team members in improving the quality of primary care and the unique challenges specific to these settings. There is a need to develop a shared sense of responsibility and agenda for quality improvement. Therefore, more efforts to develop flexible and interactive performance-reporting structures (that better reflect contributions from all team members) in which teams could specify the information and audience may assist in promoting quality improvement. PMID:21443806

Exploring effectiveness of team communication: Balancing synchronous and asynchronous communication in design teams

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

den Otter, Ad; Emmitt, Stephen

2007-01-01

Effective teams use a balance of synchronous and asynchronous communication. Team communication is dependent on the communication acts of team members and the ability of managers to facilitate, stimulate and motivate them. Team members from organizations using different information systems tend...... to have different understanding, opinions, and rates of adoption and skills levels regarding specific IT tools. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effective use of tools for communication in design teams and the strategies for the use of specific tools....

Cocitation or Capacity-Building? Defining Success within an Interdisciplinary, Sustainability Science Team

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abby J. Roche

2017-10-01

Full Text Available To address gaps in knowledge and to tackle complex social–ecological problems, scientific research is moving toward studies that integrate multiple disciplines and ways of knowing to explore all parts of a system. Yet, how these efforts are being measured and how they are deemed successful is an up-and-coming and pertinent conversation within interdisciplinary research spheres. Using a grounded theory approach, this study addresses how members of a sustainability science-focused team at a Northeastern U.S. university funded by a large, National Science Foundation (NSF grant contend with deeply normative dimensions of interdisciplinary research team success. Based on semi-structured interviews (N = 24 with researchers (e.g., faculty and graduate students involved in this expansive, interdisciplinary team, this study uses participants’ narrative accounts to progress our understanding of success on sustainability science teams and addresses the tensions arising between differing visions of success present within the current literature, and perpetuated by U.S. funding agencies like NSF. Study findings reveal that team members are forming definitions of interdisciplinary success that both align with, and depart from, those appearing in the literature. More specifically, some respondents’ notions of team success appear to mirror currently recognized outcomes in traditional academic settings (i.e., purpose driven outcomes—citations, receipt of grant funding, etc.. At the same time, just as many other respondents describe success as involving elements of collaborative research not traditionally acknowledged as a forms of “success” in their own right (i.e., capacity building processes and outcomes—relationship formation, deep understandings of distinct epistemologies, etc.. Study results contribute to more open and informed discussions about how we gauge success within sustainability science collaborations, forming a foundation for

Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Gerontology and Geriatrics in Latin America: Conceptual Approaches and Health Care Teams

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Gomez, Fernando; Curcio, Carmen Lucia

2013-01-01

The underlying rationale to support interdisciplinary collaboration in geriatrics and gerontology is based on the complexity of elderly care. The most important characteristic about interdisciplinary health care teams for older people in Latin America is their subjective-basis framework. In other regions, teams are organized according to a…

Doing Interdisciplinary Mixed Methods Health Care Research: Working the Boundaries, Tensions, and Synergistic Potential of Team-Based Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Hesse-Biber, Sharlene

2016-04-01

Current trends in health care research point to a shift from disciplinary models to interdisciplinary team-based mixed methods inquiry designs. This keynote address discusses the problems and prospects of creating vibrant mixed methods health care interdisciplinary research teams that can harness their potential synergy that holds the promise of addressing complex health care issues. We examine the range of factors and issues these types of research teams need to consider to facilitate efficient interdisciplinary mixed methods team-based research. It is argued that concepts such as disciplinary comfort zones, a lack of attention to team dynamics, and low levels of reflexivity among interdisciplinary team members can inhibit the effectiveness of a research team. This keynote suggests a set of effective strategies to address the issues that emanate from the new field of research inquiry known as team science as well as lessons learned from tapping into research on organizational dynamics. © The Author(s) 2016.

Improving communication for interdisciplinary teams working on storage of digital information in DNA [version 1; referees: 2 approved

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emily E. Hesketh

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Close collaboration between specialists from diverse backgrounds and working in different scientific domains is an effective strategy to overcome challenges in areas that interface between biology, chemistry, physics and engineering. Communication in such collaborations can itself be challenging.  Even when projects are successfully concluded, resulting publications — necessarily multi-authored — have the potential to be disjointed. Few, both in the field and outside, may be able to fully understand the work as a whole. This needs to be addressed to facilitate efficient working, peer review, accessibility and impact to larger audiences. We are an interdisciplinary team working in a nascent scientific area, the repurposing of DNA as a storage medium for digital information. In this note, we highlight some of the difficulties that arise from such collaborations and outline our efforts to improve communication through a glossary and a controlled vocabulary and accessibility via short plain-language summaries. We hope to stimulate early discussion within this emerging field of how our community might improve the description and presentation of our work to facilitate clear communication within and between research groups and increase accessibility to those not familiar with our respective fields — be it molecular biology, computer science, information theory or others that might become relevant in future. To enable an open and inclusive discussion we have created a glossary and controlled vocabulary as a cloud-based shared document and we invite other scientists to critique our suggestions and contribute their own ideas.

High fidelity simulation based team training in urology: a preliminary interdisciplinary study of technical and nontechnical skills in laparoscopic complications management.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jason Y; Mucksavage, Phillip; Canales, Cecilia; McDougall, Elspeth M; Lin, Sharon

2012-04-01

Simulation based team training provides an opportunity to develop interdisciplinary communication skills and address potential medical errors in a high fidelity, low stakes environment. We evaluated the implementation of a novel simulation based team training scenario and assessed the technical and nontechnical performance of urology and anesthesiology residents. Urology residents were randomly paired with anesthesiology residents to participate in a simulation based team training scenario involving the management of 2 scripted critical events during laparoscopic radical nephrectomy, including the vasovagal response to pneumoperitoneum and renal vein injury during hilar dissection. A novel kidney surgical model and a high fidelity mannequin simulator were used for the simulation. A debriefing session followed each simulation based team training scenario. Assessments of technical and nontechnical performance were made using task specific checklists and global rating scales. A total of 16 residents participated, of whom 94% rated the simulation based team training scenario as useful for communication skill training. Also, 88% of urology residents believed that the kidney surgical model was useful for technical skill training. Urology resident training level correlated with technical performance (p=0.004) and blood loss during renal vein injury management (p=0.022) but not with nontechnical performance. Anesthesia resident training level correlated with nontechnical performance (p=0.036). Urology residents consistently rated themselves higher on nontechnical performance than did faculty (p=0.033). Anesthesia residents did not differ in the self-assessment of nontechnical performance compared to faculty assessments. Residents rated the simulation based team training scenario as useful for interdisciplinary communication skill training. Urology resident training level correlated with technical performance but not with nontechnical performance. Urology residents

Capstone Interdisciplinary Team Project: A Requirement for the MS in Sustainability Degree

Science.gov (United States)

Jiji, Latif M.; Schonfeld, Irvin Sam; Smith, George A.

2015-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to describe experience gained with a required six-credit year-long course, the Capstone Interdisciplinary Team Project, a key component of the Master of Science (MS) in Sustainability degree at the City College of New York. A common feature of sustainability problems is their interdisciplinary nature. Solutions to…

Beyond Interdisciplinary Teaming: Findings and Implications of the NASSP National Middle Level Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Hackmann, Donald G.; Petzko, Vicki N.; Valentine, Jerry W.; Clark, Donald C.; Nori, John R.; Lucas, Stephen E.

2002-01-01

Reports trends and implications of interdisciplinary teaming practices in middle schools, based on findings from a national survey. Noting that nearly 80 percent of schools currently implement teaming, challenges principals and teachers to move beyond simple formation of teams to the creation of an infrastructure that supports high-performing…

Impact of crisis resource management simulation-based training for interprofessional and interdisciplinary teams: A systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Fung, Lillia; Boet, Sylvain; Bould, M Dylan; Qosa, Haytham; Perrier, Laure; Tricco, Andrea; Tavares, Walter; Reeves, Scott

2015-01-01

Crisis resource management (CRM) abilities are important for different healthcare providers to effectively manage critical clinical events. This study aims to review the effectiveness of simulation-based CRM training for interprofessional and interdisciplinary teams compared to other instructional methods (e.g., didactics). Interprofessional teams are composed of several professions (e.g., nurse, physician, midwife) while interdisciplinary teams are composed of several disciplines from the same profession (e.g., cardiologist, anaesthesiologist, orthopaedist). Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and ERIC were searched using terms related to CRM, crisis management, crew resource management, teamwork, and simulation. Trials comparing simulation-based CRM team training versus any other methods of education were included. The educational interventions involved interprofessional or interdisciplinary healthcare teams. The initial search identified 7456 publications; 12 studies were included. Simulation-based CRM team training was associated with significant improvements in CRM skill acquisition in all but two studies when compared to didactic case-based CRM training or simulation without CRM training. Of the 12 included studies, one showed significant improvements in team behaviours in the workplace, while two studies demonstrated sustained reductions in adverse patient outcomes after a single simulation-based CRM team intervention. In conclusion, CRM simulation-based training for interprofessional and interdisciplinary teams show promise in teaching CRM in the simulator when compared to didactic case-based CRM education or simulation without CRM teaching. More research, however, is required to demonstrate transfer of learning to workplaces and potential impact on patient outcomes.

From words to action: visibility of management in supporting interdisciplinary team working in an acute rehabilitative geriatric hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Buttigieg, Sandra C; Cassar, Vincent; Scully, Judy W

2013-01-01

The following case study aims to explore management's, health professionals' and patients' experiences on the extent to which there is visibility of management support in achieving effective interdisciplinary team working, which is explicitly declared in the mission statement of a 60-bed acute rehabilitative geriatric hospital in Malta. A total of 21 semi-structured interviews were conducted with the above-mentioned key stakeholders. Three main distinct yet interdependent themes emerged as a result of thematic analysis: "managing a team-friendly hospital", "interdisciplinary team components", and "interdisciplinary team processes". The findings show that visibility of management support and its alignment with the process and content levels of interdisciplinary teamwork are key to integrated care for acute rehabilitative geriatric patients. The emerging phenomena may not be reproducible in a different context; although many of the emerging themes could be comfortably matched with the existing literature. The implications are geared towards raising the consciousness and conscientiousness of good practice in interdisciplinary teamwork in hospitals, as well as in emphasizing organizational and management support as crucial factors for team-based organizations. Interdisciplinary teamwork in acute rehabilitative geriatrics provides optimal quality and integrated health care delivery with the aim that the older persons are successfully discharged back to the community. The authors draw on solid theoretical frameworks--the complexity theory, team effectiveness model and the social identity theory--to support their major finding, namely the alignment of organizational and management support with intra-team factors at the process and content level.

Killer Apps: Developing Novel Applications That Enhance Team Coordination, Communication, and Effectiveness.

Science.gov (United States)

Buengeler, Claudia; Klonek, Florian; Lehmann-Willenbrock, Nale; Morency, Louis-Philippe; Poppe, Ronald

2017-10-01

As part of the Lorentz workshop, "Interdisciplinary Insights into Group and Team Dynamics," held in Leiden, Netherlands, this article describes how Geeks and Groupies (computer and social scientists) may benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration toward the development of killer apps in team contexts that are meaningful and challenging for both. First, we discuss interaction processes during team meetings as a research topic for both Groupies and Geeks. Second, we highlight teamwork in health care settings as an interdisciplinary research challenge. Third, we discuss how an automated solution for optimal team design could benefit team effectiveness and feed into team-based interventions. Fourth, we discuss team collaboration in massive open online courses as a challenge for both Geeks and Groupies. We argue for the necessary integration of social and computational research insights and approaches. In the hope of inspiring future interdisciplinary collaborations, we develop criteria for evaluating killer apps-including the four proposed here-and discuss future research challenges and opportunities that potentially derive from these developments.

An exploration of knowledge integration problems in interdisciplinary research teams

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bayerl, P.S.; Steinheider, B.

2009-01-01

The integration of function-specific expertise into a shared knowledge base is a crucial, but complex process for success in interdisciplinary teams. This paper presents an empirically derived typology of knowledge integration problems and links their occurrence to degree of heterogeneity and

Knowledge flow and exchange in interdisciplinary primary health care teams (PHCTs): an exploratory study

Science.gov (United States)

Sibbald, Shannon L.; Wathen, C. Nadine; Kothari, Anita; Day, Adam M. B.

2013-01-01

Objective: Improving the process of evidence-based practice in primary health care requires an understanding of information exchange among colleagues. This study explored how clinically oriented research knowledge flows through multidisciplinary primary health care teams (PHCTs) and influences clinical decisions. Methods: This was an exploratory mixed-methods study with members of six PHCTs in Ontario, Canada. Quantitative data were collected using a questionnaire and analyzed with social network analysis (SNA) using UCINet. Qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analyzed with content analysis procedures using NVivo8. Results: It was found that obtaining research knowledge was perceived to be a shared responsibility among team members, whereas its application in patient care was seen as the responsibility of the team leader, usually the senior physician. PHCT members acknowledged the need for resources for information access, synthesis, interpretation, or management. Conclusion: Information sharing in interdisciplinary teams is a complex and multifaceted process. Specific interventions need to be improved such as formalizing modes of communication, better organizing knowledge-sharing activities, and improving the active use of allied health professionals. Despite movement toward team-based models, senior physicians are often gatekeepers of uptake of new evidence and changes in practice. PMID:23646028

Bridges and Barriers to Developing and Conducting Interdisciplinary Graduate-Student Team Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wayde Cameron. Morse

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Understanding complex socio-environmental problems requires specialists from multiple disciplines to integrate research efforts. Programs such as the National Science Foundation's Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship facilitate integrated research efforts and change the way academic institutions train future leaders and scientists. The University of Idaho and the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center in Costa Rica collaborate on a joint research program focusing on biodiversity conservation and sustainable production in fragmented landscapes. We first present a spectrum of integration ranging from disciplinary to transdisciplinary across seven aspects of the research process. We then describe our experiences and lessons learned conducting interdisciplinary graduate student team research. Using our program as a case study, we examine the individual, disciplinary, and programmatic bridges and barriers to conducting interdisciplinary research that emerged during our student team research projects. We conclude with a set of recommendations for exploiting the bridges and overcoming the barriers to conducting interdisciplinary research, especially as part of graduate education programs.

Interdisciplinary collaboration in gerontology and geriatrics in Latin America: conceptual approaches and health care teams.

Science.gov (United States)

Gomez, Fernando; Curcio, Carmen Lucia

2013-01-01

The underlying rationale to support interdisciplinary collaboration in geriatrics and gerontology is based on the complexity of elderly care. The most important characteristic about interdisciplinary health care teams for older people in Latin America is their subjective-basis framework. In other regions, teams are organized according to a theoretical knowledge basis with well-justified priorities, functions, and long-term goals, in Latin America teams are arranged according to subjective interests on solving their problems. Three distinct approaches of interdisciplinary collaboration in gerontology are proposed. The first approach is grounded in the scientific rationalism of European origin. Denominated "logical-rational approach," its core is to identify the significance of knowledge. The second approach is grounded in pragmatism and is more associated with a North American tradition. The core of this approach consists in enhancing the skills and competences of each participant; denominated "logical-instrumental approach." The third approach denominated "logical-subjective approach" has a Latin America origin. Its core consists in taking into account the internal and emotional dimensions of the team. These conceptual frameworks based in geographical contexts will permit establishing the differences and shared characteristics of interdisciplinary collaboration in geriatrics and gerontology to look for operational answers to solve the "complex problems" of older adults.

A crew resource management program tailored to trauma resuscitation improves team behavior and communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, K Michael; Benenson, Ronald S; Krichten, Amy E; Clancy, Keith D; Ryan, James Patrick; Hammond, Christopher

2014-09-01

Crew Resource Management (CRM) is a team-building communication process first implemented in the aviation industry to improve safety. It has been used in health care, particularly in surgical and intensive care settings, to improve team dynamics and reduce errors. We adapted a CRM process for implementation in the trauma resuscitation area. An interdisciplinary steering committee developed our CRM process to include a didactic classroom program based on a preimplementation survey of our trauma team members. Implementation with new cultural and process expectations followed. The Human Factors Attitude Survey and Communication and Teamwork Skills assessment tool were used to design, evaluate, and validate our CRM program. The initial trauma communication survey was completed by 160 team members (49% response). Twenty-five trauma resuscitations were observed and scored using Communication and Teamwork Skills. Areas of concern were identified and 324 staff completed our 3-hour CRM course during a 3-month period. After CRM training, 132 communication surveys and 38 Communication and Teamwork Skills observations were completed. In the post-CRM survey, respondents indicated improvement in accuracy of field to medical command information (p = 0.029); accuracy of emergency department medical command information to the resuscitation area (p = 0.002); and team leader identity, communication of plan, and role assignment (p = 0.001). After CRM training, staff were more likely to speak up when patient safety was a concern (p = 0.002). Crew Resource Management in the trauma resuscitation area enhances team dynamics, communication, and, ostensibly, patient safety. Philosophy and culture of CRM should be compulsory components of trauma programs and in resuscitation of injured patients. Copyright © 2014 American College of Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The interdisciplinary team in type 2 diabetes management: Challenges and best practice solutions from real-world scenarios

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Margaret McGill

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The Global Partnership for Effective Diabetes Management has previously recommended the implementation of an interdisciplinary team (IDT approach to type 2 diabetes (T2DM management as one of 10 practical steps for health care professionals to help more people achieve their glycaemic goal. This article discusses some of the key contributors to success and also the challenges faced when applying IDT care, by examining case studies and examples from around the world. The real-world practices discussed show that implementing successful interdisciplinary care in diabetes is possible despite significant barriers such as established hierarchal structures and financial resource constraints. Instituting collaborative, integrated working relationships among multiple disciplines under strong leadership, together with enhanced and active communication and improved patient access to appropriate specialties is essential. Patients have a crucial role in the management of their own disease and including them as part of the treatment team is also critical. IDTs in diabetes care improve patient outcomes in terms of control of glycaemia and cardiometabolic risk factors, and decreased risk of diabetes complications. Ensuring access to an appropriate IDT, in whatever form, is paramount to enable the best care to be delivered.

Killer Apps : Developing Novel Applications That Enhance Team Coordination, Communication, and Effectiveness

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Buengeler, Claudia; Klonek, Florian; Lehmann-Willenbrock, Nale; Morency, Louis Philippe; Poppe, Ronald

2017-01-01

As part of the Lorentz workshop, “Interdisciplinary Insights into Group and Team Dynamics,” held in Leiden, Netherlands, this article describes how Geeks and Groupies (computer and social scientists) may benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration toward the development of killer apps in team

Killer Apps: Developing Novel Applications That Enhance Team Coordination, Communication, and Effectiveness

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Buengeler, Claudia; Klonek, Florian; Lehmann-Willenbrock, Nale; Morency, Louis-Philippe; Poppe, R.W.

2017-01-01

As part of the Lorentz workshop, “Interdisciplinary Insights into Group and Team Dynamics,” held in Leiden, Netherlands, this article describes how Geeks and Groupies (computer and social scientists) may benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration toward the development of killer apps in team

Case Study in Interdisciplinary Scientific Communication: A Decade of the INDECS Journal

OpenAIRE

Stepanić, Josip; Zoroja, Jovana; Šimičević, Vanja

2017-01-01

Background: Interdisciplinary scientific areas regularly develop unique methodologies, yet utilise the conventional communication modes to disseminate results of their researches. Objectives: This paper analyses whether a novel, interdisciplinary communication mode can be found in a gradually developing interdisciplinary journal. Methods/Approach: The content of the journal was categorised based on the characteristics attributed to the published papers. Statistical tests were performed to che...

The Geology and Sociology of Consumption: Team-Teaching Sustainability in an Interdisciplinary First-Year Seminar

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, Emily O.; Davis, Emily Calhoun

2017-01-01

The complex consequences of current consumption practices, such as climate change and ecosystem degradation, necessitate increased interdisciplinary exploration. In order to raise student awareness of these consumption-related issues, we designed a first-year team-taught seminar on sustainability. This innovative interdisciplinary course links…

Distant yet Near: Promoting Interdisciplinary Learning in Significantly Diverse Teams through Socially Responsible Projects

Science.gov (United States)

Adya, Monica; Temple, Bryan K.; Hepburn, Donald M.

2015-01-01

With global specialization of work units within organizations, interdisciplinary work practices comprised of collaborative efforts between technical and business teams are increasingly common in today's workplace. While higher education has responded by creating opportunities for remote teams to learn from collaborative work, occasions for…

Who talks to whom about what? How interdisciplinary communication and knowledge of expertise distribution improve in integrated R&D labs.

Science.gov (United States)

Heinzen, Mareike; Cacciatori, Eugenia; Zoller, Frank A; Boutellier, Roman

2018-04-13

Although several studies have examined the impact of open workspaces, there is still an on-going debate about its advantages and disadvantages. Our paper contributes to this debate by shedding light on three issues: the effect of open workspaces on (1) the flow of communication along and across hierarchical lines; (2) the content of communication; and (3) the specificities of open integrated laboratories. Our findings derive from a longitudinal case in a large pharmaceutical company that has relocated some R&D teams from enclosed to multi-space offices and labs. The relocation has resulted in (a) increased interdisciplinary communication, particularly at lower hierarchical levels, (b) a shift of the location of discussions and the content of conversations and (c) an improved knowledge about expertise distribution. Practitioner Summary: Communication is essential in knowledge-driven organisations. This article examines the impact of a relocation of R&D employees from enclosed to multi-space offices and labs on communication patterns. We explain how the new environment fosters interdisciplinary communication, shifts the location of discussions and increases the knowledge of expertise distribution.

Correlation analysis between team communication characteristics and frequency of inappropriate communications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Ar Ryum; Lee, Seung Woo; Park, Jinkyun; Kang, Hyun Gook; Seong, Poong Hyun

2013-01-01

Highlights: • We proposed a method to evaluate team communication characteristics based on social network analysis. • We compare team communication characteristics with the frequency of inappropriate communications. • Frequency of inappropriate communications were decreased when more operators perform the same types of role as others. • Frequency of inappropriate communications were decreased for teams who provide more number of acknowledgment. - Abstract: The characteristics of team communications are important since large process systems such as nuclear power plants, airline, and railways are operated by operating teams. In such situation, inappropriate communications can cause a lack of situational information and lead to serious consequences for the systems. As a result, the communication characteristics of operating teams should be understood in order to extract meaningful insights to address the nature of inappropriate communications. The purpose of this study was to develop a method to evaluate the characteristics of team communications based on social network analysis and compare them with the frequency of inappropriate communications. In order to perform the analysis, verbal protocol data, which were audio-visual recorded under training sessions by operating teams, were used and interfacing system loss of coolant accident scenarios were selected. As a result of the study, it was found that the frequency of inappropriate communications decreased when more operators perform the same types of role as other operators, since they can easily and effectively back up each other. Also, the frequency of inappropriate communication is decreased for teams which provide a relatively large communication content that acknowledge or confirm another communication content

Interdisciplinary Education: A Reflection of the Real World

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ronald A. Styron, Jr.

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This paper contains a discussion of curricular implications of interdisciplinary education and pedagogical strategies. The focus of the literature cited in this work is on application activities aimed at developing critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication to prepare students to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The Know/Do/Be conceptual model for interdisciplinary education, the pros and cons of interdisciplinary education, and pedagogies that lend themselves well to interdisciplinary strategies, such as Inquiry-Based Learning and Team-based Learning, and instructor competencies are examined.

Interdisciplinary Educational Approaches to Promote Team-Based Geriatrics and Palliative Care

Science.gov (United States)

Howe, Judith L.; Sherman, Deborah Witt

2006-01-01

Despite the increasing public demand for enhanced care of older patients and those with life-threatening illness, health professionals have had limited formal education in geriatrics and palliative care. Furthermore, formal education in interdisciplinary team training is limited. In order to remedy this situation, proactive interventions are being…

Interdisciplinary Research: Performance and Policy Issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Rossini, Frederick A.; Porter, Alan L.

1981-01-01

Successful interdisciplinary research performance, it is suggested, depends on such structural and process factors as leadership, team characteristics, study bounding, iteration, communication patterns, and epistemological factors. Appropriate frameworks for socially organizing the development of knowledge such as common group learning, modeling,…

An Inter-Disciplinary Language for Inter-Disciplinary Communication: Academic Globalization, Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marta Szabo White

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Inspired by the intersection of character, emotions, and logic, much like a Hungarian Rhapsody which is beautifully sad; this paper explores ethos, pathos, and logos in the context of Academic Globalization. As students of the world, an inter-disciplinary language is pivotal for inter-disciplinary communication. Given that the current state of the world stems primarily from miscommunications, it is imperative to launch a cognitive language tool which underscores global commonalities and mitigates cultural differences. Such a platform would foster interdisciplinary research, education, and communication. New paradigms would evolve, grounded in ethos, pathos, and logos. Like yin and yang, these states are interrelated, interacting, and interchanging learning spheres. Just as day and night blend at some point; just as the Parthenon epitomized Greek thought, celebrated the birthplace of democracy, and for the first time, depicted everyday citizens in friezes- underscoring their impactful role- ethos, pathos, and logos represent cross-disciplinary communication devices which synergistically transform and ignite academic globalization. The Literature Review links the concepts of ethos, pathos, and logos with the seminal work Lewis and his LMR framework, which has given birth to Cultureactive and subsequently to ICE [InterCultural Edge]. http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/ciber/programs/we_organize/ice/ Accessed February 14, 2014

Interdisciplinary team working in physical and rehabilitation medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Neumann, Vera; Gutenbrunner, Christoph; Fialka-Moser, Veronika; Christodoulou, Nicolas; Varela, Enrique; Giustini, Alessandro; Delarque, Alain

2010-01-01

Effective team working plays a crucial role in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM). As part of its role of optimizing and harmonizing clinical practice across Europe, the Professional Practice Committee of Union of European Medical Specialists (UEMS) Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM) Section reviewed patterns of team working and debated recommendations for good practice at a meeting of national UEMS delegates held in Riga, Latvia, in September 2008. This consensus statement is derived from that discussion and from a review of the literature concerning team working. Effective team working produces better patient outcomes (including better survival rates) in a range of disorders, notably following stroke. There is limited published evidence concerning what constitute the key components of successful teams in PRM programmes. However, the theoretical basis for good team working has been well-described in other settings and includes agreed aims, agreement and understanding on how best to achieve these, a multi-professional team with an appropriate range of knowledge and skills, mutual trust and respect, willingness to share knowledge and expertise and to speak openly. UEMS PRM Section strongly recommends this pattern of working. PRM specialists have an essential role to play in interdisciplinary teams; their training and specific expertise enable them to diagnose and assess severity of health problems, a prerequisite for safe intervention. Training spans 4-5 years in Europe, and includes knowledge and critical analysis of evidence-based rehabilitation strategies. PRM physicians are therefore well-placed to coordinate PRM programmes and to develop and evaluate new management strategies. Their broad training also means that they are able to take a holistic view of an individual patient's care.

Killer Apps: Developing Novel Applications That Enhance Team Coordination, Communication, and Effectiveness

OpenAIRE

Buengeler, Claudia; Klonek, Florian; Lehmann-Willenbrock, Nale; Morency, Louis-Philippe; Poppe, Ronald

2017-01-01

As part of the Lorentz workshop, “Interdisciplinary Insights into Group and Team Dynamics,” held in Leiden, Netherlands, this article describes how Geeks and Groupies (computer and social scientists) may benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration toward the development of killer apps in team contexts that are meaningful and challenging for both. First, we discuss interaction processes during team meetings as a research topic for both Groupies and Geeks. Second, we highlight teamwork in heal...

The impact of team characteristics and context on team communication: An integrative literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Tiferes, Judith; Bisantz, Ann M

2018-04-01

Many studies on teams report measures of team communication; however, these studies vary widely in terms of the team characteristics, situations, and tasks studied making it difficult to understand impacts on team communication more generally. The objective of this review is systematically summarize relationships between measures of team communication and team characteristics and situational contexts. A literature review was conducted searching in four electronic databases (PsycINFO, MEDLINE, Ergonomics Abstracts, and SocINDEX). Additional studies were identified by cross-referencing. Articles included for final review had reported at least one team communication measure associated with some team and/or context dimension. Ninety-nine of 727 articles met the inclusion criteria. Data extracted from articles included characteristics of the studies and teams and the nature of each of the reported team and/or context dimensions-team communication properties relationships. Some dimensions (job role, situational stressors, training strategies, cognitive artifacts, and communication media) were found to be consistently linked to changes in team communication. A synthesized diagram that describes the possible associations between eleven team and context dimensions and nine team communication measures is provided along with research needs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Implicit Coordination Strategies for Effective Team Communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Butchibabu, Abhizna; Sparano-Huiban, Christopher; Sonenberg, Liz; Shah, Julie

2016-06-01

We investigated implicit communication strategies for anticipatory information sharing during team performance of tasks with varying degrees of complexity. We compared the strategies used by teams with the highest level of performance to those used by the lowest-performing teams to evaluate the frequency and methods of communications used as a function of task structure. High-performing teams share information by anticipating the needs of their teammates rather than explicitly requesting the exchange of information. As the complexity of a task increases to involve more interdependence among teammates, the impact of coordination on team performance also increases. This observation motivated us to conduct a study of anticipatory information sharing as a function of task complexity. We conducted an experiment in which 13 teams of four people performed collaborative search-and-deliver tasks with varying degrees of complexity in a simulation environment. We elaborated upon prior characterizations of communication as implicit versus explicit by dividing implicit communication into two subtypes: (a) deliberative/goal information and (b) reactive status updates. We then characterized relationships between task structure, implicit communication, and team performance. We found that the five teams with the fastest task completion times and lowest idle times exhibited higher rates of deliberative communication versus reactive communication during high-complexity tasks compared with the five teams with the slowest completion times and longest idle times (p = .039). Teams in which members proactively communicated information about their next goal to teammates exhibited improved team performance. The findings from our work can inform the design of communication strategies for team training to improve performance of complex tasks. © 2016, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Interprofessional communication in organ transplantation in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Results. Facilitators of interprofessional transplant communication included appreciation of its importance to good practice and cohesive individual transplant teams. Barriers to interprofessional communication were observed when individual teams had to come together in a multi-team, interdisciplinary environment, when ...

Trauma team leaders' non-verbal communication: video registration during trauma team training.

Science.gov (United States)

Härgestam, Maria; Hultin, Magnus; Brulin, Christine; Jacobsson, Maritha

2016-03-25

There is widespread consensus on the importance of safe and secure communication in healthcare, especially in trauma care where time is a limiting factor. Although non-verbal communication has an impact on communication between individuals, there is only limited knowledge of how trauma team leaders communicate. The purpose of this study was to investigate how trauma team members are positioned in the emergency room, and how leaders communicate in terms of gaze direction, vocal nuances, and gestures during trauma team training. Eighteen trauma teams were audio and video recorded during trauma team training in the emergency department of a hospital in northern Sweden. Quantitative content analysis was used to categorize the team members' positions and the leaders' non-verbal communication: gaze direction, vocal nuances, and gestures. The quantitative data were interpreted in relation to the specific context. Time sequences of the leaders' gaze direction, speech time, and gestures were identified separately and registered as time (seconds) and proportions (%) of the total training time. The team leaders who gained control over the most important area in the emergency room, the "inner circle", positioned themselves as heads over the team, using gaze direction, gestures, vocal nuances, and verbal commands that solidified their verbal message. Changes in position required both attention and collaboration. Leaders who spoke in a hesitant voice, or were silent, expressed ambiguity in their non-verbal communication: and other team members took over the leader's tasks. In teams where the leader had control over the inner circle, the members seemed to have an awareness of each other's roles and tasks, knowing when in time and where in space these tasks needed to be executed. Deviations in the leaders' communication increased the ambiguity in the communication, which had consequences for the teamwork. Communication cannot be taken for granted; it needs to be practiced

American Thyroid Association statement on the essential elements of interdisciplinary communication of perioperative information for patients undergoing thyroid cancer surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Carty, Sally E; Doherty, Gerard M; Inabnet, William B; Pasieka, Janice L; Randolph, Gregory W; Shaha, Ashok R; Terris, David J; Tufano, Ralph P; Tuttle, R Michael

2012-04-01

Thyroid cancer specialists require specific perioperative information to develop a management plan for patients with thyroid cancer, but there is not yet a model for effective interdisciplinary data communication. The American Thyroid Association Surgical Affairs Committee was asked to define a suggested essential perioperative dataset representing the critical information that should be readily available to participating members of the treatment team. To identify and agree upon a multidisciplinary set of critical perioperative findings requiring communication, we examined diverse best-practice documents relating to thyroidectomy and extracted common features felt to enhance precise, direct communication with nonsurgical caregivers. Suggested essential datasets for the preoperative, intraoperative, and immediate postoperative findings and management of patients undergoing surgery for thyroid cancer were identified and are presented. For operative reporting, the essential features of both a dictated narrative format and a synoptic computer format are modeled in detail. The importance of interdisciplinary communication is discussed with regard to the extent of required resection, the final pathology findings, surgical complications, and other factors that may influence risk stratification, adjuvant treatment, and surveillance. Accurate communication of the important findings and sequelae of thyroidectomy for cancer is critical to individualized risk stratification as well as to the clinical issues of thyroid cancer care that are often jointly managed in the postoperative setting. True interdisciplinary care is essential to providing optimal care and surveillance.

Climate uniformity: its influence on team communication quality, task conflict, and team performance.

Science.gov (United States)

González-Romá, Vicente; Hernández, Ana

2014-11-01

We investigated whether climate uniformity (the pattern of climate perceptions of organizational support within the team) is related to task conflict, team communication quality, and team performance. We used a sample composed of 141 bank branches and collected data at 3 time points. The results obtained showed that, after controlling for aggregate team climate, climate strength, and their interaction, a type of nonuniform climate pattern (weak dissimilarity) was directly related to task conflict and team communication quality. Teams with weak dissimilarity nonuniform patterns tended to show higher levels of task conflict and lower levels of team communication quality than teams with uniform climate patterns. The relationship between weak dissimilarity patterns and team performance was fully mediated by team communication quality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Restructuring Vocational Special Needs Education through Interdisciplinary Team Effort: Local Motion in the Pacific Basin.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Garnett J.; Stodden, Robert A.

1994-01-01

The Restructuring through Interdisciplinary Team Effort project focuses on changing the culture and structure of vocational special needs education in the Pacific Basin. Its three dimensions are cognitive core (best practices, outcome-focused design, strategic planning); team network of stakeholders; and systemic renewal (school-to-work…

Do learning collaboratives strengthen communication? A comparison of organizational team communication networks over time.

Science.gov (United States)

Bunger, Alicia C; Lengnick-Hall, Rebecca

Collaborative learning models were designed to support quality improvements, such as innovation implementation by promoting communication within organizational teams. Yet the effect of collaborative learning approaches on organizational team communication during implementation is untested. The aim of this study was to explore change in communication patterns within teams from children's mental health organizations during a year-long learning collaborative focused on implementing a new treatment. We adopt a social network perspective to examine intraorganizational communication within each team and assess change in (a) the frequency of communication among team members, (b) communication across organizational hierarchies, and (c) the overall structure of team communication networks. A pretest-posttest design compared communication among 135 participants from 21 organizational teams at the start and end of a learning collaborative. At both time points, participants were asked to list the members of their team and rate the frequency of communication with each along a 7-point Likert scale. Several individual, pair-wise, and team level communication network metrics were calculated and compared over time. At the individual level, participants reported communicating with more team members by the end of the learning collaborative. Cross-hierarchical communication did not change. At the team level, these changes manifested differently depending on team size. In large teams, communication frequency increased, and networks grew denser and slightly less centralized. In small teams, communication frequency declined, growing more sparse and centralized. Results suggest that team communication patterns change minimally but evolve differently depending on size. Learning collaboratives may be more helpful for enhancing communication among larger teams; thus, managers might consider selecting and sending larger staff teams to learning collaboratives. This study highlights key future

Virtual Teams and Knowledge Communication

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lehtonen, Miikka; Kampf, Constance Elizabeth

2014-01-01

How does culture affect virtual teams and the knowledge communication processes in which they engage? As virtual spaces are increasingly used to support teams and establish collaboration in cross-cultural projects, the notion of cross-cultural communication can be understood as shifting from...... contextual perspective to a semiotic perspective. That is to say, although the team members are using the same vocabulary they might attach different meanings to and have different knowledge about them thus highlighting the importance of approaching virtual teams and collaboration from a semiotic perspective....... To look at how knowledge about virtual work is established in a multinational context, we interviewed members of a team that connects Finland and India. Results reveal five objects shared between the team members with varying knowledge about them. By making these differences in knowledge visible through...

The Advanced Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory: A Student Team Approach to the Fourth-Year Research Thesis Project Experience

Science.gov (United States)

Piunno, Paul A. E.; Boyd, Cleo; Barzda, Virginijus; Gradinaru, Claudiu C.; Krull, Ulrich J.; Stefanovic, Sasa; Stewart, Bryan

2014-01-01

The advanced interdisciplinary research laboratory (AIRLab) represents a novel, effective, and motivational course designed from the interdisciplinary research interests of chemistry, physics, biology, and education development faculty members as an alternative to the independent thesis project experience. Student teams are assembled to work…

Interdisciplinary Analysis of Drought Communication Through Social Media Platforms and Risk Communication

Science.gov (United States)

Wygant, M.

2015-12-01

As droughts continue to impact businesses and communities throughout the United States, there needs to be a greater emphasis on drought communication through interdisciplinary approaches, risk communication, and digital platforms. The purpose of this research is to provide an overview of the current literature on communicating drought and suggests areas for further improvement. Specifically, this research focuses on communicating drought through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. It also focuses on the conglomeration of theoretical frameworks within the realm of risk communication, to provide a strong foundation towards future drought communication. This research proposal provides a critical step to advocate for paradigmatic shifts within natural hazard communication.

How best to structure interdisciplinary primary care teams: the study protocol for a systematic review with narrative framework synthesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Wranik, W Dominika; Hayden, Jill A; Price, Sheri; Parker, Robin M N; Haydt, Susan M; Edwards, Jeanette M; Suter, Esther; Katz, Alan; Gambold, Liesl L; Levy, Adrian R

2016-10-04

Western publicly funded health care systems increasingly rely on interdisciplinary teams to support primary care delivery and management of chronic conditions. This knowledge synthesis focuses on what is known in the academic and grey literature about optimal structural characteristics of teams. Its goal is to assess which factors contribute to the effective functioning of interdisciplinary primary care teams and improved health system outcomes, with specific focus on (i) team structure contribution to team process, (ii) team process contribution to primary care goals, and (iii) team structure contribution to primary care goals. The systematic search of academic literature focuses on four chronic conditions and co-morbidities. Within this scope, qualitative and quantitative studies that assess the effects of team characteristics (funding, governance, organization) on care process and patient outcomes will be searched. Electronic databases (Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PAIS, Web of Science) will be searched systematically. Online web-based searches will be supported by the Grey Matters Tool. Studies will be included, if they report on interdisciplinary primary care in publicly funded Western health systems, and address the relationships between team structure, process, and/or patient outcomes. Studies will be selected in a three-stage screening process (title/abstract/full text) by two independent reviewers in each stage. Study quality will be assessed using the Mixed Methods Assessment Tool. An a priori framework will be applied to data extraction, and a narrative framework approach is used for the synthesis. Using an integrated knowledge translation approach, an electronic decision support tool will be developed for decision makers. It will be searchable along two axes of inquiry: (i) what primary care goals are supported by specific team characteristics and (ii) how should teams be structured to support specific primary care goals? The results of this evidence

Analysis of Team Communication Characteristics Using SNA Technique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Ar Ryum; Lee, Seung Woo; Kang, Hyun Gook; Seong, Poong Hyun [KAIST, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Park, Jin Kyun [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2011-10-15

An important aspect of human behavior in nuclear power plants (NPPs) is team interaction since operating NPPs involves the coordination of several team members among and within workplaces. In this environment, operators in NPPs communicate with each other to share situational information. Unfortunately, inappropriate communication can cause a lack of situational information and lead to serious consequences of systems. This implies that it is requisite to study the communication characteristics of operating team to secure the safety of NPPs. Many researchers have endeavored to investigate the characteristics of team communications. However, previous studies seem to characterize team communications based on a single perspective such as communication contents as well as communication structure. In this regard, it seems that social network analysis (SNA) would be a comprehensive method which enables analysts to characterize team communications from both perspectives. In this study, a density score which is one of the communication characteristics was obtained by using SNA. Moreover, the ratio of inappropriate communications was calculated using the taxonomy for inappropriate communication. Finally, the communication characteristic distinguished by the density score is compared with the ratio of inappropriate communications to extract meaningful insights which could contribute to prevent the occurrence of inappropriate communications

Analysis of Team Communication Characteristics Using SNA Technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Ar Ryum; Lee, Seung Woo; Kang, Hyun Gook; Seong, Poong Hyun; Park, Jin Kyun

2011-01-01

An important aspect of human behavior in nuclear power plants (NPPs) is team interaction since operating NPPs involves the coordination of several team members among and within workplaces. In this environment, operators in NPPs communicate with each other to share situational information. Unfortunately, inappropriate communication can cause a lack of situational information and lead to serious consequences of systems. This implies that it is requisite to study the communication characteristics of operating team to secure the safety of NPPs. Many researchers have endeavored to investigate the characteristics of team communications. However, previous studies seem to characterize team communications based on a single perspective such as communication contents as well as communication structure. In this regard, it seems that social network analysis (SNA) would be a comprehensive method which enables analysts to characterize team communications from both perspectives. In this study, a density score which is one of the communication characteristics was obtained by using SNA. Moreover, the ratio of inappropriate communications was calculated using the taxonomy for inappropriate communication. Finally, the communication characteristic distinguished by the density score is compared with the ratio of inappropriate communications to extract meaningful insights which could contribute to prevent the occurrence of inappropriate communications

Understanding Team Communication Characteristics using Social Network Analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Ar Ryum; Lee, Seung Woo; Seong, Poong Hyun; Park, Jin Kyun

2011-01-01

An important aspect of human behavior in nuclear power plants (NPPs) is team interaction since operating NPPs involves the coordination of several team members among and within workplaces. Since operators in main control room (MCR) get a great deal of information through communication to perform a task, communication is one of the important characteristics for team characteristics. Many researchers have been studying how to understand the characteristics of communication. Social network analysis (SNA) which is considered as an objective and easily applicable method has been already applied in many fields to investigate characteristics of team communication. Henttonen (2010) has struggled to perform the research on the impact of social networks in a team and he found some team communication characteristics could be obtained using some properties of SNA. In this paper, SNA is used to understand communication characteristics within operators in NPPs

The work ability divide: holistic and reductionistic approaches in Swedish interdisciplinary rehabilitation teams.

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Ståhl, Christian; Svensson, Tommy; Petersson, Gunilla; Ekberg, Kerstin

2009-09-01

Stakeholder cooperation in return to work has been increasingly emphasised in research, while studies on how such cooperation works in practise are scarce. This article investigates the relationship between professionals in Swedish interdisciplinary rehabilitation teams, and the aim of the article is to determine the participants' definitions and uses of the concept of work ability. The methods chosen were individual interviews with primary health care centre managers and focus groups with twelve interdisciplinary teams including social insurance officers, physicians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, medical social workers and coordinators. The results show that the teams have had problems with reaching a common understanding of their task, due to an inherent tension between the stakeholders. This tension is primarily a result of two factors: divergent perspectives on work ability between the health professionals and the Social Insurance Agency, and different approaches to cooperative work among physicians. Health professionals share a holistic view on work ability, relating it to a variety of factors. Social insurance officers, on the other hand, represent a reductionistic stance, where work ability is reduced to medical status. Assessments of work ability therefore tend to become a negotiation between insurance officers and physicians. A suggestion from the study is that the teams, with proper education, could be used as an arena for planning and coordinating return-to-work, which would strengthen their potential in managing the prevention of work disability.

Interdisciplinary Team-Teaching Experience for a Computer and Nuclear Energy Course for Electrical and Computer Engineering Students

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Charles; Jackson, Deborah; Keiller, Peter

2016-01-01

A new, interdisciplinary, team-taught course has been designed to educate students in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) so that they can respond to global and urgent issues concerning computer control systems in nuclear power plants. This paper discusses our experience and assessment of the interdisciplinary computer and nuclear energy…

Team-based Service Delivery for Students with Disabilities: Practice Options and Guidelines for Success.

Science.gov (United States)

Ogletree, Billy T.; Bull, Jeannette; Drew, Ruby; Lunnen, Karen Y.

2001-01-01

This article reviews the assessment procedures, treatment procedures, and the advantages and disadvantages of three professional-family team models: multidisciplinary teams, interdisciplinary teams, and transdisciplinary teams. Guidelines for optimal team participation are provided. The importance of mission statements, communication, trust,…

Clinical social work roles in an integrative, interdisciplinary team: enhancing parental compliance.

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Terry, P O

1981-01-01

This paper is directed toward those attempting to develop effective social work functions within an interdisciplinary treatment team and utilizes a specialized group as a demonstration model. The Inborn Errors of Metabolism Team at the University of Tennessee Child Development Center deals with children whose genetic disorders require precise dietary management for the prevention of various handicapping conditions including mental retardation. Representatives of the six disciplines forming the core team recognize that professional interdependence must combine with parental cooperation if the program is to succeed. The clinical social worker is a permanent member of the team and focuses on the family during the years each child is followed. Social work roles are multiple and include those of crisis interventionist, family therapist, marriage counselor, patient advocate, and team interpreter. Such social work involvement is essential in the holistic approach to long-term patient care which recognizes that no disorder exists apart from the patient, nor the patient from his family.

An Interdisciplinary Network Making Progress on Climate Change Communication

Science.gov (United States)

Spitzer, W.; Anderson, J. C.; Bales, S.; Fraser, J.; Yoder, J. A.

2012-12-01

Public understanding of climate change continues to lag far behind the scientific consensus not merely because the public lacks information, but because there is in fact too much complex and contradictory information available. Fortunately, we can now (1) build on careful empirical cognitive and social science research to understand what people already value, believe, and understand; and then (2) design and test strategies for translating complex science so that people can examine evidence, make well-informed inferences, and embrace science-based solutions. Informal science education institutions can help bridge the gap between climate scientists and the public. In the US, more than 1,500 informal science venues (science centers, museums, aquariums, zoos, nature centers, national parks, etc.) are visited annually by 61% of the population. Extensive research shows that these visitors are receptive to learning about climate change and trust these institutions as reliable sources. Ultimately, we need to take a strategic approach to the way climate change is communicated. An interdisciplinary approach is needed to bring together three key areas of expertise (as recommended by Pidgeon and Fischhoff, 2011): 1. Climate and decision science experts - who can summarize and explain what is known, characterize risks, and describe appropriate mitigation and adaptation strategies; 2. Social scientists - who can bring to bear research, theory, and best practices from cognitive, communication, knowledge acquisition, and social learning theory; and 3. Informal educators and program designers - who bring a practitioner perspective and can exponentially facilitate a learning process for additional interpreters. With support from an NSF CCEP Phase I grant, we have tested this approach, bringing together Interdisciplinary teams of colleagues for a five month "study circles" to develop skills to communicate climate change based on research in the social and cognitive sciences. In 2011

Style Guide: An Interdisciplinary Communication Tool to Support the Process of Generating Tailored Infographics From Electronic Health Data Using EnTICE3.

Science.gov (United States)

Arcia, Adriana; Velez, Mark; Bakken, Suzanne

2015-01-01

In this case study we describe key features of the structured communication tool-a style guide-used to support interdisciplinary collaboration, and we propose the use of such a tool for research teams engaged in similar projects. We employ tailored infographics to present patient reported outcome data from a community health survey back, in a comprehensible and actionable manner, to the individuals who provided it. The style guide was developed to bridge the semantic gap between the domain and programming experts engaged in this effort. The style guide supports the communication of complex design specifications in a highly structured format that is nevertheless flexible enough to accommodate project growth. Unlike the typical corporate style guide that has a more narrative format, our style guide is innovative in its use of consistent fields across multiple, standalone entries. The process of populating the style guide prompted the designer toward greater design efficiency and led to consistent and specific instructions that met the framework architect's stated information needs. The guiding values in the creation of the style guide were consistency, clarity, and flexibility. It serves as a durable reference to the desired look and functionality of the final infographic product without dictating an implementation strategy. The style guide format can be adapted to meet the communication needs of other interdisciplinary teams facing a semantic gap.

Interdisciplinary Health Team Care: Proceedings of the Annual Conference (8th, Columbus, Ohio, September 18-20, 1986).

Science.gov (United States)

Brunner, Marjorie L., Ed.; Casto, R. Michael, Ed.

The following are among the 40 papers included in this proceedings: "Code of Ethics for Interdisciplinary Care" (Thomasma); "Training Model for Increasing Team Excellence and Efficiency" (Clayton, Lund); "Organizational Structures of Health Care Teams" (Farrell, Schmitt, Heinemann); "Nutrition Support Practice" (Johnson); "Dividing up the Work on…

Scientific retreats with 'speed dating': networking to stimulate new interdisciplinary translational research collaborations and team science.

Science.gov (United States)

Ranwala, Damayanthi; Alberg, Anthony J; Brady, Kathleen T; Obeid, Jihad S; Davis, Randal; Halushka, Perry V

2017-02-01

To stimulate the formation of new interdisciplinary translational research teams and innovative pilot projects, the South Carolina Clinical and Translational Research (SCTR) Institute (South Carolina Clinical and Translational Science Award, CTSA) initiated biannual scientific retreats with 'speed dating' networking sessions. Retreat themes were prioritized based on the following criteria; cross-cutting topic, unmet medical need, generation of novel technologies and methodologies. Each retreat begins with an external keynote speaker followed by a series of brief research presentations by local researchers focused on the retreat theme, articulating potential areas for new collaborations. After each session of presentations, there is a 30 min scientific 'speed dating' period during which the presenters meet with interested attendees to exchange ideas and discuss collaborations. Retreat attendees are eligible to compete for pilot project funds on the topic of the retreat theme. The 10 retreats held have had a total of 1004 participants, resulted in 61 pilot projects with new interdisciplinary teams, and 14 funded projects. The retreat format has been a successful mechanism to stimulate novel interdisciplinary research teams and innovative translational research projects. Future retreats will continue to target topics of cross-cutting importance to biomedical and public health research. Copyright © 2016 American Federation for Medical Research.

Are Nursing Students Appropriate Partners for the Interdisciplinary Training of Surgery Residents?

Science.gov (United States)

Stefanidis, Dimitrios; Ingram, Katherine M; Williams, Kristy H; Bencken, Crystal L; Swiderski, Dawn

2015-01-01

Interdisciplinary team training in a simulation center recreates clinical team interactions and holds promise in improving teamwork of clinicians by breaking down educational silos. The objective of our study was to assess the appropriateness of interdisciplinary training with general surgery residents and nursing students. Over 2 consecutive academic years (2012-2013 and 2013-2014), general surgery residents participated in interdisciplinary team-training simulation-based sessions with senior nursing students. Scenario objectives included demonstration of appropriate teamwork and communication, and clinical decision making; sessions incorporated interdisciplinary debriefing of the scenarios. Participants were asked to assess their team-training experience and the appropriateness of their team-training partner. Responses were compared. A total of 16 team-training sessions were conducted during the study period. Overall, 12 surgery residents (67%) and 44 nursing students (63%) who had participated in at least 1 session responded to the survey. Although both residents and nursing students indicated that the knowledge and team skills acquired during these sessions were useful to them in clinical practice (73% vs 86%, respectively; p = not significant), residents rated their educational value lower (3.3 vs 4.3 on a 5-point scale, respectively; p training partners whereas 100% residents preferred practicing nurses and 0% with nursing students owing to their limited clinical experience. Interdisciplinary team training and debriefing of surgery residents with nursing students is feasible and highly valued by nursing students. Nevertheless, our experience indicates that residents do not prefer nursing students as team-training partners owing to their limited clinical experience and would rather train with experienced nurses. Copyright © 2015 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Scientific Retreats with ‘Speed Dating’: Networking to Stimulate New Interdisciplinary Translational Research Collaborations and Team Science

Science.gov (United States)

Alberg, Anthony J.; Brady, Kathleen T.; Obeid, Jihad S.; Davis, Randal; Halushka, Perry V.

2016-01-01

To stimulate the formation of new interdisciplinary translational research teams and innovative pilot projects, the South Carolina Clinical & Translational Research (SCTR) Institute (South Carolina Clinical and Translational Science Award, CTSA) initiated biannual scientific retreats with “speed dating” networking sessions. Retreat themes were prioritized based on the following criteria; cross-cutting topic, unmet medical need, generation of novel technologies and methodologies. Each retreat commences with an external keynote speaker followed by a series of brief research presentations by local researchers focused on the retreat theme, articulating potential areas for new collaborations. After each session of presentations, there is a 30 minute scientific “speed dating” period during which the presenters meet with interested attendees to exchange ideas and discuss collaborations. Retreat attendees are eligible to compete for pilot project funds on the topic of the retreat theme. The 10 retreats held have had a total of 1004 participants, resulted in 61 pilot projects with new interdisciplinary teams, and 14 funded projects. The retreat format has been a successful mechanism to stimulate novel interdisciplinary research teams and innovative translational research projects. Future retreats will continue to target topics of cross-cutting importance to biomedical and public health research. PMID:27807146

Early Career Summer Interdisciplinary Team Experiences and Student Persistence in STEM Fields

Science.gov (United States)

Cadavid, A. C.; Pedone, V. A.; Horn, W.; Rich, H.

2015-12-01

STEPS (Students Targeting Engineering and Physical Science) is an NSF-funded program designed to increase the number of California State University Northridge students getting bachelor's degrees in the natural sciences, mathematics, engineering and computer science. The greatest loss of STEM majors occurs between sophomore and junior- years, so we designed Summer Interdisciplinary Team Experience (SITE) as an early career program for these students. Students work closely with a faculty mentor in teams of ten to investigate regionally relevant problems, many of which relate to sustainability efforts on campus or the community. The projects emphasize hands-on activities and team-based learning and decision making. We report data for five years of projects, qualitative assessment through entrance and exit surveys and student interviews, and in initial impact on retention of the participants.

Assessment of a Statewide Palliative Care Team Training Course: COMFORT Communication for Palliative Care Teams.

Science.gov (United States)

Wittenberg, Elaine; Ferrell, Betty; Goldsmith, Joy; Ragan, Sandra L; Paice, Judith

2016-07-01

Despite increased attention to communication skill training in palliative care, few interprofessional training programs are available and little is known about the impact of such training. This study evaluated a communication curriculum offered to interprofessional palliative care teams and examined the longitudinal impact of training. Interprofessional, hospital-based palliative care team members were competitively selected to participate in a two-day training using the COMFORT(TM SM) (Communication, Orientation and options, Mindful communication, Family, Openings, Relating, Team) Communication for Palliative Care Teams curriculum. Course evaluation and goal assessment were tracked at six and nine months postcourse. Interprofessional palliative care team members (n = 58) representing 29 teams attended the course and completed course goals. Participants included 28 nurses, 16 social workers, 8 physicians, 5 chaplains, and one psychologist. Precourse surveys assessed participants' perceptions of institution-wide communication performance across the continuum of care and resources supporting optimum communication. Postcourse evaluations and goal progress monitoring were used to assess training effectiveness. Participants reported moderate communication effectiveness in their institutions, with the weakest areas being during bereavement and survivorship care. Mean response to course evaluation across all participants was greater than 4 (scale of 1 = low to 5 = high). Participants taught an additional 962 providers and initiated institution-wide training for clinical staff, new hires, and volunteers. Team member training improved communication processes and increased attention to communication with family caregivers. Barriers to goal implementation included a lack of institutional support as evidenced in clinical caseloads and an absence of leadership and funding. The COMFORT(TM SM) communication curriculum is effective palliative care communication

Team working in intensive care: current evidence and future endeavors.

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, Joanne; West, Michael A; Cuthbertson, Brian H

2010-12-01

It has recently been argued that the future of intensive care medicine will rely on high quality management and teamwork. Therefore, this review takes an organizational psychology perspective to examine the most recent research on the relationship between teamwork, care processes, and patient outcomes in intensive care. Interdisciplinary communication within a team is crucial for the development of negotiated shared treatment goals and short-team patient outcomes. Interventions for maximizing team communication have received substantial interest in recent literature. Intensive care coordination is not a linear process, and intensive care teams often fail to discuss how to implement goals, trigger and align activities, or reflect on their performance. Despite a move toward interdisciplinary team working, clinical decision-making is still problematic and continues to be perceived as a top-down and authoritative process. The topic of team leadership in intensive care is underexplored and requires further research. Based on findings from the most recent research evidence in medicine and management, four principles are identified for improving the effectiveness of team working in intensive care: engender professional efficacy, create stable teams and leaders, develop trust and participative safety, and enable frequent team reflexivity.

Team Training through Communications Control

Science.gov (United States)

1982-02-01

training * operational environment * team training research issues * training approach * team communications * models of operator beharior e...on the market soon, it certainly would be investigated carefully for its applicability to the team training problem. ce A text-to-speech voice...generation system. Votrax has recently marketed such a device, and others may soon follow suit. ’ d. A speech replay system designed to produce speech from

Practical Preconditions for the Development of the Interdisciplinary Collaboration Competence in Healthcare

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raimonda Brunevičiūtė

2011-12-01

Full Text Available This article presents the results of the fourth stage of the longitudinal research performed at Kaunas University of Medicine (since 2010 – Lithuanian University of Health Sciences and Vytautas Magnus University. The main goal of the research was to investigate educational possibilities and preconditions for the development of the education of professional intercultural communication for students in the education programs of medicine and social work. Previous stages of the study revealed the peculiarities of intercultural/interdisciplinary teamwork, and educational premises for professional education of the team members. The fourth stage of the study is focused on the analysis of the practical activity of the interdisciplinary (intercultural team, striving to improve health specialists’ and social workers’ interdisciplinary collaboration competence.

The surfacing of past assessment strategies within interdisciplinary teams when encountering an open-ended assignment in an undergraduate sustainability course

Science.gov (United States)

Hartman, K.; Dzulkifli, D. D. B.; Moynihan, M. A.; Salman, R.; Goodkin, N.

2017-12-01

267 undergraduate students in an interdisciplinary environmental sustainability course were divided into 66 groups for the duration of the semester. The formation of the groups proceeded by first assigning all of the science majors to groups in a random order. This was followed by assigning the engineering majors, the liberal arts majors, and finally the business majors in turn. After all of the students had been assigned to a group, every group had at least one engineering student and one science student. 11 groups had a liberal arts student but no business student. 26 groups had a business student but no liberal arts student. 29 groups were composed of students from all four majors. During the semester, the groups created an environmental action plan to address one of Singapore's major sustainability concerns: food. In service of the course's emphasis on interdisciplinary communication, the groups were required to create a video to support their environmental action plan. The evaluation method for the videos built on our prior work with rubrics (Hartman & Goodkin, 2016). While we provided a number of examples of videos communicating environmental action plans, students were not prescribed a particular format for their video. To the consternation of some students, the instructor deliberately left the video assessment open-ended. After the semester ended, a researcher coded all 66 videos for the food sustainability issues they identified, their proposed solutions, and their video approach. Approaches included animations, virtual handwriting/drawing, role-playing, PowerPoint presentations, and picture slideshows. Given the open-ended nature of the video project, we hypothesized that groups would converge on approaches that at least one team member was familiar with. We knew from prior work with the business school, that its students engage in role-play activities fairly frequently. Teams with a business major and without a liberal arts major adopted the role

Overcoming the ten most common barriers to effective team communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Hills, Laura

2013-01-01

Communication is at the heart of medical practice management. Yet there are many barriers to effective communication that can interfere with the smooth running of the practice. This article describes the 10 most common barriers to effective medical practice team communication and offers six steps the practice manager can take to break them down. This article also suggests that the practice develop a team communication strategy. It suggests 10 communication principles readers can share directly with their teams and describes three hallmarks of effective team communication. Finally, this article provides a list of 25 practical questions practice managers can use to improve their team's communication.

Funding and remuneration of interdisciplinary primary care teams in Canada: a conceptual framework and application.

Science.gov (United States)

Wranik, W Dominika; Haydt, Susan M; Katz, Alan; Levy, Adrian R; Korchagina, Maryna; Edwards, Jeanette M; Bower, Ian

2017-05-15

Reliance on interdisciplinary teams in the delivery of primary care is on the rise. Funding bodies strive to design financial environments that support collaboration between providers. At present, the design of financial arrangements has been fragmented and not based on evidence. The root of the problem is a lack of systematic evidence demonstrating the superiority of any particular financial arrangement, or a solid understanding of options. In this study we develop a framework for the conceptualization and analysis of financial arrangements in interdisciplinary primary care teams. We use qualitative data from three sources: (i) interviews with 19 primary care decision makers representing 215 clinics in three Canadian provinces, (ii) a research roundtable with 14 primary care decision makers and/or researchers, and (iii) policy documents. Transcripts from interviews and the roundtable were coded thematically and a framework synthesis approach was applied. Our conceptual framework differentiates between team level funding and provider level remuneration, and characterizes the interplay and consonance between them. Particularly the notions of hierarchy, segregation, and dependence of provider incomes, and the link between funding and team activities are introduced as new clarifying concepts, and their implications explored. The framework is applied to the analysis of collaboration incentives, which appear strongest when provider incomes are interdependent, funding is linked to the team as a whole, and accountability does not have multiple lines. Emergent implementation issues discussed by respondents include: (i) centrality of budget negotiations; (ii) approaches to patient rostering; (iii) unclear funding sources for space and equipment; and (iv) challenges with community engagement. The creation of patient rosters is perceived as a surprisingly contentious issue, and the challenges of funding for space and equipment remain unresolved. The development and

Information Literacy and Communication Research: A Case Study on Interdisciplinary Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Natalle, Elizabeth J.; Crowe, Kathryn M.

2013-01-01

This report offers an interdisciplinary approach for conducting assessment on learning outcomes in undergraduate communication research skills where information literacy is embedded in the expected outcome. A Communication Studies department and the University Library piloted a two-year program to develop strategies for coordinated assessment that…

Negative affect reduces team awareness: the effects of mood and stress on computer-mediated team communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Pfaff, Mark S

2012-08-01

This article presents research on the effects of varying mood and stress states on within-team communication in a simulated crisis management environment, with a focus on the relationship between communication behaviors and team awareness. Communication plays a critical role in team cognition along with cognitive factors such as attention, memory, and decision-making speed. Mood and stress are known to have interrelated effects on cognition at the individual level, but there is relatively little joint exploration of these factors in team communication in technologically complex environments. Dyadic communication behaviors in a distributed six-person crisis management simulation were analyzed in a factorial design for effects of two levels of mood (happy, sad) and the presence or absence of a time pressure stressor. Time pressure and mood showed several specific impacts on communication behaviors. Communication quantity and efficiency increased under time pressure, though frequent requests for information were associated with poor performance. Teams in happy moods showed enhanced team awareness, as revealed by more anticipatory communication patterns and more detailed verbal responses to teammates than those in sad moods. Results show that the attention-narrowing effects of mood and stress associated with individual cognitive functions demonstrate analogous impacts on team awareness and information-sharing behaviors and reveal a richer understanding of how team dynamics change under adverse conditions. Disentangling stress from mood affords the opportunity to target more specific interventions that better support team awareness and task performance.

The Role of Communication During Trauma Activations: Investigating the Need for Team and Leader Communication Training.

Science.gov (United States)

Raley, Jessica; Meenakshi, Rani; Dent, Daniel; Willis, Ross; Lawson, Karla; Duzinski, Sarah

Fatal errors due to miscommunication among members of trauma teams are 2 to 4 times more likely to occur than in other medical teams, yet most trauma team members do not receive communication effectiveness training. A needs assessment was conducted to examine trauma team members' miscommunication experiences and research scientists' evaluations of live trauma activations. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that communication training is necessary and highlight specific team communication competencies that trauma teams should learn to improve communication during activations. Data were collected in 2 phases. Phase 1 required participants to complete a series of surveys. Phase 2 included live observations and assessments of pediatric trauma activations using the assessment of pediatric resuscitation team assessments (APRC-TA) and assessment of pediatric resuscitation leader assessments (APRC-LA). Data were collected at a southwestern pediatric hospital. Trauma team members and leaders completed surveys at a meeting and were observed while conducting activations in the trauma bay. Trained research scientists and clinical staff used the APRC-TA and APRC-LA to measure trauma teams' medical performance and communication effectiveness. The sample included 29 healthcare providers who regularly participate in trauma activations. Additionally, 12 live trauma activations were assessed monday to friday from 8am to 5pm. Team members indicated that communication training should focus on offering assistance, delegating duties, accepting feedback, and controlling emotional expressions. Communication scores were not significantly different from medical performance scores. None of the teams were coded as effective medical performance and ineffective team communication and only 1 team was labeled as ineffective leader communication and effective medical performance. Communication training may be necessary for trauma teams and offer a deeper understanding of the communication

The impact of brief team communication, leadership and team behavior training on ad hoc team performance in trauma care settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Nicole K; Williams, Reed G; Schwind, Cathy J; Sutyak, John A; McDowell, Christopher; Griffen, David; Wall, Jarrod; Sanfey, Hilary; Chestnut, Audra; Meier, Andreas H; Wohltmann, Christopher; Clark, Ted R; Wetter, Nathan

2014-02-01

Communication breakdowns and care coordination problems often cause preventable adverse patient care events, which can be especially acute in the trauma setting, in which ad hoc teams have little time for advanced planning. Existing teamwork curricula do not address the particular issues associated with ad hoc emergency teams providing trauma care. Ad hoc trauma teams completed a preinstruction simulated trauma encounter and were provided with instruction on appropriate team behaviors and team communication. Teams completed a postinstruction simulated trauma encounter immediately afterward and 3 weeks later, then completed a questionnaire. Blinded raters rated videotapes of the simulations. Participants expressed high levels of satisfaction and intent to change practice after the intervention. Participants changed teamwork and communication behavior on the posttest, and changes were sustained after a 3-week interval, though there was some loss of retention. Brief training exercises can change teamwork and communication behaviors on ad hoc trauma teams. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Empowering certified nurse's aides to improve quality of work life through a team communication program.

Science.gov (United States)

Howe, Erin E

2014-01-01

The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the impact of a certified nurse's aide (CNA)-led interdisciplinary teamwork and communication intervention on perceived quality of work environment and six-month job intentions. CNAs are frequently excluded from team communication and decision-making, which often leads to job dissatisfaction with high levels of staff turnover. Using a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach with pre- post-program design, the intervention utilized the strategy of debriefing from the national patient safety initiative, TeamSTEPPS. Inherent in the program design, entitled Long Term Care (LTC) Team Talk, was the involvement of the CNAs in the development of the intervention as an empowering process on two wings of a transitional care unit in a long-term care facility in upstate NY. CNAs' perceptions of work environment quality were measured using a Quality of Work Life (QWL) instrument. Additionally, job turnover intent within six months was assessed. Results indicated improved scores on nearly all QWL subscales anticipated to be impacted, and enhanced perceived empowerment of the CNAs on each wing albeit through somewhat different experiential processes. The program is highly portable and can potentially be implemented in a variety of long-term care settings. Copyright © 2014 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Qualitative evaluation of the implementation of the Interdisciplinary Management Tool: a reflective tool to enhance interdisciplinary teamwork using Structured, Facilitated Action Research for Implementation.

Science.gov (United States)

Nancarrow, Susan A; Smith, Tony; Ariss, Steven; Enderby, Pamela M

2015-07-01

Reflective practice is used increasingly to enhance team functioning and service effectiveness; however, there is little evidence of its use in interdisciplinary teams. This paper presents the qualitative evaluation of the Interdisciplinary Management Tool (IMT), an evidence-based change tool designed to enhance interdisciplinary teamwork through structured team reflection. The IMT incorporates three components: an evidence-based resource guide; a reflective implementation framework based on Structured, Facilitated Action Research for Implementation methodology; and formative and summative evaluation components. The IMT was implemented with intermediate care teams supported by independent facilitators in England. Each intervention lasted 6 months and was evaluated over a 12-month period. Data sources include interviews, a focus group with facilitators, questionnaires completed by team members and documentary feedback from structured team reports. Data were analysed qualitatively using the Framework approach. The IMT was implemented with 10 teams, including 253 staff from more than 10 different disciplines. Team challenges included lack of clear vision; communication issues; limited career progression opportunities; inefficient resource use; need for role clarity and service development. The IMT successfully engaged staff in the change process, and resulted in teams developing creative strategies to address the issues identified. Participants valued dedicated time to focus on the processes of team functioning; however, some were uncomfortable with a focus on teamwork at the expense of delivering direct patient care. The IMT is a relatively low-cost, structured, reflective way to enhance team function. It empowers individuals to understand and value their own, and others' roles and responsibilities within the team; identify barriers to effective teamwork, and develop and implement appropriate solutions to these. To be successful, teams need protected time to take

Interdisciplinary Team Collaboration during Discharge of Depressed Older Persons: A Norwegian Qualitative Implementation Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anne Lise Holm

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In order to deliver effective care, it is necessary to organise interdisciplinary activities for older persons who suffer from depressive disorders. This paper evaluated the interdisciplinary team members’ perceptions of cooperation in the discharge planning of depressed older persons based on the Chronic Care Model (CCM. A qualitative implementation design was used, data were collected by means of multistage focus groups, and a thematic analysis was performed. Three themes emerged: lack of effective team leadership in the community, the need to change the delivery system, and enhancing self-management support for depressed older persons as well as the participation of their families. It was concluded that nurse managers must find ways of supporting the depressed older persons by better structuring the care, increasing cooperation with organisational leadership, and creating an environment characterised by trust and mutual respect. Distrust can have serious implications for discharge planning collaboration. The development of a common vision of transparency in the organization is important as is a policy of change among leadership and in clinical practice.

Cross-Level Effects Between Neurophysiology and Communication During Team Training.

Science.gov (United States)

Gorman, Jamie C; Martin, Melanie J; Dunbar, Terri A; Stevens, Ronald H; Galloway, Trysha L; Amazeen, Polemnia G; Likens, Aaron D

2016-02-01

We investigated cross-level effects, which are concurrent changes across neural and cognitive-behavioral levels of analysis as teams interact, between neurophysiology and team communication variables under variations in team training. When people work together as a team, they develop neural, cognitive, and behavioral patterns that they would not develop individually. It is currently unknown whether these patterns are associated with each other in the form of cross-level effects. Team-level neurophysiology and latent semantic analysis communication data were collected from submarine teams in a training simulation. We analyzed whether (a) both neural and communication variables change together in response to changes in training segments (briefing, scenario, or debriefing), (b) neural and communication variables mutually discriminate teams of different experience levels, and (c) peak cross-correlations between neural and communication variables identify how the levels are linked. Changes in training segment led to changes in both neural and communication variables, neural and communication variables mutually discriminated between teams of different experience levels, and peak cross-correlations indicated that changes in communication precede changes in neural patterns in more experienced teams. Cross-level effects suggest that teamwork is not reducible to a fundamental level of analysis and that training effects are spread out across neural and cognitive-behavioral levels of analysis. Cross-level effects are important to consider for theories of team performance and practical aspects of team training. Cross-level effects suggest that measurements could be taken at one level (e.g., neural) to assess team experience (or skill) on another level (e.g., cognitive-behavioral). © 2015, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Team Teaching an Interdisciplinary First-Year Seminar on Magic, Religion, and the Origins of Science: A "Pieces-to-Picture" Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Nungsari, Melati; Dedrick, Maia; Patel, Shaily

2017-01-01

Interdisciplinary teaching has been advocated as a means to foster cooperation between traditionally separate fields and broaden students' perspectives in the classroom. We explored the pedagogical difficulties of interdisciplinary team teaching through a first-year seminar in magic, religion, and the origins of science. Although many accounts in…

Interdisciplinary eHealth Practice in Cancer Care: A Review of the Literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Janssen, Anna; Brunner, Melissa; Keep, Melanie; Hines, Monique; Nagarajan, Srivalli Vilapakkam; Kielly-Carroll, Candice; Dennis, Sarah; McKeough, Zoe; Shaw, Tim

2017-10-25

This review aimed to identify research that described how eHealth facilitates interdisciplinary cancer care and to understand the ways in which eHealth innovations are being used in this setting. An integrative review of eHealth interventions used for interdisciplinary care for people with cancer was conducted by systematically searching research databases in March 2015, and repeated in September 2016. Searches resulted in 8531 citations, of which 140 were retrieved and scanned in full, with twenty-six studies included in the review. Analysis of data extracted from the included articles revealed five broad themes: (i) data collection and accessibility; (ii) virtual multidisciplinary teams; (iii) communication between individuals involved in the delivery of health services; (iv) communication pathways between patients and cancer care teams; and (v) health professional-led change. Use of eHealth interventions in cancer care was widespread, particularly to support interdisciplinary care. However, research has focused on development and implementation of interventions, rather than on long-term impact. Further research is warranted to explore design, evaluation, and long-term sustainability of eHealth systems and interventions in interdisciplinary cancer care. Technology evolves quickly and researchers need to provide health professionals with timely guidance on how best to respond to new technologies in the health sector.

Communication between members of the cardiac arrest team--a postal survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Pittman, J; Turner, B; Gabbott, D A

2001-05-01

Effective communication enhances team building and is perceived to improve the quality of team performance. A recent publication from the Resuscitation Council (UK) has highlighted this fact and recommended that cardiac arrest team members make contact daily. We wished to identify how often members of this team communicate prior to a cardiopulmonary arrest. A questionnaire on cardiac arrest team composition, leadership, communication and debriefing was distributed nationally to Resuscitation Training Officers (RTOs) and their responses analysed. One hundred and thirty (55%) RTOs replied. Physicians and anaesthetists were the most prominent members of the team. The Medical Senior House Officer is usually nominated as the team leader. Eighty-seven centres (67%) have no communication between team members prior to attending a cardiopulmonary arrest. In 33%, communication occurs but is either informal or fortuitous. The RTOs felt that communication is important to enhance team dynamics and optimise task allocation. Only 7% achieve a formal debrief following a cardiac arrest. Communication between members of the cardiac arrest team before and after a cardiac arrest is poor. Training and development of these skills may improve performance and should be prioritised. Team leadership does not necessarily reflect experience or training.

Interdisciplinary Information Design with an Empowerment Strategy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barlach, Anders; Engberg, Axel; Pallesen, Bodil

2006-01-01

An innovative research into a model for ICT enabled Empowerment. By deliberate use of ICT and a feedback-focused communication model in a prototyping process, e-health information based on an empowerment strategy is evaluated. Overall a risk-driven spiral model is applied for Progress...... and Complexity handling in order to ensure success. The process model devised has a proactive approach to interdisciplinary teamwork, organisational web maturity, and the post-modern user's interaction with ICT. The research is performed and evaluated in cooperation with an interdisciplinary team of health......'s perspective. ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL: Nursing Informatics becomes a tool in the interdisciplinary understanding, allowing the nurses to take responsibility for core nursing themes regarding the healthy and the diseased phases of the patients' lives. Iterative modelling ensuring the results is evident and derived...

Integrated Concentration in Science (iCons): Undergraduate Education Through Interdisciplinary, Team-Based, Real-World Problem Solving

Science.gov (United States)

Tuominen, Mark

2013-03-01

Attitude, Skills, Knowledge (ASK) - In this order, these are fundamental characteristics of scientific innovators. Through first-hand practice in using science to unpack and solve complex real-world problems, students can become self-motivated scientific leaders. This presentation describes the pedagogy of a recently developed interdisciplinary undergraduate science education program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst focused on addressing global challenges with scientific solutions. Integrated Concentration in Science (iCons) is an overarching concentration program that supplements the curricula provided within each student's chosen major. iCons is a platform for students to perform student-led research in interdisciplinary collaborative teams. With a schedule of one course per year over four years, the cohort of students move through case studies, analysis of real-world problems, development of potential solutions, integrative communication, laboratory practice, and capstone research projects. In this presentation, a track emphasizing renewable energy science is used to illustrate the iCons pedagogical methods. This includes discussion of a third-year laboratory course in renewable energy that is educationally scaffolded: beginning with a boot camp in laboratory techniques and culminating with student-designed research projects. Among other objectives, this course emphasizes the practice of using reflection and redesign, as a means of generating better solutions and embedding learning for the long term. This work is supported in part by NSF grant DUE-1140805.

Team communication patterns in emergency resuscitation: a mixed methods qualitative analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Calder, Lisa Anne; Mastoras, George; Rahimpour, Mitra; Sohmer, Benjamin; Weitzman, Brian; Cwinn, A Adam; Hobin, Tara; Parush, Avi

2017-12-01

In order to enhance patient safety during resuscitation of critically ill patients, we need to optimize team communication and enhance team situational awareness but little is known about resuscitation team communication patterns. The objective of this study is to understand how teams communicate during resuscitation; specifically to assess for a shared mental model (organized understanding of a team's relationships) and information needs. We triangulated 3 methods to evaluate resuscitation team communication at a tertiary care academic trauma center: (1) interviews; (2) simulated resuscitation observations; (3) live resuscitation observations. We interviewed 18 resuscitation team members about shared mental models, roles and goals of team members and procedural expectations. We observed 30 simulated resuscitation video recordings and documented the timing, source and destination of communication and the information category. We observed 12 live resuscitations in the emergency department and recorded baseline characteristics of the type of resuscitations, nature of teams present and type and content of information exchanges. The data were analyzed using a qualitative communication analysis method. We found that resuscitation team members described a shared mental model. Respondents understood the roles and goals of each team member in order to provide rapid, efficient and life-saving care with an overall need for situational awareness. The information flow described in the interviews was reflected during the simulated and live resuscitations with the most responsible physician and charting nurse being central to team communication. We consolidated communicated information into six categories: (1) time; (2) patient status; (3) patient history; (4) interventions; (5) assistance and consultations; 6) team members present. Resuscitation team members expressed a shared mental model and prioritized situational awareness. Our findings support a need for cognitive aids to

The Work Ability Divide : Holistic and Reductionistic Approaches in Swedish Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Teams

OpenAIRE

Ståhl, Christian; Svensson, Tommy; Petersson, Gunilla; Ekberg, Kerstin

2009-01-01

Stakeholder cooperation in return to work has been increasingly emphasised in research, while studies on how such cooperation works in practise are scarce. This article investigates the relationship between professionals in Swedish interdisciplinary rehabilitation teams, and the aim of the article is to determine the participants’ definitions and uses of the concept of work ability. Methods The methods chosen were individual interviews with primary health care centre managers and focus groups...

Significant Attributes and Challenges Related to Cross-Functional Team Communications

OpenAIRE

Ali, Majid

2016-01-01

Purpose The purpose of the research work is to investigate the importance of the communication in the cross-functional teams and in what which communicational tools provide better convenience of communication in cross-functional team members. Methodology An empirical study including the data collection from the interviews conducted from the participants working in cross-functional teams. Qualitative approach has been adopted to understand the communicational attributes in the cross-functional...

Managing Communication within Virtual Intercultural Teams.

Science.gov (United States)

Grosse, Christine Uber

2002-01-01

Suggests that business students need to be prepared to manage the communication of intercultural teams. Discusses strategies for success such as: developing a network of good relationships built on trust and understanding; showing respect for other cultures and languages; and understanding how diversity strengthens the team. (SG)

Toward an Analytic Framework of Interdisciplinary Reasoning and Communication (IRC) Processes in Science

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Ji; Sung, Shannon; Zhang, Dongmei

2015-11-01

Students need to think and work across disciplinary boundaries in the twenty-first century. However, it is unclear what interdisciplinary thinking means and how to analyze interdisciplinary interactions in teamwork. In this paper, drawing on multiple theoretical perspectives and empirical analysis of discourse contents, we formulate a theoretical framework that helps analyze interdisciplinary reasoning and communication (IRC) processes in interdisciplinary collaboration. Specifically, we propose four interrelated IRC processes-integration, translation, transfer, and transformation, and develop a corresponding analytic framework. We apply the framework to analyze two meetings of a project that aims to develop interdisciplinary science assessment items. The results illustrate that the framework can help interpret the interdisciplinary meeting dynamics and patterns. Our coding process and results also suggest that these IRC processes can be further examined in terms of interconnected sub-processes. We also discuss the implications of using the framework in conceptualizing, practicing, and researching interdisciplinary learning and teaching in science education.

Diagnostic radiology on multiple injured patients: interdisciplinary management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Linsenmaier, U.; Pfeifer, K.J.; Kanz, K.G.; Mutschler, W.

2001-01-01

The presence of a radiologist within the admitting area of an emergency department and his capability as a member of the trauma team have a major impact on the role of diagnostic radiology in trauma care. The knowledge of clinical decision criteria, algorithms, and standards of patient care are essential for the acceptance within a trauma team. We present an interdisciplinary management concept of diagnostic radiology for trauma patients, which comprises basic diagnosis, organ diagnosis, radiological ABC, and algorithms of early clinical care. It is the result of a prospective study comprising over 2000 documented multiple injured patients. The radiologist on a trauma team should support trauma surgery and anesthesia in diagnostic and clinical work-up. The radiological ABC provides a structured approach for diagnostic imaging in all steps of the early clinical care of the multiple injured patient. Radiological ABC requires a reevaluation in cases of equivocal findings or difficulties in the clinical course. Direct communication of radiological findings with the trauma team enables quick clinical decisions. In addition, the radiologist can priority-oriented influence the therapy by using interventional procedures. The clinical radiologist is an active member of the interdisciplinary trauma team, not only providing diagnostic imaging but also participating in clinical decisions. (orig.) [de

Flexible knowledge repertoires: communication by leaders in trauma teams.

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobsson, Maritha; Hargestam, Maria; Hultin, Magnus; Brulin, Christine

2012-07-02

In emergency situations, it is important for the trauma team to efficiently communicate their observations and assessments. One common communication strategy is "closed-loop communication", which can be described as a transmission model in which feedback is of great importance. The role of the leader is to create a shared goal in order to achieve consensus in the work for the safety of the patient. The purpose of this study was to analyze how formal leaders communicate knowledge, create consensus, and position themselves in relation to others in the team. Sixteen trauma teams were audio- and video-recorded during high fidelity training in an emergency department. Each team consisted of six members: one surgeon or emergency physician (the designated team leader), one anaesthesiologist, one nurse anaesthetist, one enrolled nurse from the theatre ward, one registered nurse and one enrolled nurse from the emergency department (ED). The communication was transcribed and analyzed, inspired by discourse psychology and Strauss' concept of "negotiated order". The data were organized and coded in NVivo 9. The findings suggest that leaders use coercive, educational, discussing and negotiating strategies to work things through. The leaders in this study used different repertoires to convey their knowledge to the team, in order to create a common goal of the priorities of the work. Changes in repertoires were dependent on the urgency of the situation and the interaction between team members. When using these repertoires, the leaders positioned themselves in different ways, either on an authoritarian or a more egalitarian level. This study indicates that communication in trauma teams is complex and consists of more than just transferring messages quickly. It also concerns what the leaders express, and even more importantly, how they speak to and involve other team members.

Interdisciplinary education in palliative care: impact on attitudes of students in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, social work, and chaplaincy.

Science.gov (United States)

Schrader, Susan L; Brechtelsbauer, David; Heins, Jodi; Holland, Peter; Schroeder, Pamela A

2012-10-01

Interdisciplinary education among health professions has been recommended, and related evaluation can be found in the literature. However questions remain on how effective interdisciplinary education is and what impact it has. The objective of this study was to determine changes in student attitudes and perceptions upon completion of a 5-week interdisciplinary palliative care seminar. Pre-test and post-test instruments were administered at three five-week Interdisciplinary Palliative Care Seminars in Sioux Falls, SD during 2009-2010. The central hypotheses were that, at the conclusion of the seminar, students will have greater familiarity with their role in a team and more understanding of the roles of other disciplines in palliative care, and will identify positive contributions to professional practice and patient care using the team approach. Both quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed. Participating students in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, social work, and chaplaincy (N = 88) completed surveys. Quantitative data suggest that interdisciplinary education enhances students' understanding of their discipline and the work of other disciplines. Data show students perceive the team approach as enhancing patient outcomes, goal setting, and communication among colleagues. Qualitative data reinforced the importance of interdisciplinary education while revealing strains among disciplines in hierarchy and valuing. Playing one's part in the team strengthens students' confidence and comfort in interdisciplinary settings. Yet, the hazard of experiencing the limitations of teamwork in action must be acknowledged for some.

Interprofessional education in team communication: working together to improve patient safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Brock, Douglas; Abu-Rish, Erin; Chiu, Chia-Ru; Hammer, Dana; Wilson, Sharon; Vorvick, Linda; Blondon, Katherine; Schaad, Douglas; Liner, Debra; Zierler, Brenda

2013-11-01

Communication failures in healthcare teams are associated with medical errors and negative health outcomes. These findings have increased emphasis on training future health professionals to work effectively within teams. The Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS) communication training model, widely employed to train healthcare teams, has been less commonly used to train student interprofessional teams. The present study reports the effectiveness of a simulation-based interprofessional TeamSTEPPS training in impacting student attitudes, knowledge and skills around interprofessional communication. Three hundred and six fourth-year medical, third-year nursing, second-year pharmacy and second-year physician assistant students took part in a 4 h training that included a 1 h TeamSTEPPS didactic session and three 1 h team simulation and feedback sessions. Students worked in groups balanced by a professional programme in a self-selected focal area (adult acute, paediatric, obstetrics). Preassessments and postassessments were used for examining attitudes, beliefs and reported opportunities to observe or participate in team communication behaviours. One hundred and forty-nine students (48.7%) completed the preassessments and postassessments. Significant differences were found for attitudes toward team communication (pteam structure (p=0.002), situation monitoring (pteams (pteam communication is important in patient safety. We demonstrate positive attitudinal and knowledge effects in a large-scale interprofessional TeamSTEPPS-based training involving four student professions.

Promoting Interdisciplinary Research among Faculty

Science.gov (United States)

Novak, Elena; Zhao, Weinan; Reiser, Robert A.

2014-01-01

With the growing recognition of the importance of interdisciplinary research, many faculty have increased their efforts to form interdisciplinary research teams. Oftentimes, attempts to put together such teams are hampered because faculty have a limited picture of the research interests and expertise of their colleagues. This paper reports on…

The Challenge of Interdisciplinary Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Locker, Kitty O.

1994-01-01

Discusses what makes business communication research interdisciplinary and why interdisciplinary research is difficult yet desirable. Details the value of interdisciplinary concepts, methods, and perspectives. Notes how business communication research might be made interdisciplinary and points out the need for tolerance in interdisciplinary…

An interdisciplinary space of scientific communication in Collective (Public) Health: the journal interface--Communication, Health, Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Cyrino, Antonio Pithon; Lima, Elizabeth Araújo; Garcia, Vera Lucia; Teixeira, Ricardo Rodrigues; Foresti, Miriam Celí Pimentel Porto; Schraiber, Lilia Blima

2015-07-01

This is a reflection upon 17 years of experience in the production of an interdisciplinary scientific journal, the publication "Interface: Communication, Health, Education," whose scope is in the fields of Collective (Public) Health, Education and Communication. It also examines retrospectively the themes published by the journal, seeking to identify them in different sections of this publication. Finally, the evolution of the journal is analyzed.

[Experience of a nursing student in an interdisciplinary team: factory of ideas].

Science.gov (United States)

Vaie, S; Barros, S

2001-06-01

The experience of the Curricular Training in a mental health work attendance to out-patients, CAPS, lead to this study development in the attempt to understand and characterize interdisciplinary team in this institution, as well as to understand the admittance of a nursing student in this team. The analysis of the replies disclosed that in the reports is found the concept of interdiscipline as well as of the multidiscipline (work in compartments). The conception which has of the model of assistance and of the admittance of the project in it is compatible with the conceptions that establish the description of the work: flexibility, the projects inter-relation the enlarged practice and the psychosocial rehabilitation. The fact that the service has a Program of lecturing--Assistance Integration, "naturalizes" and validates the participation of a nursing student in the projects of assistance or sociability.

Radio Gaga? Intra-team communication of Australian Rules Football umpires - effect of radio communication on content, structure and frequency.

Science.gov (United States)

Neville, Timothy J; Salmon, Paul M; Read, Gemma J M

2018-02-01

Intra-team communication plays an important role in team effectiveness in various domains including sport. As such, it is a key consideration when introducing new tools within systems that utilise teams. The difference in intra-team communication of Australian Rules Football (AFL) umpiring teams was studied when umpiring with or without radio communications technology. A cross-sectional observational study was conducted to analyse the verbal communication of seven umpiring teams (20 participants) grouped according to their experience with radio communication. The results identified that radio communication technology increased the frequency and altered the structure of intra-team communication. Examination of the content of the intra-team communication identified impacts on the 'Big Five' teamwork behaviours and associated coordinating mechanisms. Analysis revealed that the communications utilised did not align with the closed-loop form of communication described in the Big Five model. Implications for teamwork models, coaching and training of AFL umpires are discussed. Practitioner Summary: Assessing the impact of technology on performance is of interest to ergonomics practitioners. The impact of radio communications on teamwork is explored in the highly dynamic domain of AFL umpiring. When given radio technology, intra-team communication increased which supported teamwork behaviours, such as backup behaviour and mutual performance monitoring.

Enabling team learning when members are prone to contentious communication: The role of team leader coaching

OpenAIRE

Schaubroeck, John; Carmeli, Avraham; Bhatia, Sarena; Paz, Etty

2016-01-01

Members of teams are often prone to interpersonal communication patterns that can undermine the team’s capacity to engage in self-learning processes that are critical to team adaptation and performance improvement. We argue that team leader coaching behaviors are critical to ensuring that team discussions that may foster learning new teamwork skills and strategies are unfettered by the tendency of two or more members to exhibit contentious interpersonal communications. We accordingly test a m...

Interprofessional education in team communication: working together to improve patient safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Brock, Douglas; Abu-Rish, Erin; Chiu, Chia-Ru; Hammer, Dana; Wilson, Sharon; Vorvick, Linda; Blondon, Katherine; Schaad, Douglas; Liner, Debra; Zierler, Brenda

2013-05-01

Communication failures in healthcare teams are associated with medical errors and negative health outcomes. These findings have increased emphasis on training future health professionals to work effectively within teams. The Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS) communication training model, widely employed to train healthcare teams, has been less commonly used to train student interprofessional teams. The present study reports the effectiveness of a simulation-based interprofessional TeamSTEPPS training in impacting student attitudes, knowledge and skills around interprofessional communication. Three hundred and six fourth-year medical, third-year nursing, second-year pharmacy and second-year physician assistant students took part in a 4 h training that included a 1 h TeamSTEPPS didactic session and three 1 h team simulation and feedback sessions. Students worked in groups balanced by a professional programme in a self-selected focal area (adult acute, paediatric, obstetrics). Preassessments and postassessments were used for examining attitudes, beliefs and reported opportunities to observe or participate in team communication behaviours. One hundred and forty-nine students (48.7%) completed the preassessments and postassessments. Significant differences were found for attitudes toward team communication (pskills included, team structure (p=0.002), situation monitoring (pcommunication (p=0.002). Significant shifts were reported for knowledge of TeamSTEPPS (pcommunicating in interprofessional teams (pcommunication is important in patient safety. We demonstrate positive attitudinal and knowledge effects in a large-scale interprofessional TeamSTEPPS-based training involving four student professions.

Investigating the effect of nurse-team communication on nurse turnover: relationships among communication processes, identification, and intent to leave.

Science.gov (United States)

Apker, Julie; Propp, Kathleen M; Ford, Wendy S Zabava

2009-03-01

Enhanced team communication may strengthen nurses' attachment to their organizations and teams and improve nurse retention. This study examines the relationships among nurse-team communication, identification (organizational and team), and intent to leave. Hospital nurses (N = 201) completed surveys measuring 3 nurse-team communication processes: promoting team synergy, ensuring quality decisions, and individualizing communication. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that promoting team synergy was a significant predictor of intent to leave, whereas ensuring quality decisions and individualizing communication did not account for significant additional variance in intent to leave. Separate analyses showed that the relationship between promoting team synergy and intent to leave was partially mediated by team identification or by organizational identification. Further analyses were conducted on the 7 communication practices for promoting team synergy. Mentoring emerged as the only significant predictor of intent to leave; however, its relationship to intent to leave was fully mediated by organizational identification or partially mediated by team identification. Pragmatic suggestions are offered to improve nurse identification and reduce turnover.

Flexible knowledge repertoires: communication by leaders in trauma teams

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jacobsson Maritha

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In emergency situations, it is important for the trauma team to efficiently communicate their observations and assessments. One common communication strategy is “closed-loop communication”, which can be described as a transmission model in which feedback is of great importance. The role of the leader is to create a shared goal in order to achieve consensus in the work for the safety of the patient. The purpose of this study was to analyze how formal leaders communicate knowledge, create consensus, and position themselves in relation to others in the team. Methods Sixteen trauma teams were audio- and video-recorded during high fidelity training in an emergency department. Each team consisted of six members: one surgeon or emergency physician (the designated team leader, one anaesthesiologist, one nurse anaesthetist, one enrolled nurse from the theatre ward, one registered nurse and one enrolled nurse from the emergency department (ED. The communication was transcribed and analyzed, inspired by discourse psychology and Strauss’ concept of “negotiated order”. The data were organized and coded in NVivo 9. Results The findings suggest that leaders use coercive, educational, discussing and negotiating strategies to work things through. The leaders in this study used different repertoires to convey their knowledge to the team, in order to create a common goal of the priorities of the work. Changes in repertoires were dependent on the urgency of the situation and the interaction between team members. When using these repertoires, the leaders positioned themselves in different ways, either on an authoritarian or a more egalitarian level. Conclusion This study indicates that communication in trauma teams is complex and consists of more than just transferring messages quickly. It also concerns what the leaders express, and even more importantly, how they speak to and involve other team members.

Flexible knowledge repertoires: communication by leaders in trauma teams

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Background In emergency situations, it is important for the trauma team to efficiently communicate their observations and assessments. One common communication strategy is “closed-loop communication”, which can be described as a transmission model in which feedback is of great importance. The role of the leader is to create a shared goal in order to achieve consensus in the work for the safety of the patient. The purpose of this study was to analyze how formal leaders communicate knowledge, create consensus, and position themselves in relation to others in the team. Methods Sixteen trauma teams were audio- and video-recorded during high fidelity training in an emergency department. Each team consisted of six members: one surgeon or emergency physician (the designated team leader), one anaesthesiologist, one nurse anaesthetist, one enrolled nurse from the theatre ward, one registered nurse and one enrolled nurse from the emergency department (ED). The communication was transcribed and analyzed, inspired by discourse psychology and Strauss’ concept of “negotiated order”. The data were organized and coded in NVivo 9. Results The findings suggest that leaders use coercive, educational, discussing and negotiating strategies to work things through. The leaders in this study used different repertoires to convey their knowledge to the team, in order to create a common goal of the priorities of the work. Changes in repertoires were dependent on the urgency of the situation and the interaction between team members. When using these repertoires, the leaders positioned themselves in different ways, either on an authoritarian or a more egalitarian level. Conclusion This study indicates that communication in trauma teams is complex and consists of more than just transferring messages quickly. It also concerns what the leaders express, and even more importantly, how they speak to and involve other team members. PMID:22747848

Managing Communication among Geographically Distributed Teams: A Brazilian Case

Science.gov (United States)

Almeida, Ana Carina M.; de Farias Junior, Ivaldir H.; de S. Carneiro, Pedro Jorge

The growing demand for qualified professionals is making software companies opt for distributed software development (DSD). At the project conception, communication and synchronization of information are critical factors for success. However problems such as time-zone difference between teams, culture, language and different development processes among sites could difficult the communication among teams. In this way, the main goal of this paper is to describe the solution adopted by a Brazilian team to improve communication in a multisite project environment. The purposed solution was based on the best practices described in the literature, and the communication plan was created based on the infrastructure needed by the project. The outcome of this work is to minimize the impact of communication issues in multisite projects, increasing productivity, good understanding and avoiding rework on code and document writing.

Systems innovation model: an integrated interdisciplinary team approach pre- and post-bariatric surgery at a veterans affairs (VA) medical center.

Science.gov (United States)

Eisenberg, Dan; Lohnberg, Jessica A; Kubat, Eric P; Bates, Cheryl C; Greenberg, Lauren M; Frayne, Susan M

2017-04-01

Provision of bariatric surgery in the Veterans Health Administration must account for obese veterans' co-morbidity burden and the geographically dispersed location of patients relative to Veterans Affairs (VA) bariatric centers. To evaluate a collaborative, integrated, interdisciplinary bariatric team of surgeons, bariatricians, psychologists, dieticians, and physical therapists working in a hub-and-spokes care model, for pre- and post-bariatric surgery assessment and management. This is a description of an interdisciplinary clinic and bariatric program at a VA healthcare system and a report on program evaluation findings. Retrospective data of a prospective database was abstracted. For program evaluation, we abstracted charts to characterize patient data and conducted a patient survey. Since 2009, 181 veterans have undergone bariatric surgery. Referrals came from 7 western U.S. states. Mean preoperative body mass index was 46 kg/m 2 (maximum 71). Mean age was 53 years, with 33% aged>60 years; 79% were male. Medical co-morbidity included diabetes (70%), hypertension (85%), and lower back or extremity joint pain (84%). A psychiatric diagnosis was present in 58%. At 12 months, follow-up was 81% and percent excess body mass index loss was 50.5%. Among 54 sequential clinic patients completing anonymous surveys, overall satisfaction with the interdisciplinary team approach and improved quality of life were high (98% and 94%, respectively). The integrated, interdisciplinary team approach using a hub-and-spokes model is well suited to the VA bariatric surgery population, with its heavy burden of medical and mental health co-morbidity and its system of geographically dispersed patients receiving treatment at specialty centers. As the VA seeks to expand the use of bariatric surgery as an option for obese veterans, interdisciplinary models crafted to address case complexity, care coordination, and long-term outcomes should be part of policy planning efforts. Published by

Patient, staff, and clinician perspectives on implementing electronic communications in an interdisciplinary rural family health practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Feng; Paramsothy, Thivaher; Roche, Matthew; Gupta, Nishi S

2017-03-01

Aim To conduct an environmental scan of a rural primary care clinic to assess the feasibility of implementing an e-communications system between patients and clinic staff. Increasing demands on healthcare require greater efficiencies in communications and services, particularly in rural areas. E-communications may improve clinic efficiency and delivery of healthcare but raises concerns about patient privacy and data security. We conducted an environmental scan at one family health team clinic, a high-volume interdisciplinary primary care practice in rural southwestern Ontario, Canada, to determine the feasibility of implementing an e-communications system between its patients and staff. A total of 28 qualitative interviews were conducted (with six physicians, four phone nurses, four physicians' nurses, five receptionists, one business office attendant, five patients, and three pharmacists who provide care to the clinic's patients) along with quantitative surveys of 131 clinic patients. Findings Patients reported using the internet regularly for multiple purposes. Patients indicated they would use email to communicate with their family doctor for prescription refills (65% of respondents), appointment booking (63%), obtaining lab results (60%), and education (50%). Clinic staff expressed concerns about patient confidentiality and data security, the timeliness, complexity and responsibility of responses, and increased workload. Clinic staff members are willing to use an e-communications system but clear guidelines are needed for successful adoption and to maintain privacy of patient health data. E-communications might improve access to and quality of care in rural primary care practices.

Evaluation of communication characteristics of operating teams in NPPs using SNA technique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, H. J.; Lee, S. W.; Kang, H. G.; Seong, P. H. [Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Park, J. K. [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Kang, H. G. [Khalifa Univ. of Science, Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates)

2012-03-15

Inappropriate communications within operational teams can lead to serious consequences of a system since it can cause lack of exchange of important information to perform the task to secure the safety of the system in nuclear power plants (NPPs). For that reason, we studied the communication characteristics However, existing studies on the communication characteristics seem to have problem since they have characterized team communications from a single perspective. According that, we have developed an evaluation method to characterize team communications using social network techniques which can evaluate them from various perspectives which are group cohesiveness, frequency of communications, degree of hierarchy, and communication contents. In addition, we suggested some kids of specific communication characteristics of operating teams that can reduce the occurrence of inappropriate communications. Eight verbal protocol data which are audio-visual recorded under emergency training sessions by main control room (MCR) operating teams are used. As a result of the study, there was negative relationship between group cohesiveness and the ratio of inappropriate communications. Moreover, some kinds of specific communication contents are related to the ratio of inappropriate communications. Consequently, we can evaluate communications characteristics of operating teams in NPPs and suggest specific characteristics to provide useful insights to prevent inappropriate communications.

Evaluation of communication characteristics of operating teams in NPPs using SNA technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, H. J.; Lee, S. W.; Kang, H. G.; Seong, P. H.; Park, J. K.; Kang, H. G.

2012-01-01

Inappropriate communications within operational teams can lead to serious consequences of a system since it can cause lack of exchange of important information to perform the task to secure the safety of the system in nuclear power plants (NPPs). For that reason, we studied the communication characteristics However, existing studies on the communication characteristics seem to have problem since they have characterized team communications from a single perspective. According that, we have developed an evaluation method to characterize team communications using social network techniques which can evaluate them from various perspectives which are group cohesiveness, frequency of communications, degree of hierarchy, and communication contents. In addition, we suggested some kids of specific communication characteristics of operating teams that can reduce the occurrence of inappropriate communications. Eight verbal protocol data which are audio-visual recorded under emergency training sessions by main control room (MCR) operating teams are used. As a result of the study, there was negative relationship between group cohesiveness and the ratio of inappropriate communications. Moreover, some kinds of specific communication contents are related to the ratio of inappropriate communications. Consequently, we can evaluate communications characteristics of operating teams in NPPs and suggest specific characteristics to provide useful insights to prevent inappropriate communications

Innovation in globally distributed teams: the role of LMX, communication frequency, and member influence on team decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Gajendran, Ravi S; Joshi, Aparna

2012-11-01

For globally distributed teams charged with innovation, member contributions to the team are crucial for effective performance. Prior research, however, suggests that members of globally distributed teams often feel isolated and excluded from their team's activities and decisions. How can leaders of such teams foster member inclusion in team decisions? Drawing on leader-member exchange (LMX) theory, we propose that for distributed teams, LMX and communication frequency jointly shape member influence on team decisions. Findings from a test of our hypotheses using data from 40 globally distributed teams suggest that LMX can enhance member influence on team decisions when it is sustained through frequent leader-member communication. This joint effect is strengthened as team dispersion increases. At the team level, member influence on team decisions has a positive effect on team innovation. (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

Effects of team-building on communication and teamwork among nursing students.

Science.gov (United States)

Yi, Y J

2016-03-01

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of team-building on communication and teamwork (i.e. teamwork skills and team effectiveness) among nursing students. Team-building is effective for improving communication and teamwork among the nursing organization. However, the effects of team-building are not well known especially in Korea. This study used a quasi-experimental design. The sample was composed of 195 junior-year nursing students in Korea. The experimental group (100 subjects) participated in team-building activities over a 100-day period, whereas no intervention was applied to the control group (95 subjects). Pretest was conducted in both groups, and post-test was conducted after the 100-day intervention. The pre-post change in mean communication competence score did not differ between the two groups. However, the mean scores for teamwork skills and team effectiveness differed significantly between the two groups after team-building activity. This study was not a double-blind test, and randomized sampling was not implemented. Caution should thus be used when interpreting the findings. Team-building activities were effective for improving the teamwork skills and team effectiveness among Korean nursing students. It is recommended that team-building activities should be included regularly as an integral educational approach in nursing education. The findings suggest that suggests that team-building for improving communication and teamwork should be designated as one of the required criteria for nursing college programme accreditation in many countries, including Korea. However team-building requires further testing to verify this across cultures. Nurses need to receive formal team-building training for improving communication and teamwork, and formal education should be included in their job training schedule. It is recommended that communication competence and teamwork be used as one of job performance evaluations in their workplace. © 2015

Realization of Interdisciplinary Communications of Fundamental Disciplines and Disciplines of Mathematical Cycle in the Preparation of Future Programmers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miсhaеl Lvov

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to interdisciplinary communication in the process of preparation of the future programmers and implementation of the basic principles of these relations in the study of disciplines of professional and practical training and math courses. The article deals with the role of interdisciplinary connections, as well as their function and significance for the formation of cognitive activity, independence and positive learning motivation. The focus is on methodological aspects of realization of interdisciplinary communications at studying basic disciplines of training future programmers and disciplines of mathematical cycle. In particular, the issues of realization of interdisciplinary communications during the study such disciplines as "Computer graphics, computational geometry," "Basics of algorithms and programming", "Programming Technologies" and the course "Analytical geometry and linear algebra", which included in to normative part of the training of programmers. This article describes the theoretical aspects of the implementation of interdisciplinary connections in the study of these disciplines, as well as examples of practical tasks with which these relationships can be implemented most effectively during training

Evaluating trauma team performance in a Level I trauma center: Validation of the trauma team communication assessment (TTCA-24).

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DeMoor, Stephanie; Abdel-Rehim, Shady; Olmsted, Richard; Myers, John G; Parker-Raley, Jessica

2017-07-01

Nontechnical skills (NTS), such as team communication, are well-recognized determinants of trauma team performance and good patient care. Measuring these competencies during trauma resuscitations is essential, yet few valid and reliable tools are available. We aimed to demonstrate that the Trauma Team Communication Assessment (TTCA-24) is a valid and reliable instrument that measures communication effectiveness during activations. Two tools with adequate psychometric strength (Trauma Nontechnical Skills Scale [T-NOTECHS], Team Emergency Assessment Measure [TEAM]) were identified during a systematic review of medical literature and compared with TTCA-24. Three coders used each tool to evaluate 35 stable and 35 unstable patient activations (defined according to Advanced Trauma Life Support criteria). Interrater reliability was calculated between coders using the intraclass correlation coefficient. Spearman rank correlation coefficient was used to establish concurrent validity between TTCA-24 and the other two validated tools. Coders achieved an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.87 for stable patient activations and 0.78 for unstable activations scoring excellent on the interrater agreement guidelines. The median score for each assessment showed good team communication for all 70 videos (TEAM, 39.8 of 54; T-NOTECHS, 17.4 of 25; and TTCA-24, 87.4 of 96). A significant correlation between TTTC-24 and T-NOTECHS was revealed (p = 0.029), but no significant correlation between TTCA-24 and TEAM (p = 0.77). Team communication was rated slightly better across all assessments for stable versus unstable patient activations, but not statistically significant. TTCA-24 correlated with T-NOTECHS, an instrument measuring nontechnical skills for trauma teams, but not TEAM, a tool that assesses communication in generic emergency settings. TTCA-24 is a reliable and valid assessment that can be a useful adjunct when evaluating interpersonal and team communication during trauma

Communication in virtual teams : ten years of experience in education

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rutkowski, A.F.; Vogel, D.R.; Genuchten, van M.J.I.M.; Saunders, C.

2008-01-01

Engineering teams are often globally distributed and comprise participants from multiple disciplines and cultures who rely on professional communication support. Companies, organizations, and institutions increasingly embrace these virtual teams and use a variety of information and communication

Collaboration, interdisciplinary thinking, and communication: new approaches to K-12 ecology education

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Ecologists often engage in global-scale research through partnerships among scientists from many disciplines. Such research projects require collaboration, interdisciplinary thinking, and strong communication skills. We advocate including these three practices as an integral part of ecology educatio...

How Do Obstetric and Neonatology Teams Communicate Prior to High-Risk Deliveries?

Science.gov (United States)

Sundgren, Nathan C; Suresh, Gautham K

2018-01-01

 Improving communication in healthcare improves the quality of care and patient outcomes, but communication between obstetric and neonatal teams before and during a high-risk delivery is poorly studied.  We developed a survey to study communication between obstetric and neonatal teams around the time of a high-risk delivery. We surveyed neonatologists from North America and asked them to answer questions about their institutions' communication practices.  The survey answers revealed variations in communication practices between responders. Most institutions relied on nursing to communicate obstetric information to the neonatal team. Although a minority of institutions used a standardized communication process to summon neonatology team or to communicate in the delivery room, these reported higher rates of information sharing and greater satisfaction with communication between services.  Standardized communication procedures are an underutilized method of communication and have the potential to improve communication around high-risk deliveries. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Primary care team communication networks, team climate, quality of care, and medical costs for patients with diabetes: A cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Mundt, Marlon P; Agneessens, Filip; Tuan, Wen-Jan; Zakletskaia, Larissa I; Kamnetz, Sandra A; Gilchrist, Valerie J

2016-06-01

Primary care teams play an important role in providing the best quality of care to patients with diabetes. Little evidence is available on how team communication networks and team climate contribute to high quality diabetes care. To determine whether primary care team communication and team climate are associated with health outcomes, health care utilization, and associated costs for patients with diabetes. A cross-sectional survey of primary care team members collected information on frequency of communication with other care team members about patient care and on team climate. Patient outcomes (glycemic, cholesterol, and blood pressure control, urgent care visits, emergency department visits, hospital visit days, medical costs) in the past 12 months for team diabetes patient panels were extracted from the electronic health record. The data were analyzed using nested (clinic/team/patient) generalized linear mixed modeling. 155 health professionals at 6 U.S. primary care clinics participated from May through December 2013. Primary care teams with a greater number of daily face-to-face communication ties among team members were associated with 52% (rate ratio=0.48, 95% CI: 0.22, 0.94) fewer hospital days and US$1220 (95% CI: -US$2416, -US$24) lower health-care costs per team diabetes patient in the past 12 months. In contrast, for each additional registered nurse (RN) who reported frequent daily face-to-face communication about patient care with the primary care practitioner (PCP), team diabetes patients had less-controlled HbA1c (Odds ratio=0.83, 95% CI: 0.66, 0.99), increased hospital days (RR=1.57, 95% CI: 1.10, 2.03), and higher healthcare costs (β=US$877, 95% CI: US$42, US$1713). Shared team vision, a measure of team climate, significantly mediated the relationship between team communication and patient outcomes. Primary care teams which relied on frequent daily face-to-face communication among more team members, and had a single RN communicating patient care

Primary care team communication networks, team climate, quality of care, and medical costs for patients with diabetes: A cross-sectional study

Science.gov (United States)

Mundt, Marlon P.; Agneessens, Filip; Tuan, Wen-Jan; Zakletskaia, Larissa I.; Kamnetz, Sandra A.; Gilchrist, Valerie J.

2016-01-01

Background Primary care teams play an important role in providing the best quality of care to patients with diabetes. Little evidence is available on how team communication networks and team climate contribute to high quality diabetes care. Objective To determine whether primary care team communication and team climate are associated with health outcomes, health care utilization, and associated costs for patients with diabetes. Methods A cross-sectional survey of primary care team members collected information on frequency of communication with other care team members about patient care and on team climate. Patient outcomes (glycemic, cholesterol, and blood pressure control, urgent care visits, emergency department visits, hospital visit days, medical costs) in the past 12 months for team diabetes patient panels were extracted from the electronic health record. The data were analyzed using nested (clinic/team/patient) generalized linear mixed modeling. Participants 155 health professionals at 6 U.S. primary care clinics participated from May through December 2013. Results Primary care teams with a greater number of daily face-to-face communication ties among team members were associated with 52% (Rate Ratio=0.48, 95% CI: 0.22, 0.94) fewer hospital days and US$1220 (95% CI: -US$2416, -US$24) lower health-care costs per team diabetes patient in the past 12 months. In contrast, for each additional registered nurse (RN) who reported frequent daily face-to-face communication about patient care with the primary care practitioner (PCP), team diabetes patients had less-controlled HbA1c (Odds Ratio=0.83, 95% CI: 0.66, 0.99), increased hospital days (RR=1.57, 95% CI: 1.10, 2.03), and higher healthcare costs (β=US$877, 95% CI: US$42, US$1713). Shared team vision, a measure of team climate, significantly mediated the relationship between team communication and patient outcomes. Conclusions Primary care teams which relied on frequent daily face-to-face communication among more

Communication skills to develop trusting relationships on global virtual engineering capstone teams

Science.gov (United States)

Zaugg, Holt; Davies, Randall S.

2013-05-01

As universities seek to provide cost-effective, cross-cultural experiences using global virtual (GV) teams, the 'soft' communication skills typical of all teams, increases in importance for GV teams. Students need to be taught how to navigate through cultural issues and virtual tool issues to build strong trusting relationships with distant team members. Weekly team meetings provide an excellent opportunity to observe key team interactions that facilitate relationship and trust-building among team members. This study observed the weekly team meetings of engineering students attending two US universities and one Asian university as they collaborated as a single GV capstone GV team. In addition local team members were interviewed individually and collectively throughout the project to determine strategies that facilitated team relations and trust. Findings indicate the importance of student choice of virtual communication tools, the refining of communication practices, and specific actions to build trusting relationships. As student developed these attributes, collaboration and success was experienced on this GV team.

[Hospital-based acute care of emergency patients: the importance of interdisciplinary teamwork].

Science.gov (United States)

Gräff, I; Lenkeit, S

2014-10-01

The care of emergency patients with life-threatening injuries or diseases presents a special challenge to the treatment team. Good interdisciplinary cooperation is essential for fast, priority-oriented, and efficient emergency room management. Particularly in complex situations, such as trauma room care, so-called human factors largely determine the safety and performance of the individual as well as the team. Approximately 70 % of all adverse events stem from human factors rather than from a lack of medical expertise. It has been shown that 70-80 % of such incidents are preventable through special training. Established course concepts based on so-called ABCDE schemes are a good basis for creating algorithms for targeted therapy, yet they are not sufficient for the training of team-specific issues. For this, special course concepts are required, such as crew resource management, which is provided through simulator-based training scenarios. This includes task management, teamwork, decision-making, and communication. The knowledge of what needs to be done in a team under the adverse and complex conditions of a medical emergency must be gained by training based on realistic and effective measures. Course concepts that are geared toward interdisciplinary and interprofessional team training optimize patient safety and care by supporting the nontechnical abilities of team members.

Operative team communication during simulated emergencies: Too busy to respond?

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, W Austin; Jones, Seth; Crowell-Kuhnberg, Adrianna M; O'Keeffe, Dara; Boyle, Kelly M; Klainer, Suzanne B; Smink, Douglas S; Yule, Steven

2017-05-01

Ineffective communication among members of a multidisciplinary team is associated with operative error and failure to rescue. We sought to measure operative team communication in a simulated emergency using an established communication framework called "closed loop communication." We hypothesized that communication directed at a specific recipient would be more likely to elicit a check back or closed loop response and that this relationship would vary with changes in patients' clinical status. We used the closed loop communication framework to code retrospectively the communication behavior of 7 operative teams (each comprising 2 surgeons, anesthesiologists, and nurses) during response to a simulated, postanesthesia care unit "code blue." We identified call outs, check backs, and closed loop episodes and applied descriptive statistics and a mixed-effects negative binomial regression to describe characteristics of communication in individuals and in different specialties. We coded a total of 662 call outs. The frequency and type of initiation and receipt of communication events varied between clinical specialties (P communication events than anesthesiologists. For the average participant, directed communication increased the likelihood of check back by at least 50% (P = .021) in periods preceding acute changes in the clinical setting, and exerted no significant effect in periods after acute changes in the clinical situation. Communication patterns vary by specialty during a simulated operative emergency, and the effect of directed communication in eliciting a response depends on the clinical status of the patient. Operative training programs should emphasize the importance of quality communication in the period immediately after an acute change in the clinical setting of a patient and recognize that communication patterns and needs vary between members of multidisciplinary operative teams. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

eProblem-Based Learning: Problem-Based Learning Using Virtual Teams

Science.gov (United States)

Brodie, L. M.

2009-01-01

Literature on engineering education stresses the need for graduates to have skills such as working globally in a multicultural environment; working in interdisciplinary teams; sharing of tasks on a global, around the clock basis; working with digital communication tools and in a virtual environment. In addition, accreditation criteria include…

Relating Communications Mode Choice and Teamwork Quality: Conversational versus Textual Communication in IT System and Software Development Teams

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, James Robert

2012-01-01

This cross-sectional study explored how IT system and software development team members communicated in the workplace and whether teams that used more verbal communication (and less text-based communication) experienced higher levels of collaboration as measured using the Teamwork Quality (TWQ) scale. Although computer-mediated communication tools…

Contributions to clinical Occupational Therapy in the area of early intervention in interdisciplinary team

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dani Laura Peruzzolo

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Specialized care for infants considers that the sooner the intervention in risk and symptoms occurs, the greater the possibility of obtaining better results. Aims: To describe the process of early intervention provided by an extension program of graduate studies in Occupational Therapy and Hearing, Speech and Languages Science courses and also discuss the theoretical and practical paths in the care for infants and in the Occupational Therapy area. Method: Case report with convenience sample. The study was carried out through an assessment interpreted in light of psychomotor, occupational therapeutic, and speech, hearing and language contributions. The intervention was under the responsibility of an occupational therapist supported by an interdisciplinary team. It occurred once a week from August 2011 to January 2012 and from March 2012 to July 2012. Data analysis was carried out by comparing the entry assessment test and the final assessment test. Results: The boy had not developed concepts of body schema and body image that could sustain his relationship with objects, space and other persons. He presented little linguistic evolution. Considering the contributions of occupational therapy in psychomotor clinic, the boy reconstructed his family place in early intervention. The possibility of language functioning connected to the boy’s demands allowed access to symbolism. Conclusion: The proposal of early occupational therapy intervention with a single therapist supported by an interdisciplinary team was able to overcome the structural and instrumental obstacles to the boy’s development.

Interdisciplinary teamwork: is the influence of emotional intelligence fully appreciated?

Science.gov (United States)

McCallin, Antoinette; Bamford, Anita

2007-05-01

The purpose of this study is to discuss how emotional intelligence affects interdisciplinary team effectiveness. Some findings from a larger study on interdisciplinary teamworking are discussed. Teams are often evaluated for complementary skill mix and expertise that are integrated for specialist service delivery. Interactional skills and emotional intelligence also affect team behaviour and performance. An effective team needs both emotional intelligence and expertise, including technical, clinical, social and interactional skills, so that teamwork becomes greater or lesser than the whole, depending on how well individuals work together. Team diversity, individuality and personality differences, and interprofessional safety are analysed to raise awareness for nurse managers of the complexity of interdisciplinary working relationships. If nursing input into interdisciplinary work is to be maximized, nurse managers might consider the role of emotional intelligence in influencing team effectiveness, the quality of client care, staff retention and job satisfaction.

Learning about the educational uses of the internet by producing an educational web site in an interdisciplinary and virtual team

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Taconis, R.; Verhoef, N.; Bakx, A.W.E.A.; Dehing, A.J.M.

2003-01-01

The 'ICT-2000' project at the University Teacher Training Department for Science and Technology (TULO) at Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands, puts student teachers to work in a productivelearning task. Student teachers at different TULO locations cooperate in an interdisciplinary team

Interdisciplinary team care of cleft lip and palate: social and psychological aspects.

Science.gov (United States)

Strauss, R P; Broder, H

1985-10-01

The organizational example of a university-based team and two patient case studies illustrate how team interaction affects decision making. The model presented for effective team organization is an egalitarian one. Interdependency, flexibility, and open communication among members are essential. Cleft lip and palate teams provide evaluation and treatment that include input from a variety of professional disciplines. The team context makes it possible for care to be coordinated and alleviates the fragmentation of seeking treatment from several independent specialists. Teams also have a special opportunity to address the complex social and psychological issues prevalent in treating persons with birth defects. Specialists, like psychologists and social workers, identify these issues so that surgeons, dentists, and other clinicians may provide a comprehensive treatment plan and management approach. If psychologists or social workers are not available to a team, the group may still successfully integrate a variety of social and personal factors into their decision making. Examples of problem areas and of issues that may be associated with difficulties in adjusting to cleft therapy are included in this article. Teams that effectively address the psychosocial needs of their patients will enhance patient satisfaction, cooperation, and treatment outcomes.

Report on an interdisciplinary program for allied health.

Science.gov (United States)

Peloquin, S M; Cavazos, H; Marion, R; Stephenson, K S; Pearrow, D

2007-11-01

A central recommendation from the Pew Health Commission to educators has been to empower future care providers to function effectively as teams. Administrators and faculty members within a school of allied health sciences thus established an interdisciplinary program where students would learn to function as team members and demonstrate competencies required for practice in diverse, demanding, and continually changing health care environments. Students from five disciplines have participated in featured events, mentored activities and capstone projects, earning credit in an interdisciplinary course of study that complements offerings in their home disciplines. This follow-up article reports on the progress and development since 2002 of an interdisciplinary program known as Team IDEAL. Formative evaluation measures used to assess satisfaction with the program are presented alongside a discussion of new directions. Team IDEAL will move forward in a streamlined form that reflects its central aim. IDEAL leadership will remain cognizant of the effects of discipline-specific curricular changes, complex programming, and student perspectives on the process interdisciplinary education.

Organizational and training factors that promote team science: A qualitative analysis and application of theory to the National Institutes of Health's BIRCWH career development program.

Science.gov (United States)

Guise, Jeanne-Marie; Winter, Susan; Fiore, Stephen M; Regensteiner, Judith G; Nagel, Joan

2017-04-01

Research organizations face challenges in creating infrastructures that cultivates and sustains interdisciplinary team science. The objective of this paper is to identify structural elements of organizations and training that promote team science. We qualitatively analyzed the National Institutes of Health's Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health, K12 using organizational psychology and team science theories to identify organizational design factors for successful team science and training. Seven key design elements support team science: (1) semiformal meta-organizational structure, (2) shared context and goals, (3) formal evaluation processes, (4) meetings to promote communication, (5) role clarity in mentoring, (6) building interpersonal competencies among faculty and trainees, and (7) designing promotion and tenure and other organizational processes to support interdisciplinary team science. This application of theory to a long-standing and successful program provides important foundational elements for programs and institutions to consider in promoting team science.

Quality improvement of interdisciplinary rounds by leadership training based on essential quality indicators of the Interdisciplinary Rounds Assessment Scale

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ten Have, Elsbeth C. M.; Nap, Raoul E.; Tulleken, Jaap E.

2013-01-01

The implementation of interdisciplinary teams in the intensive care unit (ICU) has focused attention on leadership behavior. Daily interdisciplinary rounds (IDRs) in ICUs integrate leadership behavior and interdisciplinary teamwork. The purpose of this intervention study was to measure the effect of

Barriers and Solutions to Conducting Large International, Interdisciplinary Research Projects

Science.gov (United States)

Pischke, Erin C.; Knowlton, Jessie L.; Phifer, Colin C.; Gutierrez Lopez, Jose; Propato, Tamara S.; Eastmond, Amarella; de Souza, Tatiana Martins; Kuhlberg, Mark; Picasso Risso, Valentin; Veron, Santiago R.; Garcia, Carlos; Chiappe, Marta; Halvorsen, Kathleen E.

2017-12-01

Global environmental problems such as climate change are not bounded by national borders or scientific disciplines, and therefore require international, interdisciplinary teamwork to develop understandings of their causes and solutions. Interdisciplinary scientific work is difficult enough, but these challenges are often magnified when teams also work across national boundaries. The literature on the challenges of interdisciplinary research is extensive. However, research on international, interdisciplinary teams is nearly non-existent. Our objective is to fill this gap by reporting on results from a study of a large interdisciplinary, international National Science Foundation Partnerships for International Research and Education (NSF-PIRE) research project across the Americas. We administered a structured questionnaire to team members about challenges they faced while working together across disciplines and outside of their home countries in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Analysis of the responses indicated five major types of barriers to conducting interdisciplinary, international research: integration, language, fieldwork logistics, personnel and relationships, and time commitment. We discuss the causes and recommended solutions to the most common barriers. Our findings can help other interdisciplinary, international research teams anticipate challenges, and develop effective solutions to minimize the negative impacts of these barriers to their research.

Barriers and Solutions to Conducting Large International, Interdisciplinary Research Projects.

Science.gov (United States)

Pischke, Erin C; Knowlton, Jessie L; Phifer, Colin C; Gutierrez Lopez, Jose; Propato, Tamara S; Eastmond, Amarella; de Souza, Tatiana Martins; Kuhlberg, Mark; Picasso Risso, Valentin; Veron, Santiago R; Garcia, Carlos; Chiappe, Marta; Halvorsen, Kathleen E

2017-12-01

Global environmental problems such as climate change are not bounded by national borders or scientific disciplines, and therefore require international, interdisciplinary teamwork to develop understandings of their causes and solutions. Interdisciplinary scientific work is difficult enough, but these challenges are often magnified when teams also work across national boundaries. The literature on the challenges of interdisciplinary research is extensive. However, research on international, interdisciplinary teams is nearly non-existent. Our objective is to fill this gap by reporting on results from a study of a large interdisciplinary, international National Science Foundation Partnerships for International Research and Education (NSF-PIRE) research project across the Americas. We administered a structured questionnaire to team members about challenges they faced while working together across disciplines and outside of their home countries in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Analysis of the responses indicated five major types of barriers to conducting interdisciplinary, international research: integration, language, fieldwork logistics, personnel and relationships, and time commitment. We discuss the causes and recommended solutions to the most common barriers. Our findings can help other interdisciplinary, international research teams anticipate challenges, and develop effective solutions to minimize the negative impacts of these barriers to their research.

Synergistic Knowledge Development in Interdisciplinary Teams

Science.gov (United States)

Broussard, Shorna R.; La Lopa, Joseph Mick; Ross-Davis, Amy

2007-01-01

Problem solving, interpersonal skills, information literacy, and critical and independent thinking are essential qualities that employers seek, yet many undergraduates lack. We structured an interdisciplinary classroom and experiential learning environment where students from three undergraduate courses (Hospitality and Tourism Management,…

Distributed team cohesion – not an oxymoron. The impact of information and communications technologies on teamness in globally distributed IT projects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olga Stawnicza

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Globally distributed IT projects are common practice in today’s globalized world. Typically, project team members’ work on interdependent tasks, with a common goal to be achieved as one team. However, being split between multiple locations impedes communication among team members and hampers the development of trust. Information and communications media enable communication between geographically distributed project team members and help to create and maintain trust within project units. Communication and trust are particularly significant for fostering a feeling of oneness among project team members. Oneness, also referred to as “teamness”, is repeatedly mentioned as one of the challenges facing global project teams. However, prior literature on teamness is very scarce and its importance is underrepresented. This research contributes to the field in two ways. First, the theoretical study based on a systematic literature review examines available evidence of teamness in globally distributed projects. Secondly, an empirical study based on interviews conducted with global project managers fills the current gap in literature on the link between use of ICT and establishing a sense of team unity. This paper draws practitioners’ attention to the importance of striving for teamness in spite of the geographical distance that exists between project team members.

A mixed methods observational simulation-based study of interprofessional team communication

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paltved, Charlotte; Nielsen, Kurt; Musaeus, Peter

2013-01-01

Interprofessional team communication has been identified as an important focus for safety in medical emergency care. However, in-depth insight into the complexity of team communication is limited. Video observational studies might fill a gap in terms of understanding the meaning of specific commu...

Virtuality, communication, and new product team creativity : a social network perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leenders, RTAJ; van Engelen, JML; Kratzer, J

2003-01-01

Creativity is essential to the performance of new product development (NPD) teams. Since the creative NPD task requires teams to combine and integrate input from multiple NPD team members, the team's communication pattern is an important determinant of NPD team creativity. In the empirical part of

An Exploratory Investigation of Locally Constituted Challenges to Communication Management in Multinational Teams

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lauring, Jakob; Jonassson, Charlotte

2008-01-01

It has been argued that multinational teams create a number of competitive advantages when used strategically. However, multinational teams are not always successful, and a number of studies indicate that communication between team members may be the main obstacle. The purpose of this article...... is to investigate communication problems in organizations consisting of multinational teams. It is argued that researchers should not only look for differences in national culture when analyzing barriers to the communication flow. Challenges to communication may also develop in the locally constituted...... organizational culture. This is illustrated by an ethnographic field study in a multinational department of a Danish organization....

Combining interdisciplinary and International Medical Graduate perspectives to teach clinical and ethical communication using multimedia.

Science.gov (United States)

Woodward-Kron, Robyn; Flynn, Eleanor; Delany, Clare

2011-01-01

In Australia, international medical graduates (IMGs) play a crucial role in addressing workforce shortages in healthcare. Their ability to deliver safe and effective healthcare in an unfamiliar cultural setting is intrinsically tied to effective communication. Hospital-based medical clinical educators, who play an important role in providing communication training to IMGs, would benefit from practical resources and an understanding of the relevant pedagogies to address these issues in their teaching. This paper examines the nature of an interdisciplinary collaboration to develop multimedia resources for teaching clinical and ethical communication to IMGs. We describe the processes and dynamics of the collaboration, and outline the methodologies from applied linguistics, medical education, and health ethics that we drew upon. The multimedia consist of three video clips of challenging communication scenarios as well as experienced IMGs talking about communication and ethics. The multimedia are supported by teaching guidelines that address relevant disciplinary concerns of the three areas of collaboration. In the paper's discussion we point out the pre-conditions that facilitated the interdisciplinary collaboration. We propose that such collaborative approaches between the disciplines and participants can provide new perspectives to address the multifaceted challenges of clinical teaching and practice.

Together Achieving More: Primary Care Team Communication and Alcohol-Related Healthcare Utilization and Costs.

Science.gov (United States)

Mundt, Marlon P; Zakletskaia, Larissa I; Shoham, David A; Tuan, Wen-Jan; Carayon, Pascale

2015-10-01

Identifying and engaging excessive alcohol users in primary care may be an effective way to improve patient health outcomes, reduce alcohol-related acute care events, and lower costs. Little is known about what structures of primary care team communication are associated with alcohol-related patient outcomes. Using a sociometric survey of primary care clinic communication, this study evaluated the relation between team communication networks and alcohol-related utilization of care and costs. Between May 2013 and December 2013, a total of 155 healthcare employees at 6 primary care clinics participated in a survey on team communication. Three-level hierarchical modeling evaluated the link between connectedness within the care team and the number of alcohol-related emergency department visits, hospital days, and associated medical care costs in the past 12 months for each team's primary care patient panel. Teams (n = 31) whose registered nurses displayed more strong (at least daily) face-to-face ties and strong (at least daily) electronic communication ties had 10% fewer alcohol-related hospital days (rate ratio [RR] = 0.90; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.84, 0.97). Furthermore, in an average team size of 19, each additional team member with strong interaction ties across the whole team was associated with $1,030 (95% CI: -$1,819, -$241) lower alcohol-related patient healthcare costs per 1,000 team patients in the past 12 months. Conversely, teams whose primary care practitioner (PCP) had more strong face-to-face communication ties and more weak (weekly or several times a week) electronic communication ties had 12% more alcohol-related hospital days (RR = 1.12; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.23) and $1,428 (95% CI: $378, $2,478) higher alcohol-related healthcare costs per 1,000 patients in the past 12 months. The analyses controlled for patient age, gender, insurance, and comorbidity diagnoses. Excessive alcohol-using patients may fair better if cared for by teams whose

Intra project team disagreement, conflict communications, and team performance in cross-functional new product teams: A decision-making quality perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tsun Jin Chang

2014-02-01

Full Text Available This paper develops and examines a model of the antecedents and consequences of decision-making comprehensiveness during the new product development process. This model firstly suggests a concave relationship between intrateam task disagreement and decision-making comprehensiveness. It also conjectures that conflict communications influence the effectiveness of decision-making comprehensiveness on new product teams’ performance. An empirical test of the proposed framework involves a survey of 220 cross-functional new product teams. The findings show that an inverse U-shaped relationship exists between intrateam task disagreement and decision-making comprehensiveness. It also indicates that collaborative communication has a negative effect on innovativeness, whereas contentious communication adversely affects constraint adherence. However, decision-making comprehensiveness partially moderates the relationships between conflict communications and team performance. Some managerial and research implications of the findings were also discussed in this study.

[Multiprofessional team working in palliative medicine].

Science.gov (United States)

Osaka, Iwao

2013-04-01

Now, more than ever, palliative medicine has been gaining recognition for its essential role in cancer treatment. Since its beginning, it has emphasized the importance of collaboration among multidisciplinary professionals, valuing a comprehensive and holistic philosophy, addressing a wide range of hopes and suffering that patients and families experience. There are three models (approaches) for the medical teams: multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary. Palliative care teams often choose the interdisciplinary team model, and the teams in the palliative care units may often choose the transdisciplinary team model. Recently, accumulating research has shown the clinical benefits of the interdisciplinary/transdisciplinary approach in palliative care settings. Clarifying appropriate functions and ideal features of physicians in the health care team, and enforcing the suitable team approach will contribute to improve the quality of whole medical practice beyond the framework of "palliative medicine".

Me, Myself and My Team : How communications teams can harness the power of online impression management

OpenAIRE

Fieseler, Christian; Meckel, Miriam; Ranzini, Giulia

2012-01-01

The article is a short piece based on our EACD survey on the identity management practices of marketing and communication professeionals on how communications teams can harness the power of online impression management

Interdisciplinary and Meta-Disciplinary Integration as a Means of Developing Students’ Communicative Competence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. L. Semenova

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Interdisciplinary and meta-disciplinary integration in education reflects a comprehensive approach to education and training, and makes it possible to single out both the main elements of educational content and subject interrelations, re solving the problem of fragmentation and isolation of different subjects. The paper considers the way of improving students’ bilingual communicative competence by means of implementing interdisciplinary and meta-disciplinary integration in teaching process. By the above competence the authors understand the readiness and ability to perform effective interpersonal, inter-group and inter-cultural communication both in native and foreign languages. The paper describes the meta-disciplinary principle that involves school training of general methods, techniques, schemes and mental work patterns used in working with any materials in any sphere of knowledge, and not lim- ited by specific subjects. The authors recommend the culture dialog as the condition, means and way of personal development in learning native and foreign languages. Bilingual informational, cultural and semantic interrelations, comparison of cultures and languages stimulate students’ cognitive process actualizing their personal experience, facilitating both socio-linguistic and socio-cultural discursive knowledge, providing the effective development of communication skills. The example of meta-disciplinary integration is given demonstrating the students’ communicative competence development in the process of training for the creative part of the unified state examinations in the Russian and English languages. 

Chaos: a topic for interdisciplinary education in physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bae, Saebyok

2009-01-01

Since society and science need interdisciplinary works, the interesting topic of chaos is chosen for interdisciplinary education in physics. The educational programme contains various university-level activities such as computer simulations, chaos experiment and team projects besides ordinary teaching. According to the participants, the programme seems useful and good. In addition, we discuss some issues which can be important to interdisciplinary education in physics: for example the possible difficulties in programme design, the expertise barriers of non-major fields, the role of non-theoretical education in understanding and the project-type team activities

Five Strategic Imperatives for Interdisciplinary Study in Mass Communications/Media Studies in the U.S. and U.K.

Science.gov (United States)

Petrausch, Robert J.

2005-01-01

Interdisciplinary study can allow students to share ideas with scholars in allied fields and broaden their knowledge of global issues. Mass communication/media studies programs in the U.S. and U.K. can serve as models to lead students into successful learning through interdisciplinary study. This paper outlines five strategic imperatives for the…

Use of a Surgical Safety Checklist to Improve Team Communication.

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Cabral, Richard A; Eggenberger, Terry; Keller, Kathryn; Gallison, Barry S; Newman, David

2016-09-01

To improve surgical team communication, a team at Broward Health Imperial Point Hospital, Ft Lauderdale, Florida, implemented a program for process improvement using a locally adapted World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist. This program included a standardized, comprehensive time out and a briefing/debriefing process. Postimplementation responses to the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire revealed a significant increase in the surgical team's perception of communication compared with that reported on the pretest (6% improvement resulting in t79 = -1.72, P improved surgical teamwork behaviors and an enhanced culture of safety in the OR. Copyright © 2016 AORN, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Interdisciplinary shock-room care: tasks for the radiologist from the viewpoint of the trauma surgeon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mutschler, W.; Kanz, K.G.

2002-01-01

Efficient resuscitation of major trauma requests an interdisciplinary communication between trauma surgeons, anaesthesiologists and radiologists. Trauma outcome is significantly influenced by horizontal trauma team organisation and coherence to clinical algorithms, which allow fast diagnosis and intervention. A radiologist present on patients arrival in the trauma room provides a major impact on trauma care. Nevertheless optimal integration in the trauma team implies profound knowledge of the priorities of advanced trauma life support and trauma algorithms. His or her involvement is not limited to patient care only, also active participation in trauma room design, interdisciplinary algorithm development and trauma research are essential tasks for radiologists devoted to emergency radiology. Based on the pathophysiology of polytrauma and the structure of German trauma system, current concepts and proven clinical algorithms with special regard to the radiologist and his duties and tasks will are presented. (orig.) [de

[Communication within the health care team: doctors and nurses].

Science.gov (United States)

Kollár, János

2016-04-24

Proper communication within the health care team is especially important in terms of creating safe emotional and professional conditions for the team members and for quality healing. The aim of the study is to explore the factors that hinder appropriate communication between doctors and nurses and thus to make the effective elimination of the communication disturbances possible. Investigation in main medical databases and general search engines were used for analysing the phenomenon. It was revealed that communication between doctors and nurses is restrained by factors that can be observed on individual, professional and system levels as well. Role confusion, lack of trust, communication barriers arising from hierarchical inequalities, leadership problems, differences in qualifications, burnout and organizational problems can equally be found amongst them. The effectiveness of communication between nurses and doctors in Hungary is especially strongly influenced by the fear of losing jobs, the financial problems arising from different degree of gratuity and the phenomenon of burnout. Changes on individual, professional and system levels are equally important for significant improvement in the communication between doctors and nurses. Joint trainings based on strong organizational development skills and joint conferences could promote significantly better flow of information, mutual appreciation and harmonization.

Exploring leadership and team communication within the organizational environment of a dental practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Chilcutt, Alexa Stough

2009-10-01

A lack of training in leadership and communication skills can place dentists at a disadvantage, leading to high degrees of staff-related stress and turnover. A dentist's leadership style directly affects an office's communication practices, and specific leadership behaviors affect the degree of team identity, interdependence and social distance (a measure of the influential power of team members). The author recruited 10 dental offices to take part in a study. Qualitative methods included in-depth interviews of one dentist, one senior staff member and one newer staff member from each office. The interview findings show that clear and definable relationships exist between leadership behaviors--hierarchical or team-oriented organizational perspectives, proactive or laissez-faire leadership styles, and autocratic or participative decision-making processes--and the team's communication practices. Decision-making processes directly affect the degree of team identification experienced by staff members, and conflict-management tactics affect team members' sense of interdependence and social distance. The findings of this study indicate that dentists should engage in participative decision-making processes that include staff members, thereby communicating their value to the practice and empowering employees. They also must become proactive in facilitating an environment that encourages collaboration and confrontation as healthy forms of conflict management. These leadership and communication behaviors are the most significant in creating a real rather than nominal team culture, which, in turn, leads to increased overall productivity, an enhanced level of services provided to patients and improved team member satisfaction.

Communication and relationship skills for rapid response teams at hamilton health sciences.

Science.gov (United States)

Cziraki, Karen; Lucas, Janie; Rogers, Toni; Page, Laura; Zimmerman, Rosanne; Hauer, Lois Ann; Daniels, Charlotte; Gregoroff, Susan

2008-01-01

Rapid response teams (RRT) are an important safety strategy in the prevention of deaths in patients who are progressively failing outside of the intensive care unit. The goal is to intervene before a critical event occurs. Effective teamwork and communication skills are frequently cited as critical success factors in the implementation of these teams. However, there is very little literature that clearly provides an education strategy for the development of these skills. Training in simulation labs offers an opportunity to assess and build on current team skills; however, this approach does not address how to meet the gaps in team communication and relationship skill management. At Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) a two-day program was developed in collaboration with the RRT Team Leads, Organizational Effectiveness and Patient Safety Leaders. Participants reflected on their conflict management styles and considered how their personality traits may contribute to team function. Communication and relationship theories were reviewed and applied in simulated sessions in the relative safety of off-site team sessions. The overwhelming positive response to this training has been demonstrated in the incredible success of these teams from the perspective of the satisfaction surveys of the care units that call the team, and in the multi-phased team evaluation of their application to practice. These sessions offer a useful approach to the development of the soft skills required for successful RRT implementation.

Emergency department team communication with the patient: the patient's perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

McCarthy, Danielle M; Ellison, Emily P; Venkatesh, Arjun K; Engel, Kirsten G; Cameron, Kenzie A; Makoul, Gregory; Adams, James G

2013-08-01

Effective communication is important for the delivery of quality care. The Emergency Department (ED) environment poses significant challenges to effective communication. The objective of this study was to determine patients' perceptions of their ED team's communication skills. This was a cross-sectional study in an urban, academic ED. Patients completed the Communication Assessment Tool for Teams (CAT-T) survey upon ED exit. The CAT-T was adapted from the psychometrically validated Communication Assessment Tool (CAT) to measure patient perceptions of communication with a medical team. The 14 core CAT-T items are associated with a 5-point scale (5 = excellent); results are reported as the percent of participants who responded "excellent." Responses were analyzed for differences based on age, sex, race, and operational metrics (wait time, ED daily census). There were 346 patients identified; the final sample for analysis was 226 patients (53.5% female, 48.2% Caucasian), representing a response rate of 65.3%. The scores on CAT-T items (reported as % "excellent") ranged from 50.0% to 76.1%. The highest-scoring items were "let me talk without interruptions" (76.1%), "talked in terms I could understand" (75.2%), and "treated me with respect" (74.3%). The lowest-scoring item was "encouraged me to ask questions" (50.0%). No differences were noted based on patient sex, race, age, wait time, or daily census of the ED. The patients in this study perceived that the ED teams were respectful and allowed them to talk without interruptions; however, lower ratings were given for items related to actively engaging the patient in decision-making and asking questions. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Discrepant perceptions of communication, teamwork and situation awareness among surgical team members.

Science.gov (United States)

Wauben, L S G L; Dekker-van Doorn, C M; van Wijngaarden, J D H; Goossens, R H M; Huijsman, R; Klein, J; Lange, J F

2011-04-01

To assess surgical team members' differences in perception of non-technical skills. Questionnaire design. Operating theatres (OTs) at one university hospital, three teaching hospitals and one general hospital in the Netherlands. Sixty-six surgeons, 97 OT nurses, 18 anaesthetists and 40 nurse anaesthetists. All surgical team members, of five hospitals, were asked to complete a questionnaire and state their opinion on the current state of communication, teamwork and situation awareness at the OT. Ratings for 'communication' were significantly different, particularly between surgeons and all other team members (P ≤ 0.001). The ratings for 'teamwork' differed significantly between all team members (P ≤ 0.005). Within 'situation awareness' significant differences were mainly observed for 'gathering information' between surgeons and other team members (P communication, teamwork and situation awareness. Future research needs to ascertain whether these discrepancies are linked to greater risk of adverse events or to process as well as systems failures. Establishing this link would support implementation and use of complex team interventions that intervene at multiple levels of the healthcare system.

Medicine as It Should Be: Teaching Team and Teamwork during a Palliative Care Clerkship.

Science.gov (United States)

Head, Barbara A; Furman, Christian Davis; Lally, Andrew M; Leake, Kimberly; Pfeifer, Mark

2018-05-01

Interprofessional Education (IPE) is an important component of medical education. Rotations with palliative care interdisciplinary teams (IDTs) provide an optimal environment for IPE and teaching teamwork skills. Our objective was to assess the learning of senior medical students during a palliative care rotation. A constant comparison method based on grounded theory was used in this qualitative study. Senior medical students completed a semi-structured reflective writing exercise after a required one-week palliative care clerkship. Sixty randomly selected reflective writings were analyzed. The reflective writings were analyzed to evaluate the student's experiences. Dominant themes identified were related to teams and teamwork. Eight specific themes were identified: value of IDT for team members; value of IDT for patient/family; importance of each team member; reliance on other team members; roles of team members; how teams work; team communication; and interdisciplinary assessment and care planning. Students described exposure to novel experiences and planned to incorporate newly learned behaviors in their future practice. By participating in palliative care IDTs, medical students consistently learned about teamwork within healthcare. Additionally, they learned the importance of such teamwork to patients and the team itself. Rotations with palliative care IDTs have a significant role to play in IPE and preparing medical students to practice on teams.

Change Management for using a Project Website in Design Team Communication

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Otter, den A.F.H.J.; Emitt, S.; Prins, M.

2005-01-01

A Project Website (PWS) has been advocated as an important tool for design teams of construction projects, because the tool is supposed to greatly enhance team communication. This, finally, should result in improved team performance in terms of increase of efficiency and effectiveness. PWS vendors

Improvements in CanMEDS competencies for medical students in an interdisciplinary and voluntary setting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vildbrad MD

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Mads Dam Vildbrad, Johanne Marie Lyhne International Medical Cooperation Committee, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark Background: To practice medicine, doctors must master leadership, communication, team management, and collaboration, in addition to medical knowledge. The CanMEDS framework describes seven roles of a doctor, but the six nonmedical expert roles are de-emphasized in the academic medical curriculum. Innovative opportunities are needed for medical students to develop as participants in a world of interdisciplinary health care. Methods: We founded a volunteer-based, interdisciplinary, student-run project called SUNDdag (HEALTHday with 60 students from 12 different educational backgrounds. To evaluate the learning outcomes of the project, we conducted a cross-sectional study using an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire. Results: Students joined the project due to it being health-promoting, volunteer-based, and interdisciplinary. The medical students reported a significant increase of skills in all seven roles except for “medical expert”. They reported an increased understanding of the non-health-related students' skills. Conclusion: In their future careers, medical students must collaborate with health care professionals in a team-based approach to patient care and with non-health-related professionals in administrative tasks. Interdisciplinary volunteer-based initiatives like SUNDdag are potential platforms for medical students to improve their CanMEDS competencies. We encourage students to initiate similar projects and we encourage faculties to support volunteer-based, interdisciplinary initiatives due to their favorable cost-benefit ratio. Keywords: medical education, voluntarism, interprofessional education, medical students

A Customized Workflow-Driven Instant Messaging System Support Team Communication in the Hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Ying-Li; Chien, Tsai-Feng; Chen, Hsiu-Chin

2016-01-01

Effective communication among the healthcare team is a very important skill to support team resource management (TRM). However, we take too much effort to connect with other team members by using traditional telephone communication. In this study, we developed an instant messaging system embedded in the original hospital information system and evaluated the preliminary outcome and the usage of the system.

Action plan for the communication process in a nursing team

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Priscilla Valladares Broca

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study is to propose an action plan for the communication process in the nursing team. The theoretical references were: the model of a communication process proposed by Berlo and essential concepts of King´s Theory. It is a qualitative, convergent-care research. The data production technique was the semi-structured interview with 25 nurses of a public hospital. Data used the thematic content analysis technique. The elements of the communication team are: perception, self, space, time, stress, role, authority, power, status, audience, empathy and nonverbal communication. The plan proposes a dynamic, flexible, interactive and relational communication process, in order to contribute to the professional qualification and make new practices of care viable. It was concluded that its elements do not have a fixed and stable position, but throughout the process they are used according to the needs of each party.

Patient and team communication in the iPad era - a practical appraisal.

Science.gov (United States)

Imburgia, Mario

2014-01-01

Communication with the patient and within the team is a critical factor that can influence the treatment outcome, especially in complex and multidisciplinary dental treatments. Indeed, effective communication, not focused on marketing but on proper information of the patient's intraoral situation, can encourage greater acceptance of treatment and also greater treatment satisfaction. Better communication within the dental team is also a very important factor to improve the final result and reduce the time needed to reach it. Thanks to new technological devices widely available, such as tablets, we can use visual communication and interaction with the clinical images of the patient in order to improve communication with the patient, and especially within the dental team. The use of this method allows us to obtain a facial, dentolabial and dental esthetic analysis of the patient that can be used in various clinical steps, improving the predictability of the esthetic outcome and at the same time reducing the number of clinical sessions usually required.

Communication that heals: mindful communication practices from palliative care leaders.

Science.gov (United States)

Omilion-Hodges, Leah M; Swords, Nathan M

2016-01-01

Though research has begun to highlight the centrality of communication in palliative care, studies have yet to focus on the use of mindful communication. Mindful communication is associated with increases in patient care and decreases in physician burnout. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews the authors sought mindful communication practices from palliative care leaders in American Hospital Association Circle of Life® award-wining units. Four key mindful communication practices emerged: Know your audience, ask questions, discard scripts, and recognize your role. The discussion articulates how key mindful communication practices may be used as a stage model, where key practices may be used individually or in concert, by sole practitioners or within interdisciplinary teams and by new and seasoned clinicians. Theoretical contributions and areas for future inquiry are also discussed.

TeamSTEPPS for health care risk managers: Improving teamwork and communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooke, Marcia

2016-07-01

Ineffective communication among the health care team is a leading cause of errors in the patient care setting. Studies assessing training related to communication and teamwork in the clinical team are prevalent, however, teamwork training at the administrative level is lacking. This includes individuals in leadership positions such as health care risk managers. The purpose was to determine the impact of an educational intervention on the knowledge and attitudes related to communication and teamwork in the health care risk management population. The educational intervention was an adaptation of a national teamwork training program and incorporated didactic content as well as video vignettes and small group activities. Measurement of knowledge and attitudes were used to determine the impact of the education program. Knowledge and attitudes were assessed pre- and postcourse. Findings indicate that teamwork education tailored to the needs of the specific audience resulted in knowledge gained and improved attitudes toward the components of teamwork. The attitudes that most significantly improved were related to team structure and situation monitoring. There was no improvement in participants' attitudes toward leadership, mutual support, and communication. Team training has been shown to improve safety culture, patient satisfaction, and clinical outcomes. Including risk managers in training on teamwork, communication, and collaboration can serve to foster a common language among clinicians and management. In addition, a measurement related to implementation in the health care setting may yield insight into the impact of training. Qualitative measurement may allow the researcher to delve deeper into how these health care facilities are using team training interventions. © 2016 American Society for Healthcare Risk Management of the American Hospital Association.

A Healthy Mix: A Case Study of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Interdisciplinary Health Communication Certificate Program

Science.gov (United States)

El-Toukhy, Sherine; Holman, Lynette

2012-01-01

This study evaluated attitudes toward interdisciplinary education by appraising the Interdisciplinary Health Communication (IHC) Certificate program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a case study. Sixteen affiliated faculty and thirteen students enrolled in the IHC program as of 2008-2009 were surveyed. Although the attitude…

Bringing employees closer : the effect of proximity on communication when teams function under time pressure

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chong, S.F.D.; Eerde, van W.; Rutte, C.G.; Chai, K.H.

2012-01-01

Some studies have assumed close proximity to improve team communication on the premise that reduced physical distance increases the chance of contact and information exchange. However, research showed that the relationship between team proximity and team communication is not always straightforward

Information delivery in team communication of MCR operators for an emergency task

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jeong, Kwang Sub; Park, Jin Kyun; Jung, Won Dae

2005-01-01

Team performance is a major measure to evaluate the ability of team when a lot of people perform a task of common purpose such as the main control room operators in the nuclear power plant. A team performance is affected the collaboration and communication among operators under dynamic situation as well as by the cognitive process of each team member. Specially, under the emergency situation, more clear and apparent communication in a team is a critical key for the appropriate response to emergency situation. As a general human factor analysis accesses the operator's behavior, it leads to a resulting action of planning, decision, problem-solving. In order to access the internal information and background information of his/her behavior, the verbal protocol analysis is applied. The impact factors on the team performance are derived from the state of the art for team performance, and it is found that the communication is a common key for all impact factors. And, in turn, the impact factors for the communication are accesses and the more detailed analysis is performed. The recorded data for the operator training for emergency situation of nuclear power plant training center are analyzed according to the verbal protocol analysis that are being generally utilized in cognitive psychology, educational psychology, and cognitive science. Two aspects, external (syntax) and internal (symantic) aspects of communication are reviewed. From the syntax analysis, it is found that the task of each step in EOP is separated according to each corresponding operator and the ordinary training is important, and the weak-points for a sentence presentation can be found team-by-team. And, from the symantic analysis for the diagnostic procedure of EOP is performed and the communication errors due to different situation awareness by operators could be found, and it lead to a diagnosis failure. The factors for different symantic cognition for a situation are analyzed and the affecting

The Role of Communication and Trust in Global Virtual Teams

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sarker, Saonee; Ahuja, Manju; Sarker, Suprateek

2011-01-01

in prior research. Our results indicate that the "mediating" model best explains how communication and trust work together to influence performance. Overall, the study contributes to the existing body of knowledge on virtual teams by empirically reconciling conflicting views regarding...... to contribute some clarity to the understanding of the theoretical linkages among trust, communication, and member performance in virtual teams. To this end, we identify and test three proposed models (additive, interaction, and mediation) describing the role of trust in its relationship with communication...... the interrelationships between key constructs in the literature. Further, the study, through its adoption of the social network analysis approach, provides awareness within the IS research community of the strengths of applying network approaches in examining new organizational forms....

The Implementation of an Interdisciplinary Co-planning Team Model Among Mathematics and Science Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Michelle Cetner

In recent years, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education has become a significant focus of numerous theoretical and commentary articles as researchers have advocated for active and conceptually integrated learning in classrooms. Drawing connections between previously isolated subjects, especially mathematics and science, has been shown to increase student engagement, performance, and critical thinking skills. However, obstacles exist to the widespread implementation of integrated curricula in schools, such as teacher knowledge and school structure and culture. The Interdisciplinary Co-planning Team (ICT) model, in which teachers of different subjects come together regularly to discuss connections between content and to plan larger interdisciplinary activities and smaller examples and discussion points, offers a method for teachers to create sustainable interdisciplinary experiences for students within the bounds of the current school structure. The ICT model is designed to be an iterative, flexible model, providing teachers with both a regular time to come together as "experts" and "teach" each other important concepts from their separate disciplines, and then to bring their shared knowledge and language back to their own classrooms to implement with their students in ways that fit their individual classes. In this multiple-case study, which aims to describe the nature of the co-planning process, the nature of plans, and changes in teacher beliefs as a result of co-planning, three pairs of secondary mathematics and science teachers participated in a 10-week intervention with the ICT model. Each pair constituted one case. Data included observations, interviews, and artifact collection. All interviews, whole-group sessions, and co-planning sessions were transcribed and coded using both theory-based and data-based codes. Finally, a cross-case comparison was used to present similarities and differences across cases. Findings suggest that the

Achieving clinical nurse specialist competencies and outcomes through interdisciplinary education.

Science.gov (United States)

Sievers, Beth; Wolf, Sherry

2006-01-01

Without formal education, many healthcare professionals fail to develop interdisciplinary team skills; however, when students are socialized to interdisciplinary practice through academic clinical learning experiences, effective collaboration skills can be developed. Increasingly, educational environments are challenged to include clinical experiences for students that teach and model interdisciplinary collaboration. The purpose of this quality improvement initiative was to create an interdisciplinary educational experience for clinical nurse specialist (CNS) students and postgraduate physicians. The interdisciplinary learning experience, supported by an educational grant, provided an interdisciplinary cohort of learners an opportunity to engage in a clinically focused learning experience. The interdisciplinary cohort consisted of CNS students and physicians in various stages of postgraduate training. The clinical experience selected was a quality improvement initiative in which the students were introduced to the concepts and tools of quality improvement. During this 1-month clinical experience, students applied the new skills by implementing a quality improvement project focusing on medication reconciliation in the outpatient setting. The CNS core competencies and outcomes were used to shape the experience for the CNS students. The CNS students exhibited 5 of the 7 essential characteristics of the CNS (leadership, collaboration, consultation skills, ethical conduct, and professional attributes) while demonstrating competencies and fulfilling performance expectations. During this learning experience, the CNS students focused on competencies and outcomes in the organizational sphere of influence. Multiple facilitating factors and barriers were identified. This interdisciplinary clinical experience in a quality improvement initiative provided valuable opportunities for CNS students to develop essential CNS characteristics and to explore practice competencies in the

Smartphones let surgeons know WhatsApp: an analysis of communication in emergency surgical teams.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, Maximilian J; King, Dominic; Arora, Sonal; Behar, Nebil; Athanasiou, Thanos; Sevdalis, Nick; Darzi, Ara

2015-01-01

Outdated communication technologies in healthcare can place patient safety at risk. This study aimed to evaluate implementation of the WhatsApp messaging service within emergency surgical teams. A prospective mixed-methods study was conducted in a London hospital. All emergency surgery team members (n = 40) used WhatsApp for communication for 19 weeks. The initiator and receiver of communication were compared for response times and communication types. Safety events were reported using direct quotations. More than 1,100 hours of communication pertaining to 636 patients were recorded, generating 1,495 communication events. The attending initiated the most instruction-giving communication, whereas interns asked the most clinical questions (P WhatsApp helped flatten the hierarchy within the team. WhatsApp represents a safe, efficient communication technology. This study lays the foundations for quality improvement innovations delivered over smartphones. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Design as a Cultural Venue for Interdisciplinary Collaboration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Geert Jensen, Birgitte; Rasmussen, Jørgen; Volf, Mette

2014-01-01

Sense Making has become the strategic fuel for meaningful Change Making in organizations today. 1 When designers enter into and facilitate large interdisciplinary teams it changes the role of the designer from being characterised by aesthetic professionalism to thinking strategically and facilita......Sense Making has become the strategic fuel for meaningful Change Making in organizations today. 1 When designers enter into and facilitate large interdisciplinary teams it changes the role of the designer from being characterised by aesthetic professionalism to thinking strategically...... and visual skills can be the link between mental models and languages that occur in interdisciplinary teams. The designer's methods such as visualization and prototyping as well as their Sensemaking methods2 can strengthen a team's chance to imagine future scenarios and their implications. It provides...... a common ground for discussing and reflecting on choices made. The article describes two different cases in which the visual methods of designers made Sensemaking possible in the organisation. The methods used are elements within the design process: visual sensemaking, user observations, interviews...

Perturbed Communication in a Virtual Environment to Train Medical Team Leaders

OpenAIRE

Huguet , Lauriane; Lourdeaux , Domitile; Sabouret , Nicolas; Ferrer , Marie-Hélène

2016-01-01

International audience; The VICTEAMS project aims at designing a virtual environment for training medical team leaders to non-technical skills. The virtual environment ispopulated with autonomous virtual agents who are able to make mistakes (in action or communication) in order to train rescue team leaders and to make them adaptive with all kinds of situations or teams.

Team performance in networked supervisory control of unmanned air vehicles: effects of automation, working memory, and communication content.

Science.gov (United States)

McKendrick, Ryan; Shaw, Tyler; de Visser, Ewart; Saqer, Haneen; Kidwell, Brian; Parasuraman, Raja

2014-05-01

Assess team performance within a net-worked supervisory control setting while manipulating automated decision aids and monitoring team communication and working memory ability. Networked systems such as multi-unmanned air vehicle (UAV) supervision have complex properties that make prediction of human-system performance difficult. Automated decision aid can provide valuable information to operators, individual abilities can limit or facilitate team performance, and team communication patterns can alter how effectively individuals work together. We hypothesized that reliable automation, higher working memory capacity, and increased communication rates of task-relevant information would offset performance decrements attributed to high task load. Two-person teams performed a simulated air defense task with two levels of task load and three levels of automated aid reliability. Teams communicated and received decision aid messages via chat window text messages. Task Load x Automation effects were significant across all performance measures. Reliable automation limited the decline in team performance with increasing task load. Average team spatial working memory was a stronger predictor than other measures of team working memory. Frequency of team rapport and enemy location communications positively related to team performance, and word count was negatively related to team performance. Reliable decision aiding mitigated team performance decline during increased task load during multi-UAV supervisory control. Team spatial working memory, communication of spatial information, and team rapport predicted team success. An automated decision aid can improve team performance under high task load. Assessment of spatial working memory and the communication of task-relevant information can help in operator and team selection in supervisory control systems.

Improving Communication Skills among High School Assistant Principals To Increase Administrative Team Effectiveness.

Science.gov (United States)

Hosack, Mary Browne

This paper describes a practicum program that was developed to increase the effectiveness of the administrative team at one high school. A lack of communication skills had prevented the target group from working together as a team. Strategies included role-play activities, workshops, and communication skill-development meetings. A series of…

The programme benefits of improving project team communication through a contact centre

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bond-Barnard, T. J.

2013-08-01

Full Text Available A South African national programme to repair government infrastructure uses a contact centre (or call centre to facilitate and manage communication. An important question is: How does the contact centre benefit the programme and its projects? This study discusses the findings of a survey that quantified the benefits of the programme when the communication between team members in the programme was improved by using a contact centre. The results show that, by using a contact centre to improve the communication between project team members, their perception of communication effectiveness, quality of project deliverables, service delivery, and customer satisfaction of the programme dramatically increases.

The interdisciplinary nature of the skills needed by project managers

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Trevor Nesbit

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyse the additional skills that are transferrable across different sectors, that project managers require and that go beyond technical project management skills to enable them to be successful in what is becoming an increasingly interdisciplinary role.The conclusions highlight that the project management role requires a range of non- technical project management skills and characteristics to enable project management to be carried out successfully. These non- technical project management skills and characteristics include the ability to build relationships with stakeholders; possessing formal project management certification; understanding the creation and functioning of project teams; understanding the political environment that the project exists in; the ability to work in a team; possessing leadership and management skills; possessing interpersonal and communication skills and possessing a strategic orientation.The skills and characteristics that are perceived by the cross section of project managers as being the most important are possessing interpersonal and communication skills; possessing leadership and management skills; the ability to work in a team and the ability to build relationships with stakeholders. Interpersonal and communication skills along with the ability to work in a team are not included significantly in job advertisements for project managers, with the requirement to have them potentially being assumed and not needed to be stated.This research provides a basis for a further study involving in-depth interviews with project managers from the information technology sector with the aim of highlighting specific projects where these additional skills have been vital to the success of these projects.Issues surrounding the political environment of the project from the perspective of different genders; the importance interpersonal and communication skills along with team work for

Challenges to nurses' efforts of retrieving, documenting, and communicating patient care information

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Yakel, Elizabeth; Dunn Lopez, Karen; Tschannen, Dana; Ford, Yvonne B

2013-01-01

Objective To examine information flow, a vital component of a patient's care and outcomes, in a sample of multiple hospital nursing units to uncover potential sources of error and opportunities for systematic improvement. Design This was a qualitative study of a sample of eight medical–surgical nursing units from four diverse hospitals in one US state. We conducted direct work observations of nursing staff's communication patterns for entire shifts (8 or 12 h) for a total of 200 h and gathered related documentation artifacts for analyses. Data were coded using qualitative content analysis procedures and then synthesized and organized thematically to characterize current practices. Results Three major themes emerged from the analyses, which represent serious vulnerabilities in the flow of patient care information during nurse hand-offs and to the entire interdisciplinary team across time and settings. The three themes are: (1) variation in nurse documentation and communication; (2) the absence of a centralized care overview in the patient's electronic health record, ie, easily accessible by the entire care team; and (3) rarity of interdisciplinary communication. Conclusion The care information flow vulnerabilities are a catalyst for multiple types of serious and undetectable clinical errors. We have two major recommendations to address the gaps: (1) to standardize the format, content, and words used to document core information, such as the plan of care, and make this easily accessible to all team members; (2) to conduct extensive usability testing to ensure that tools in the electronic health record help the disconnected interdisciplinary team members to maintain a shared understanding of the patient's plan. PMID:22822042

COMMUNICATING SUCCESSFULLY WHEN MANAGING MULTICULTURAL TEAMS

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Alexandra IOANID

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Day by day globalization covers new areas of life and calls for continuous learning and adjusting to new cultural dimensions. Managers are expected to display adaptation to new ways of working, cultural sensitivity, cultural intelligence and to posses multicultural competencies communication skills. Understanding the impact of cultural diversity on the communication within the organization is essential for the success of a company. Especially in multinational companies, when departments working on the same projects are located in different countries, the managers rely more and more on cultural- specific country characteristics in order to chose the best negotiation and communication techniques. The aim of this paper is to show how the country specific cultural characteristics impact on the success or failure of a business and the organizations’ challenge with preparing managers for success in international business environment. The paper is based on literature review and on authors’ experience in managing multicultural project teams, in international environment.

Rational accountability and rational autonomy in academic practice: An extended case study of the communicative ethic of interdisciplinary science

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Robertson, Susan Margaret

The dissertation investigates the interaction of rational accountability and rational autonomy in interdisciplinary science within the lifeworld of the university. It focuses on the cultural, social and motivational forces that university researchers draw on, and develop, to constitute and regulate interdisciplinary science. Findings are analyzed within an applied critical social theory framework that attends to the interaction of instrumental and communicative rational action within the public spaces that constitute the lifeworld of the university as a public sphere in society. The research raises questions of how academics practice interdisciplinary science and how these practices relate to the reproduction of the regulative ideal of the university as a community that practices public reason. The conceptual framework informing the research is Habermas' (1984) theory of communicative action. Using Burawoy's (1991) extended case study method as an operational strategy, two modes of constituting and regulating interdisciplinary science were found. Instrumental rational modes dominated in social contexts of interdisciplinary science where consensus on the normative goals and purposes of rational academic action were pre-existing and pre-supposed by participants. Communicative rational modes dominated in social contexts of interdisciplinary science where the normative goals and purposes of rational academic action entered a contested domain. Endorsements for interdisciplinary science policies are coinciding with demands for increased accountability and relevance of Canada's university system. At the same time that the university system must respond to external demands, it must reproduce itself as a public institution open to the discursive redemption of factual and normative validity claims. The study found that academics participate in, but also contest the instrumental regulation of academic inquiry and conduct by using their constitutional autonomy and freedom to

Interdisciplinary Area of Research Offers Tool of Cross-Cultural Understanding: Cross-Cultural Student Seminar for Communication Training on Biomedical Engineering

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Shigehiro Hashimoto

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Misunderstanding often occurs in a multidisciplinary field of study, because each field has its own background of thinking. Communication training is important for students, who have a potential to develop the multidisciplinary field of study. Because each nation has its own cultural background, communication in an international seminar is not easy, either. A cross-cultural student seminar has been designed for communication training in the multidisciplinary field of study. Students from a variety of back grounds have joined in the seminar. Both equations and figures are effective tools for communication in the field of science. The seminar works well for communication training in the multidisciplinary field of study of biomedical engineering. An interdisciplinary area of research offers the tool of cross-cultural understanding. The present study refers to author's several experiences: the student internship abroad, the cross-cultural student camp, multi PhD theses, various affiliations, and the creation of the interdisciplinary department.

Communication Skills to Develop Trusting Relationships on Global Virtual Engineering Capstone Teams

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Zaugg, Holt; Davies, Randall S.

2013-01-01

As universities seek to provide cost-effective, cross-cultural experiences using global virtual (GV) teams, the "soft" communication skills typical of all teams, increases in importance for GV teams. Students need to be taught how to navigate through cultural issues and virtual tool issues to build strong trusting relationships with…

Chaos: A Topic for Interdisciplinary Education in Physics

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Bae, Saebyok

2009-01-01

Since society and science need interdisciplinary works, the interesting topic of chaos is chosen for interdisciplinary education in physics. The educational programme contains various university-level activities such as computer simulations, chaos experiment and team projects besides ordinary teaching. According to the participants, the programme…

Solving challenges in inter- and trans-disciplinary working teams: Lessons from the surgical technology field.

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Korb, Werner; Geißler, Norman; Strauß, Gero

2015-03-01

Engineering a medical technology is a complex process, therefore it is important to include experts from different scientific fields. This is particularly true for the development of surgical technology, where the relevant scientific fields are surgery (medicine) and engineering (electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, etc.). Furthermore, the scientific field of human factors is important to ensure that a surgical technology is indeed functional, process-oriented, effective, efficient as well as user- and patient-oriented. Working in such trans- and inter-disciplinary teams can be challenging due to different working cultures. The intention of this paper is to propose an innovative cooperative working culture for the interdisciplinary field of computer-assisted surgery (CAS) based on more than ten years of research on the one hand and the interdisciplinary literature on working cultures and various organizational theories on the other hand. In this paper, a retrospective analysis of more than ten years of research work in inter- and trans-disciplinary teams in the field of CAS will be performed. This analysis is based on the documented observations of the authors, the study reports, protocols, lab reports and published publications. To additionally evaluate the scientific experience in an interdisciplinary research team, a literature analysis regarding scientific literature on trans- and inter-disciplinarity was performed. Own research and literature analyses were compared. Both the literature and the scientific experience in an interdisciplinary research team show that consensus finding is not always easy. It is, however, important to start trans- and interdisciplinary projects with a shared mental model and common goals, which include communication and leadership issues within the project teams, i.e. clear and unambiguous information about the individual responsibilities and objectives to attain. This is made necessary due to differing

Is it possible to improve radiotherapy team members’ communication skills? A randomized study assessing the efficacy of a 38-h communication skills training program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gibon, Anne-Sophie; Merckaert, Isabelle; Liénard, Aurore; Libert, Yves; Delvaux, Nicole; Marchal, Serge; Etienne, Anne-Marie; Reynaert, Christine; Slachmuylder, Jean-Louis; Scalliet, Pierre; Van Houtte, Paul; Coucke, Philippe; Salamon, Emile

2013-01-01

Background and purpose: Optimizing communication between radiotherapy team members and patients and between colleagues requires training. This study applies a randomized controlled design to assess the efficacy of a 38-h communication skills training program. Material and methods: Four radiotherapy teams were randomly assigned either to a training program or to a waiting list. Team members’ communication skills and their self-efficacy to communicate in the context of an encounter with a simulated patient were the primary endpoints. These encounters were scheduled at the baseline and after training for the training group, and at the baseline and four months later for the waiting list group. Encounters were audiotaped and transcribed. Transcripts were analyzed with content analysis software (LaComm) and by an independent rater. Results: Eighty team members were included in the study. Compared to untrained team members, trained team members used more turns of speech with content oriented toward available resources in the team (relative rate [RR] = 1.38; p = 0.023), more assessment utterances (RR = 1.69; p < 0.001), more empathy (RR = 4.05; p = 0.037), more negotiation (RR = 2.34; p = 0.021) and more emotional words (RR = 1.32; p = 0.030), and their self-efficacy to communicate increased (p = 0.024 and p = 0.008, respectively). Conclusions: The training program was effective in improving team members’ communication skills and their self-efficacy to communicate in the context of an encounter with a simulated patient. Future study should assess the effect of this training program on communication with actual patients and their satisfaction. Moreover a cost-benefit analysis is needed, before implementing such an intensive training program on a broader scale

Interdisciplinary innovations in biomedical and health informatics graduate education.

Science.gov (United States)

Demiris, G

2007-01-01

Biomedical and health informatics (BHI) is a rapidly growing domain that relies on the active collaboration with diverse disciplines and professions. Educational initiatives in BHI need to prepare students with skills and competencies that will allow them to function within and even facilitate interdisciplinary teams (IDT). This paper describes an interdisciplinary educational approach introduced into a BHI graduate curriculum that aims to prepare informatics researchers to lead IDT research. A case study of the "gerontechnology" research track is presented which highlights how the curriculum fosters collaboration with and understanding of the disciplines of Nursing, Engineering, Computer Science, and Health Administration. Gerontechnology is a new interdisciplinary field that focuses on the use of technology to support aging. Its aim is to explore innovative ways to use information technology and develop systems that support independency and increase quality of life for senior citizens. As a result of a large research group that explores "smart home" technologies and the use of information technology, we integrated this new domain into the curriculum providing a platform for computer scientists, engineers, nurses and physicians to explore challenges and opportunities with our informatics students and faculty. The interdisciplinary educational model provides an opportunity for health informatics students to acquire the skills for communication and collaboration with other disciplines. Numerous graduate and postgraduate students have already participated in this initiative. The evaluation model of this approach is presented. Interdisciplinary educational models are required for health informatics graduate education. Such models need to be innovative and reflect the needs and trends in the domains of health care and information technology.

Human-Robot Teaming: Communication, Coordination, and Collaboration

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Fong, Terry

2017-01-01

In this talk, I will describe how NASA Ames has been studying how human-robot teams can increase the performance, reduce the cost, and increase the success of a variety of endeavors. The central premise of our work is that humans and robots should support one another in order to compensate for limitations of automation and manual control. This principle has broad applicability to a wide range of domains, environments, and situations. At the same time, however, effective human-robot teaming requires communication, coordination, and collaboration -- all of which present significant research challenges. I will discuss some of the ways that NASA Ames is addressing these challenges and present examples of our work involving planetary rovers, free-flying robots, and self-driving cars.

Care team identification in the electronic health record: A critical first step for patient-centered communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Dalal, Anuj K; Schnipper, Jeffrey L

2016-05-01

Patient-centered communication is essential to coordinate care and safely progress patients from admission through discharge. Hospitals struggle with improving the complex and increasingly electronic conversation patterns among care team members, patients, and caregivers to achieve effective patient-centered communication across settings. Accurate and reliable identification of all care team members is a precursor to effective patient-centered communication and ideally should be facilitated by the electronic health record. However, the process of identifying care team members is challenging, and team lists in the electronic health record are typically neither accurate nor reliable. Based on the literature and on experience from 2 initiatives at our institution, we outline strategies to improve care team identification in the electronic health record and discuss potential implications for patient-centered communication. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2016;11:381-385. © 2016 Society of Hospital Medicine. © 2016 Society of Hospital Medicine.

Transfer of communication skills to the workplace: impact of a 38-hour communication skills training program designed for radiotherapy teams.

Science.gov (United States)

Merckaert, Isabelle; Delevallez, France; Gibon, Anne-Sophie; Liénard, Aurore; Libert, Yves; Delvaux, Nicole; Marchal, Serge; Etienne, Anne-Marie; Bragard, Isabelle; Reynaert, Christine; Slachmuylder, Jean-Louis; Scalliet, Pierre; Van Houtte, Paul; Coucke, Philippe; Razavi, Darius

2015-03-10

This study assessed the efficacy of a 38-hour communication skills training program designed to train a multidisciplinary radiotherapy team. Four radiotherapy teams were randomly assigned to a training program or a waiting list. Assessments were scheduled at baseline and after training for the training group and at baseline and 4 months later for the waiting list group. Assessments included an audio recording of a radiotherapy planning session to assess team members' communication skills and expression of concerns of patients with breast cancer (analyzed with content analysis software) and an adapted European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer satisfaction with care questionnaire completed by patients at the end of radiotherapy. Two hundred thirty-seven radiotherapy planning sessions were recorded. Compared with members of the untrained teams, members of the trained teams acquired, over time, more assessment skills (P = .003) and more supportive skills (P = .050) and provided more setting information (P = .010). Over time, patients interacting with members of the trained teams asked more open questions (P = .022), expressed more emotional words (P = .025), and exhibited a higher satisfaction level regarding nurses' interventions (P = .028). The 38-hour training program facilitated transfer of team member learned communication skills to the clinical practice and improved patients' satisfaction with care. © 2015 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Emergent team roles in organizational meetings: Identifying communication patterns via cluster analysis.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lehmann-Willenbrock, N.K.; Beck, S.J.; Kauffeld, S.

2016-01-01

Previous team role taxonomies have largely relied on self-report data, have focused on functional roles and have described individual predispositions or personality traits. Instead, this study takes a communicative approach and proposes that team roles are produced, shaped and sustained in

Effects of the Educational Leadership of Nursing Unit Managers on Team Effectiveness: Mediating Effects of Organizational Communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Eun Ha; Kim, Eun-Kyung; Kim, Pil Bong

2018-03-31

EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP OF NURSING UNIT MANAGERS ON TEAM EFFECTIVENESS: Mediating Effects of Organizational Communication Satisfaction. This study identifies the effects of the educational leadership of nursing unit managers on team effectiveness and the mediating effects of organizational communication satisfaction; it highlights the importance of educational leadership and organizational communication and provides the data needed to enhance the education capacity of managers. The participants were 216 nursing unit managers of staff nurses at a tertiary hospital located in C Region, South Korea, and nurses who had worked for more than six months at the same hospital. This study was conducted using questionnaires on educational leadership, team effectiveness, and organizational communication satisfaction. Data analysis was performed with a t-test, ANOVA, Scheffé, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and simple and multiple regression analyses using SPSS version 23.0. Mediation analysis was tested using Baron and Kenny's regression analysis and a Sobel test. The mean score for the educational leadership of nursing unit managers was 3.74(±0.68); for organizational communication satisfaction, 3.14(±0.51); and for team effectiveness, 3.52(±0.49). Educational leadership was significantly positively correlated with team effectiveness and organizational communication satisfaction. Organizational communication satisfaction demonstrated a complete mediating effect on the relationship between educational leadership and team effectiveness (β=.61, pcommunication satisfaction among nurses; this supports the idea that educational leadership can contribute to team effectiveness. This suggests that the educational leadership and communication capacity of nursing unit managers must be improved to enhance the performance of nursing organizations. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Introduction of an interdisciplinary heart team-based transcatheter aortic valve implantation programme: short and mid-term outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez, G J; Seco, M; Jaijee, S K; Adams, M R; Cartwright, B L; Forrest, P; Celermajer, D S; Vallely, M P; Wilson, M K; Ng, M K C

2014-09-01

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has been developed to treat symptomatic aortic stenosis in patients deemed too high risk for open-heart surgery. To address this complex population, an interdisciplinary heart team approach was proposed. Present the short- and mid-term outcomes of the first 100 patients in the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital multidisciplinary TAVI programme. Single-centre registry. Baseline and procedural data were prospectively recorded. Outcomes were recorded according to Valve Academic Research Consortium - version 2 guidelines. All patients underwent a comprehensive interdisciplinary pre-procedural evaluation. Sixty-eight transfemoral and 32 transapical implantations were performed. Mean age was 82 (±8.9) years old with an average logistic EuroSCORE of 33. Although 13 procedures had major complications, there was no intraprocedural mortality. During the first month, 9% of patients were re-admitted due to heart failure and 13% had a permanent pacemaker implanted. A 3% 30-day and 8% follow-up (mean 17 months) mortalities were recorded. While no significant differences in the rate of complications were found between the first and second half of the experience, all cases of mortality within 30 days (n = 3) occurred in the initial half. Sustained haemodynamic results were obtained with TAVI (immediate mean aortic valve gradient reduction from 47 to 9 mmHg; 1-year echocardiographic gradient 9.9 mmHg, with no moderate or severe aortic regurgitation). Excellent results can be achieved with TAVI in very high-risk patients at an Australian institution. A comprehensive evaluation based on a heart team can overcome most of the difficulties imposed by this challenging population. © 2014 The Authors; Internal Medicine Journal © 2014 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

Communication between anesthesiologists, patients and the anesthesia team: a descriptive study of induction and emergence.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Andrew F; Pope, Catherine; Goodwin, Dawn; Mort, Maggie

2005-11-01

Although the importance of communication skills in anesthetic practice is increasingly recognized, formal communication skills training has hitherto dealt only with limited aspects of this professional activity. We aimed to document and analyze the informally-learned communication that takes place between anesthesia personnel and patients at induction of and emergence from general anesthesia. We adopted an ethnographic approach based principally on observation of anesthesia personnel at work in the operating theatres with subsequent analysis of observation transcripts. We noted three main styles of communication on induction, commonly combined in a single induction. In order of frequency, these were: (1) descriptive, where the anesthesiologists explained to the patient what he/she might expect to feel; (2) functional, which seemed designed to help anesthesiologists maintain physiological stability or assess the changing depth of anesthesia and (3) evocative, which referred to images or metaphors. Although the talk we have described is nominally directed at the patient, it also signifies to other members of the anesthetic team how induction is progressing. The team may also contribute to the communication behaviour depending on the context. Communication on emergence usually focused on establishing that the patient was awake. Communication at induction and emergence tends to fall into specific patterns with different emphases but similar functions. This communication work is shared across the anesthetic team. Further work could usefully explore the relationship between communication styles and team performance or indicators of patient safety or well-being.

Teaching Bioethics from an Interdisciplinary Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Singleton, Rivers, Jr.; Brock, D. Heyward

1982-01-01

Outlines an interdisciplinary workshop in bioethics for secondary teachers taught by a team consisting of a scientist, a philosopher, and a literary critic. Discusses definitions, topics, reading selections, problems, and value. (DC)

The effect of a nurse team leader on communication and leadership in major trauma resuscitations.

Science.gov (United States)

Clements, Alana; Curtis, Kate; Horvat, Leanne; Shaban, Ramon Z

2015-01-01

Effective assessment and resuscitation of trauma patients requires an organised, multidisciplinary team. Literature evaluating leadership roles of nurses in trauma resuscitation and their effect on team performance is scarce. To assess the effect of allocating the most senior nurse as team leader of trauma patient assessment and resuscitation on communication, documentation and perceptions of leadership within an Australian emergency department. The study design was a pre-post-test survey of emergency nursing staff (working at resuscitation room level) perceptions of leadership, communication, and documentation before and after the implementation of a nurse leader role. Patient records were audited focussing on initial resuscitation assessment, treatment, and nursing clinical entry. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed. Communication trended towards improvement. All (100%) respondents post-test stated they had a good to excellent understanding of their role, compared to 93.2% pre-study. A decrease (58.1-12.5%) in 'intimidating personality' as a negative aspect of communication. Nursing leadership had a 6.7% increase in the proportion of those who reported nursing leadership to be good to excellent. Accuracy of clinical documentation improved (P = 0.025). Trauma nurse team leaders improve some aspects of communication and leadership. Development of trauma nurse leaders should be encouraged within trauma team training programmes. Crown Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Challenges and rewards on the road to translational systems biology in acute illness: four case reports from interdisciplinary teams.

Science.gov (United States)

An, Gary; Hunt, C Anthony; Clermont, Gilles; Neugebauer, Edmund; Vodovotz, Yoram

2007-06-01

Translational systems biology approaches can be distinguished from mainstream systems biology in that their goal is to drive novel therapies and streamline clinical trials in critical illness. One systems biology approach, dynamic mathematical modeling (DMM), is increasingly used in dealing with the complexity of the inflammatory response and organ dysfunction. The use of DMM often requires a broadening of research methods and a multidisciplinary team approach that includes bioscientists, mathematicians, engineers, and computer scientists. However, the development of these groups must overcome domain-specific barriers to communication and understanding. We present 4 case studies of successful translational, interdisciplinary systems biology efforts, which differ by organizational level from an individual to an entire research community. Case 1 is a single investigator involved in DMM of the acute inflammatory response at Cook County Hospital, in which extensive translational progress was made using agent-based models of inflammation and organ damage. Case 2 is a community-level effort from the University of Witten-Herdecke in Cologne, whose efforts have led to the formation of the Society for Complexity in Acute Illness. Case 3 is an institution-based group, the Biosystems Group at the University of California, San Francisco, whose work has included a focus on a common lexicon for DMM. Case 4 is an institution-based, transdisciplinary research group (the Center for Inflammation and Regenerative Modeling at the University of Pittsburgh), whose modeling work has led to internal education efforts, grant support, and commercialization. A transdisciplinary approach, which involves team interaction in an iterative fashion to address ambiguity and is supported by educational initiatives, is likely to be necessary for DMM in acute illness. Communitywide organizations such as the Society of Complexity in Acute Illness must strive to facilitate the implementation of DMM in

Cohesion in Online Student Teams versus Traditional Teams

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, David E.

2016-01-01

Researchers have found that the electronic methods in use for online team communication today increase communication quality in project-based work situations. Because communication quality is known to influence group cohesion, the present research examined whether online student project teams are more cohesive than traditional teams. We tested…

Heuristic thinking: interdisciplinary perspectives on medical error

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Annegret F. Hannawa

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Approximately 43 million adverse events occur across the globe each year at a cost of at least 23 million disability-adjusted life years and $132 billion in excess health care spending, ranking this safety burden among the top 10 medical causes of disability in the world.1 These findings are likely to be an understatement of the actual severity of the problem, given that the numbers merely reflect seven types of adverse events and completely neglect ambulatory care, and of course they only cover reported incidents. Furthermore, they do not include statistics on children and incidents from India and China, which host more than a third of the world’s population. Best estimates imply that about two thirds of these incidents are preventable. Thus, from a public health perspective, medical errors are a seri- ous global health burden, in fact ahead of high-profile health problems like AIDS and cancer. Interventions to date have not reduced medical errors to satisfactory rates. Even today, far too often, hand hygiene is not practiced properly (even in developed countries, surgical procedures take place in underequipped operating theaters, and checklists are missing or remain uncompleted. The healthcare system seems to be failing in managing its errors − it is costing too much, and the complexity of care causes severe safety hazards that too often harm rather than help patients. In response to this evolving discussion, the International Society for Quality in Healthcare recently nominated an Innovations Team that is now developing new strategies. One of the emerging themes is that the medical field cannot resolve this problem on its own. Instead, interdisciplinary collaborations are needed to advance effective, evidence-based interventions that will eventually result in competent changes. In March 2013, the Institute of Communication and Health at the University of Lugano organized a conference on Communicating Medical Error (COME 2013 in

Recruiting and retaining mental health professionals to rural communities: an interdisciplinary course in Appalachia.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, Deborah; Hamel-Lambert, Jane; Tice, Carolyn; Safran, Steven; Bolon, Douglas; Rose-Grippa, Kathleen

2005-01-01

Faculty from 5 disciplines (health administration, nursing, psychology, social work, and special education) collaborated to develop and teach a distance-learning course designed to encourage undergraduate and graduate students to seek mental health services employment in rural areas and to provide the skills, experience, and knowledge necessary for successful rural practice. The primary objectives of the course, developed after thorough review of the rural retention and recruitment literature, were to (1) enhance interdisciplinary team skills, (2) employ technology as a tool for mental health practitioners, and (3) enhance student understanding of Appalachian culture and rural mental health. Didactic instruction emphasized Appalachian culture, rural mental health, teamwork and communication, professional ethics, and technology. Students were introduced to videoconferencing, asynchronous and synchronous communication, and Internet search tools. Working in teams of 3 or 4, students grappled with professional and cultural issues plus team process as they worked through a hypothetical case of a sexually abused youngster. The course required participants to engage in a nontraditional manner by immersing students in Web-based teams. Student evaluations suggested that teaching facts or "content" about rural mental health and Appalachian culture was much easier than the "process" of using new technologies or working in teams. Given that the delivery of mental health care demands collaboration and teamwork and that rural practice relies increasingly more on the use of technology, our experience suggests that more team-based, technology-driven courses are needed to better prepare students for clinical practice.

Does Leader-Affective Presence Influence Communication of Creative Ideas Within Work Teams?

OpenAIRE

Madrid, H.P.; Totterdell, P.; Niven, K.

2016-01-01

Affective presence is a novel, emotion-related personality trait, supported in experimental studies, concerning the extent to which a person makes his or her interaction partners feel the same way (Eisenkraft & Elfenbein, 2010). Applying this concept to an applied teamwork context, we proposed that team-leader-affective presence would influence team members' communication of creative ideas. Multilevel modeling analysis of data from a survey study conducted with teams from a consultancy firm c...

Interprofessional Health Team Communication About Hospital Discharge: An Implementation Science Evaluation Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Bahr, Sarah J; Siclovan, Danielle M; Opper, Kristi; Beiler, Joseph; Bobay, Kathleen L; Weiss, Marianne E

The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research guided formative evaluation of the implementation of a redesigned interprofessional team rounding process. The purpose of the redesigned process was to improve health team communication about hospital discharge. Themes emerging from interviews of patients, nurses, and providers revealed the inherent value and positive characteristics of the new process, but also workflow, team hierarchy, and process challenges to successful implementation. The evaluation identified actionable recommendations for modifying the implementation process.

Interprofessional Curbside Consults to Develop Team Communication and Improve Student Achievement of Learning Outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Kirwin, Jennifer; Greenwood, Kristin Curry; Rico, Janet; Nalliah, Romesh; DiVall, Margarita

2017-02-25

Objective. To design and implement a series of activities focused on developing interprofessional communication skills and to assess the impact of the activities on students' attitudes and achievement of educational goals. Design. Prior to the first pharmacy practice skills laboratory session, pharmacy students listened to a classroom lecture about team communication and viewed short videos describing the roles, responsibilities, and usual work environments of four types of health care professionals. In each of four subsequent laboratory sessions, students interacted with a different standardized health care professional role-played by a pharmacy faculty member who asked them a medication-related question. Students responded in verbal and written formats. Assessment. Student performance was assessed with a three-part rubric. The impact of the exercise was assessed by conducting pre- and post-intervention surveys and analyzing students' performance on relevant Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Education (CAPE) outcomes. Survey results showed improvement in student attitudes related to team-delivered care. Students' performance on the problem solver and collaborator CAPE outcomes improved, while performance on the educator outcome worsened. Conclusions. The addition of an interprofessional communication activity with standardized health care professionals provided the opportunity for students to develop skills related to team communication. Students felt the activity was valuable and realistic; however, analysis of outcome achievement from the exercise revealed a need for more exposure to team communication skills.

Improving Interdisciplinary Provider Communication Through a Unified Paging System.

Science.gov (United States)

Heidemann, Lauren; Petrilli, Christopher; Gupta, Ashwin; Campbell, Ian; Thompson, Maureen; Cinti, Sandro; Stewart, David A

2016-06-01

Interdisciplinary communication at a Veterans Affairs (VA) academic teaching hospital is largely dependent on alphanumeric paging, which has limitations as a result of one-way communication and lack of reliable physician identification. Adverse patient outcomes related to difficulty contacting the correct consulting provider in a timely manner have been reported. House officers were surveyed on the level of satisfaction with the current VA communication system and the rate of perceived adverse patient outcomes caused by potential delays within this system. Respondents were then asked to identify the ideal paging system. These results were used to develop and deploy a new Web site. A postimplementation survey was repeated 1 year later. This study was conducted as a quality improvement project. House officer satisfaction with the preintervention system was 3%. The majority used more than four modalities to identify consultants, with 59% stating that word of mouth was a typical source. The preferred mode of paging was the university hospital paging system, a Web-based program that is used at the partnering academic institution. Following integration of VA consulting services within the university hospital paging system, the level of satisfaction improved to 87%. Significant decreases were seen in perceived adverse patient outcomes (from 16% to 2%), delays in patient care (from 90% to 16%), and extended hospitalizations (from 46% to 4%). Our study demonstrates significant improvement in physician satisfaction with a newly implemented paging system that was associated with a decreased perceived number of adverse patient events and delays in care.

Development of a New Measurement for Team Communication Characteristics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Ar Ryum; Lee, Seung Woo; Kim, Hyoung Ju; Kang, Hyun Gook; Seong, Poong Hyun [KAIST, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Park, Jin Kyun [KAERI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2011-08-15

Operating crew which includes senior reactor operator (SRO), reactor operator (RO), turbine operator (TO), electrical operator (EO) and shift supervisor (SS) performs a task in main control room (MCR) in nuclear power plant. To perform a task adequately, each operator should not only carry out individual.s task but also cooperate with other operators. In this paper, a new measurement method based on Social Network Analysis (SNA) and speech act coding scheme for team communication characteristics is developed. Social network analysis describes structure and patters of relationships, and seeks to understand both their causes and consequences. It has two types of models which constitutes of graph models and matrix models. In the case of graph models, members of the network are represented as points or nodes, with lines (an arrow for directed model) drawn between pairs of nodes to show a relationship between them. In the case of matrix model, it presents a network in the form of an array of units arranged in row and columns. The row represents network members and the columns represent the same set of members in identical sequence of affiliation which is associated with members. In a cell of matrix model, one represents relationship between members and zero means no relationship. As a speech act coding scheme is the classification system of language act types that are embodied to concretize it, the contents of conversation may be classified in each type and applied to many areas. Using speech act coding scheme, the value in the cell of the matrix model and intensity of line of the graph model is counted. When social network analysis is extended, more information can be obtained such as direct or indirect relationship, team cohesion, team coordination, clique and etc. In this study, team communication characteristics are obtained using social network analysis. When the upper and lower is same, there is indirect relationship between members otherwise there is direct

Development of a New Measurement for Team Communication Characteristics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Ar Ryum; Lee, Seung Woo; Kim, Hyoung Ju; Kang, Hyun Gook; Seong, Poong Hyun; Park, Jin Kyun

2011-01-01

Operating crew which includes senior reactor operator (SRO), reactor operator (RO), turbine operator (TO), electrical operator (EO) and shift supervisor (SS) performs a task in main control room (MCR) in nuclear power plant. To perform a task adequately, each operator should not only carry out individual.s task but also cooperate with other operators. In this paper, a new measurement method based on Social Network Analysis (SNA) and speech act coding scheme for team communication characteristics is developed. Social network analysis describes structure and patters of relationships, and seeks to understand both their causes and consequences. It has two types of models which constitutes of graph models and matrix models. In the case of graph models, members of the network are represented as points or nodes, with lines (an arrow for directed model) drawn between pairs of nodes to show a relationship between them. In the case of matrix model, it presents a network in the form of an array of units arranged in row and columns. The row represents network members and the columns represent the same set of members in identical sequence of affiliation which is associated with members. In a cell of matrix model, one represents relationship between members and zero means no relationship. As a speech act coding scheme is the classification system of language act types that are embodied to concretize it, the contents of conversation may be classified in each type and applied to many areas. Using speech act coding scheme, the value in the cell of the matrix model and intensity of line of the graph model is counted. When social network analysis is extended, more information can be obtained such as direct or indirect relationship, team cohesion, team coordination, clique and etc. In this study, team communication characteristics are obtained using social network analysis. When the upper and lower is same, there is indirect relationship between members otherwise there is direct

Some Results from Rehabilitation Team Training.

Science.gov (United States)

Settles, Robert B.; Crisler, Jack R.

Provision of training for an interdisciplinary rehabilitation team in a center serving mental patients was investigated. An autonomous service delivery rehabilitation team was formed and provided training in cooperative function. Findings indicate that the experimental team became a particularly cohesive functional unit, and that their support of…

Individual teacher learning in a context of collaboration in teams

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meirink, Jacobiene Albertina

2007-01-01

In this study we aimed to examine teacher learning within a context of collaboration in interdisciplinary teams. Five interdisciplinary teams were studied for a period of one year. Data was collected on what and how the teachers learned, by means of examining changes in beliefs and by asking

Developing an Interdisciplinary, Team-Based Quality Improvement Leadership Training Program for Clinicians: The Partners Clinical Process Improvement Leadership Program.

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Rao, Sandhya K; Carballo, Victoria; Cummings, Brian M; Millham, Frederick; Jacobson, Joseph O

Although there has been tremendous progress in quality improvement (QI) education for students and trainees in recent years, much less has been published regarding the training of active clinicians in QI. The Partners Clinical Process Improvement Leadership Program (CPIP) is a 6-day experiential program. Interdisciplinary teams complete a QI project framed by didactic sessions, interactive exercises, case-based problem sessions, and a final presentation. A total of 239 teams composed of 516 individuals have graduated CPIP. On completion, participant satisfaction scores average 4.52 (scale 1-5) and self-reported understanding of QI concepts improved. At 6 months after graduation, 66% of survey respondents reported sustained QI activity. Three opportunities to improve the program have been identified: (1) increasing faculty participation through online and tiered course offerings, (2) integrating the faculty-focused program with the trainee curriculum, and (3) developing a postgraduate curriculum to address the challenges of sustained improvement.

Moving Toward Improved Teamwork in Cancer Care: The Role of Psychological Safety in Team Communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Jain, Anshu K; Fennell, Mary L; Chagpar, Anees B; Connolly, Hannah K; Nembhard, Ingrid M

2016-11-01

Effective communication is a requirement in the teamwork necessary for improved coordination to deliver patient-centered, value-based cancer care. Communication is particularly important when care providers are geographically distributed or work across organizations. We review organizational and teams research on communication to highlight psychological safety as a key determinant of high-quality communication within teams. We first present the concept of psychological safety, findings about its communication effects for teamwork, and factors that affect it. We focus on five factors applicable to cancer care delivery: familiarity, clinical hierarchy-related status differences, geographic dispersion, boundary spanning, and leader behavior. To illustrate how these factors facilitate or hinder psychologically safe communication and teamwork in cancer care, we review the case of a patient as she experiences the treatment-planning process for early-stage breast cancer in a community setting. Our analysis is summarized in a key principle: Teamwork in cancer care requires high-quality communication, which depends on psychological safety for all team members, clinicians and patients alike. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of psychological safety in clinical care and suggestions for future research.

Managing design with the effective use of communication media : the relationship between design dialogues and design team meetings

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Emmitt, S.; Otter, den A.F.H.J.

2007-01-01

Effective and efficient design team communication is an essential component of architectural design and construction projects. Face-to-face communication, via meetings and dialogue, is an essential means for design team members to discuss and communicate design ideas. Meetings represent an important

[Team work and interdiciplinarity: challenges facing the implementation of comprehensive outpatient care for people with HIV/Aids in Pernambuco].

Science.gov (United States)

Borges, Maria Jucineide Lopes; Sampaio, Aletheia Soares; Gurgel, Idê Gomes Dantas

2012-01-01

The complexity of providing healthcare to people with HIV/Aids requires investment in comprehensive action and care, constituting a challenge for the multidisciplinary work teams to build an interdisciplinary practice. This study sought to analyze comprehensive healthcare in the Specialized Assistance Services for HIV/Aids (SAE-HIV/Aids) in Recife, in the State of Pernambuco, starting with the process and organization of team work. This is a case study developed in three SAE-HIV/Aids units, based on a qualitative approach using different research techniques. The results show that SAE-HIV/Aids have complied with most of the Brazilian Health Ministry recommendations in terms of basic infrastructure, though none of them had a team of appropriate size. These services have shown signs of fragmentation and difficulty in establishing a systematic intersectorial and interdisciplinary practice, with failings in ensuring the reference and counter-reference flow. It was seen that there was little appreciation of the role of the manager as team leader. The need to perceive the user as a whole was identified, as well as for the team to work in a coordinated manner in order to ensure communicative and relational activities.

Building interdisciplinary leadership skills among health practitioners in the 21st century: an innovative training model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Preeti eNegandhi

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Transformational learning is the focus of 21st century global educational reforms. In India there is a need to amalgamate the skills and knowledge of medical, nursing and public health practitioners and to develop robust leadership competencies among them. This initiative proposed to identify interdisciplinary leadership competencies among Indian health practitioners, and to develop a training program for interdisciplinary leadership skills through an Innovation Collaborative. Medical, nursing and public health institutions partnered in this endeavour. An exhaustive literature search was undertaken to identify leadership competencies in these three professions. Published evidence was utilized in searching for the need for interdisciplinary training of health practitioners, including current scenarios in inter-professional health education and the key competencies required. The interdisciplinary leadership competencies identified were: self-awareness, vision, self-regulation, motivation, decisiveness, integrity, interpersonal communication skills, strategic planning, team-building, innovation and being an effective change agent. Subsequently, a training program was developed and three training sessions were piloted with 66 participants. Each cohort comprised of a mix of participants from different disciplines. The pilot training guided the development of a training model for building interdisciplinary leadership skills and organizing interdisciplinary leadership workshops. The need for interdisciplinary leadership competencies is recognized. The long-term objective of the training model is integration into the regular medical, nursing and public health curricula, with the aim of developing interdisciplinary leadership skills among them. Although challenging, formal incorporation of leadership skills into health professional education is possible within the interdisciplinary classroom setting using principles of transformative learning.

Building Interdisciplinary Leadership Skills among Health Practitioners in the Twenty-First Century: An Innovative Training Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Negandhi, Preeti; Negandhi, Himanshu; Tiwari, Ritika; Sharma, Kavya; Zodpey, Sanjay P; Quazi, Zahiruddin; Gaidhane, Abhay; Jayalakshmi N; Gijare, Meenakshi; Yeravdekar, Rajiv

2015-01-01

Transformational learning is the focus of twenty-first century global educational reforms. In India, there is a need to amalgamate the skills and knowledge of medical, nursing, and public health practitioners and to develop robust leadership competencies among them. This initiative proposed to identify interdisciplinary leadership competencies among Indian health practitioners and to develop a training program for interdisciplinary leadership skills through an Innovation Collaborative. Medical, nursing, and public health institutions partnered in this endeavor. An exhaustive literature search was undertaken to identify leadership competencies in these three professions. Published evidence was utilized in searching for the need for interdisciplinary training of health practitioners, including current scenarios in interprofessional health education and the key competencies required. The interdisciplinary leadership competencies identified were self-awareness, vision, self-regulation, motivation, decisiveness, integrity, interpersonal communication skills, strategic planning, team building, innovation, and being an effective change agent. Subsequently, a training program was developed, and three training sessions were piloted with 66 participants. Each cohort comprised a mix of participants from different disciplines. The pilot training guided the development of a training model for building interdisciplinary leadership skills and organizing interdisciplinary leadership workshops. The need for interdisciplinary leadership competencies is recognized. The long-term objective of the training model is integration into the regular medical, nursing, and public health curricula, with the aim of developing interdisciplinary leadership skills among them. Although challenging, formal incorporation of leadership skills into health professional education is possible within the interdisciplinary classroom setting using principles of transformative learning.

Communication that builds teams: assessing a nursing conflict intervention.

Science.gov (United States)

Nicotera, Anne Maydan; Mahon, Margaret M; Wright, Kevin B

2014-01-01

Quality communication is essential for building strong nursing teams. Structurational divergence (SD) theory explains how institutional factors can result in poor communication and conflict cycles; the theory has been developed in nursing context, although it is applicable to all organizational settings. We describe the design, implementation, and evaluation of an intervention to reduce SD and improve nurses' work life and team-member relationships. An intensive 9-hour course provided training in conflict/SD analysis and dialogic conflict/SD management to 36 working nurses from a variety of settings. Quantitative pre- and posttests were administered, with a comparison sample. The course reduced measures of negative conflict attitudes and behaviors: direct personalization, persecution feelings, negative relational effects, ambiguity intolerance, and triangulation (gossiping and complaining to uninvolved third parties). The course also increased important attitudes necessary for productive dialogue and conflict management: perceptions of positive relational effects, conflict liking, and positive beliefs about arguing. As compared with nonparticipants, participant posttests showed lower conflict persecution; higher recognition of positive relational effects; lower perceptions of negative relational effects; higher conflict liking; lower ambiguity intolerance; and lower tendency to triangulate. Qualitatively, participants perceived better understanding of, and felt more empowered to manage, workplace conflicts and to sustain healthier workplace relationships. This intervention can help nurses develop tools to improve system-level function and build productive team relationships.

How Communication Among Members of the Health Care Team Affects Maternal Morbidity and Mortality.

Science.gov (United States)

Brennan, Rita Allen; Keohane, Carol Ann

In the United States, rates of severe maternal morbidity and mortality have escalated in the past decade. Communication failure among members of the health care team is one associated factor that can be modified. Nurses can promote effective communication. We provide strategies that incorporate team training principles and structured communication processes for use by providers and health care systems to improve the quality and safety of patient care and reduce the incidence of maternal mortality and morbidity. Copyright © 2016 AWHONN, the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Insects: An Interdisciplinary Unit

Science.gov (United States)

Leger, Heather

2007-01-01

The author talks about an interdisciplinary unit on insects, and presents activities that can help students practice communication skills (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational) and learn about insects with hands-on activities.

Interdisciplinary approach to the management of medical supplies in the nursing home setting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Francisco Peris Martí

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Given the impact of pressure ulcers in institutionalized elderly people, an interdisciplinary approach to the care of ulcers and the management of medical supplies is essential. The aim of this study is to describe and evaluate the management of medical supplies by an interdisciplinary team in order to promote their rational use in the nursing home setting. Methods: An interdisciplinary team was set up, coordinated by a Pharmacy Unit including representatives of 18 elderly nursing homes (1,599 beds. Team interventions were assessed in terms of improvements in the management of wound care supplies. In addition, a retrospective descriptive study was carried out on those patients with pressure ulcers, in order to consider future interventions. Results: The team interventions led to a selection of 15% of the 180 wound care supplies from the public tender process. The monthly savings in wound dressing material purchases was at least 17%. Furthermore, a reduction in consumption greater than 50% was found in 7 centres. The prevalence of ulcers was 5.59%. A fourth of these ulcers were originated outside nursing homes. Conclusions: The creation of an interdisciplinary team, in which the pharmacist gets closer to patient needs, and where nurses share responsibility for the selection and management of medical supplies, leads to positive results and represents an opportunity for improvement in elderly care.

Patient Centeredness in Electronic Communication: Evaluation of Patient-to-Health Care Team Secure Messaging

Science.gov (United States)

Luger, Tana M; Volkman, Julie E; Rocheleau, Mary; Mueller, Nora; Barker, Anna M; Nazi, Kim M; Houston, Thomas K; Bokhour, Barbara G

2018-01-01

Background As information and communication technology is becoming more widely implemented across health care organizations, patient-provider email or asynchronous electronic secure messaging has the potential to support patient-centered communication. Within the medical home model of the Veterans Health Administration (VA), secure messaging is envisioned as a means to enhance access and strengthen the relationships between veterans and their health care team members. However, despite previous studies that have examined the content of electronic messages exchanged between patients and health care providers, less research has focused on the socioemotional aspects of the communication enacted through those messages. Objective Recognizing the potential of secure messaging to facilitate the goals of patient-centered care, the objectives of this analysis were to not only understand why patients and health care team members exchange secure messages but also to examine the socioemotional tone engendered in these messages. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional coding evaluation of a corpus of secure messages exchanged between patients and health care team members over 6 months at 8 VA facilities. We identified patients whose medical records showed secure messaging threads containing at least 2 messages and compiled a random sample of these threads. Drawing on previous literature regarding the analysis of asynchronous, patient-provider electronic communication, we developed a coding scheme comprising a series of a priori patient and health care team member codes. Three team members tested the scheme on a subset of the messages and then independently coded the sample of messaging threads. Results Of the 711 messages coded from the 384 messaging threads, 52.5% (373/711) were sent by patients and 47.5% (338/711) by health care team members. Patient and health care team member messages included logistical content (82.6%, 308/373 vs 89.1%, 301/338), were neutral in tone (70

Advancing MCH Interdisciplinary/Interprofessional Leadership Training and Practice Through a Learning Collaborative.

Science.gov (United States)

McHugh, Meaghan C; Margolis, Lewis H; Rosenberg, Angela; Humphreys, Elizabeth

2016-11-01

Purpose The Interdisciplinary Leadership Learning Collaborative (ILLC), under the sponsorship of AUCD and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, brought together six teams, composed of 14 MCHB and UCEDD training programs to enhance their leadership training. Description Using adult learning principles, interactive training methods, and skill-focused learning, the ILLC built upon the evidence-based Interdisciplinary Leadership Development Program of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The program began with a 4-day on-site intensive and then continued through monthly conference calls, a mid-term on-site workshop, and a summary virtual workshop to present programmatic accomplishments and share plans for sustainability. Coaching/consultation for the teams around particular challenges was also part of the program. Assessment All teams reported enhancements in intentional leadership training, threading of leadership concepts across clinical, didactic, and workshop settings, and new collaborative partnerships for leadership training. Teams also identified a number of strategies to increase sustainability of their intentional leadership training efforts. Conclusion for Practice The learning collaborative is a productive model to address the growing need for interdisciplinary MCH leaders.

Interdisciplinary Learning as a Basis for Formation of Intercultural Communicative Competence

Science.gov (United States)

Redchenko, Nadezhda N.

2016-01-01

An interdisciplinary approach provides many benefits that warrant the need for its use at technical universities teaching foreign language as an academic discipline. This article reviews recent Russian researches focused on interdisciplinary integration, summarizes advantages and proves overall high efficacy of the interdisciplinary approach to…

Virtual Teams and E-Collaboration Technology: A Case Study Investigating the Dynamics of Virtual Team Communication

Science.gov (United States)

Mattison, Theresa

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent the use of e-collaboration tools when used as a primary channel of communication affected virtual team members' trust and motivation, in a spatially dispersed environment. Structured interviews were conducted with 18 project managers, who were responsible for leading virtual projects…

A model-based framework for the analysis of team communication in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chung, Yun Hyung; Yoon, Wan Chul; Min, Daihwan

2009-01-01

Advanced human-machine interfaces are rapidly changing the interaction between humans and systems, with the level of abstraction of the presented information, the human task characteristics, and the modes of communication all affected. To accommodate the changes in the human/system co-working environment, an extended communication analysis framework is needed that can describe and relate the tasks, verbal exchanges, and information interface. This paper proposes an extended analytic framework, referred to as the H-H-S (human-human-system) communication analysis framework, which can model the changes in team communication that are emerging in these new working environments. The stage-specific decision-making model and analysis tool of the proposed framework make the analysis of team communication easier by providing visual clues. The usefulness of the proposed framework is demonstrated with an in-depth comparison of the characteristics of communication in the conventional and advanced main control rooms of nuclear power plants

The Influence of Tablet-Based Technology on the Development of Communication and Critical Thinking Skills: An Interdisciplinary Study

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Bagdasarov, Zhanna; Luo, Yupeng; Wu, Wei

2017-01-01

The purpose of this interdisciplinary study was to explore the impacts of tablet technology in a college classroom on students' perceptions of their own learning. Students were asked about oral, written, and graphical communication and critical thinking skills. Mid-semester and end-of-semester surveys were administered to tablet-enabled classes…

Spirituality and job satisfaction among hospice interdisciplinary team members.

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Leah; Leedy, Stephen; McDonald, Laurie; Muller, Barbara; Lamb, Cheryl; Mendez, Tracy; Kim, Sehwan; Schonwetter, Ronald

2007-12-01

As a continuing effort to enhance the quality of palliative care for the dying, this study examined (1) the prevalence of spirituality among hospice interdisciplinary team (IDT) members; (2) whether spirituality is related to job satisfaction; and (3) the structural path relationships among four variables: spiritual belief, integration of spirituality at work, self actualization and job satisfaction. The study surveyed 215 hospice IDT members who completed the Jarel Spiritual Well-Being Scale, the Chamiec-Case Spirituality Integration and Job Satisfaction Scales. Multiple regression and structural path modeling methods were applied to explain the path relationships involving all four variables. The IDT members surveyed were: nurses, 46.4%; home health aids, 24.9%; social workers, 17.4%; chaplains, 4.2%; physicians, 2.3%; and other, 4.8%. Ninety-eight percent of the respondents viewed themselves as having spiritual well-being. On a 0-100 scale, IDT staff reported high spiritual belief (mean = 89.4) and they were self-actualizing (mean = 82.6). Most reported high job satisfaction (mean = 79.3) and spiritual integration (mean = 67.9). In multiple regression, spirituality, integration and self-actualization explained 22% of the variation in job satisfaction (R = 0.48; adjusted R(2) = 0.218; df = 3,175; F = 17.2; p = 0.001). Structural path models revealed that job satisfaction is more likely to be realized by a model that transforms one's spirituality into processes of integrating spirituality at work and self actualization (chi(2) = 0.614; df = 1; p = 0.433) than a model that establishes a direct path from spirituality to job satisfaction (chi(2) = 1.65; df = 1; p = 0.199). Hospice IDT member's integration of their spirituality at work and greater self actualization significantly improve job satisfaction.

Practice-Based Interdisciplinary Approach and Environmental Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ranjan Kumar Datta

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Interdisciplinary researchers and educators, as community members, creators of knowledge, and environmental activists and practitioners, have a responsibility to build a bridge between community practice, academic scholarship, and professional contributions aimed at establishing environmental sustainability. In this paper, I focus on an undervalued area of environmental politics, practices, and often unarticulated assumptions which underlie human–environmental relations. This article challenges interdisciplinary studies that are not connected with practice by reconfiguring the meaning of a community-based, interdisciplinary approach. Drawing from works by Foucault, Latour, and Haraway, this paper first shows how to reconfigure the meaning of an interdisciplinary approach. Second, using Bourdieu and Brightman’s ethnographic studies as a framework, the paper situates practice as central to our efforts to deconstruct and replace current interdisciplinary initiatives with a practice-based approach. Through a practice-based interdisciplinary approach (PIA, environmental educators and researchers gain an awareness of and learn to make an investment in sustainable communities. As teams of environmental researchers practising in the local community, they are meaningfully involved with the community, with each other, and with the environment.

Catalyzing Interdisciplinary Research and Training: Initial Outcomes and Evolution of the Affinity Research Collaboratives Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Ravid, Katya; Seta, Francesca; Center, David; Waters, Gloria; Coleman, David

2017-10-01

Team science has been recognized as critical to solving increasingly complex biomedical problems and advancing discoveries in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of human disease. In 2009, the Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research (ECIBR) was established in the Department of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine as a new organizational paradigm to promote interdisciplinary team science. The ECIBR is made up of affinity research collaboratives (ARCs), consisting of investigators from different departments and disciplines who come together to study biomedical problems that are relevant to human disease and not under interdisciplinary investigation at the university. Importantly, research areas are identified by investigators according to their shared interests. ARC proposals are evaluated by a peer review process, and collaboratives are funded annually for up to three years.Initial outcomes of the first 12 ARCs show the value of this model in fostering successful biomedical collaborations that lead to publications, extramural grants, research networking, and training. The most successful ARCs have been developed into more sustainable organizational entities, including centers, research cores, translational research projects, and training programs.To further expand team science at Boston University, the Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Office was established in 2015 to more fully engage the entire university, not just the medical campus, in interdisciplinary research using the ARC mechanism. This approach to promoting team science may be useful to other academic organizations seeking to expand interdisciplinary research at their institutions.

The Role of Interpersonal Relations in Healthcare Team Communication and Patient Safety: A Proposed Model of Interpersonal Process in Teamwork.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Charlotte Tsz-Sum; Doran, Diane Marie

2017-06-01

Patient safety is compromised by medical errors and adverse events related to miscommunications among healthcare providers. Communication among healthcare providers is affected by human factors, such as interpersonal relations. Yet, discussions of interpersonal relations and communication are lacking in healthcare team literature. This paper proposes a theoretical framework that explains how interpersonal relations among healthcare team members affect communication and team performance, such as patient safety. We synthesized studies from health and social science disciplines to construct a theoretical framework that explicates the links among these constructs. From our synthesis, we identified two relevant theories: framework on interpersonal processes based on social relation model and the theory of relational coordination. The former involves three steps: perception, evaluation, and feedback; and the latter captures relational communicative behavior. We propose that manifestations of provider relations are embedded in the third step of the framework on interpersonal processes: feedback. Thus, varying team-member relationships lead to varying collaborative behavior, which affects patient-safety outcomes via a change in team communication. The proposed framework offers new perspectives for understanding how workplace relations affect healthcare team performance. The framework can be used by nurses, administrators, and educators to improve patient safety, team communication, or to resolve conflicts.

Does leader-affective presence influence communication of creative ideas within work teams?

Science.gov (United States)

Madrid, Hector P; Totterdell, Peter; Niven, Karen

2016-09-01

Affective presence is a novel, emotion-related personality trait, supported in experimental studies, concerning the extent to which a person makes his or her interaction partners feel the same way (Eisenkraft & Elfenbein, 2010). Applying this concept to an applied teamwork context, we proposed that team-leader-affective presence would influence team members' communication of creative ideas. Multilevel modeling analysis of data from a survey study conducted with teams from a consultancy firm confirmed that team-leader-affective presence interacted with team-member creative idea generation to predict inhibition of voicing their ideas. Specifically, withholding of ideas was less likely when team members generated creative ideas and their team leader had higher positive affective presence or lower negative affective presence. These findings contribute to emotion research by showing affective presence as a trait with interpersonal meaning, which can shape how cognition is translated into social behavior in applied performance contexts, such as teamwork in organizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Patient Centeredness in Electronic Communication: Evaluation of Patient-to-Health Care Team Secure Messaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Hogan, Timothy P; Luger, Tana M; Volkman, Julie E; Rocheleau, Mary; Mueller, Nora; Barker, Anna M; Nazi, Kim M; Houston, Thomas K; Bokhour, Barbara G

2018-03-08

As information and communication technology is becoming more widely implemented across health care organizations, patient-provider email or asynchronous electronic secure messaging has the potential to support patient-centered communication. Within the medical home model of the Veterans Health Administration (VA), secure messaging is envisioned as a means to enhance access and strengthen the relationships between veterans and their health care team members. However, despite previous studies that have examined the content of electronic messages exchanged between patients and health care providers, less research has focused on the socioemotional aspects of the communication enacted through those messages. Recognizing the potential of secure messaging to facilitate the goals of patient-centered care, the objectives of this analysis were to not only understand why patients and health care team members exchange secure messages but also to examine the socioemotional tone engendered in these messages. We conducted a cross-sectional coding evaluation of a corpus of secure messages exchanged between patients and health care team members over 6 months at 8 VA facilities. We identified patients whose medical records showed secure messaging threads containing at least 2 messages and compiled a random sample of these threads. Drawing on previous literature regarding the analysis of asynchronous, patient-provider electronic communication, we developed a coding scheme comprising a series of a priori patient and health care team member codes. Three team members tested the scheme on a subset of the messages and then independently coded the sample of messaging threads. Of the 711 messages coded from the 384 messaging threads, 52.5% (373/711) were sent by patients and 47.5% (338/711) by health care team members. Patient and health care team member messages included logistical content (82.6%, 308/373 vs 89.1%, 301/338), were neutral in tone (70.2%, 262/373 vs 82.0%, 277/338), and

Explaining knowledge sharing: the role of team communication styles, job satisfaction and performance beliefs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van den Hooff, B.J.; de Vries, R.; de Ridder, J.

2006-01-01

In this study, the authors investigate the relationships between team communication styles and job-related cognitions on one hand and knowledge-sharing attitudes and behaviors on the other using 424 members of different work-related teams. Both eagerness and willingness to share are positively

Explaining knowledge sharing: The role of team communication styles, job satisfaction, and performance beliefs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Vries, R.E.; van den Hooff, B.J.; de Ridder, J.A.

2006-01-01

In this study, the authors investigate the relationships between team communication styles and job-related cognitions on one hand and knowledge-sharing attitudes and behaviors on the other using 424 members of different work-related teams. Both eagerness and willingness to share are positively

Designing Interdisciplinary Assessments in Sciences for College Students: An Example on Osmosis

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Ji; Liu, Ou Lydia; Sung, Shannon

2014-01-01

College science education needs to foster students' habit of mind beyond disciplinary constraints. However, little research has been devoted to assessing students' interdisciplinary understanding. To address this problem, we formed a team of experts from different disciplines to develop interdisciplinary assessments that target…

On the Criticality of Interdisciplinary Communications for Continued Scholarly Research, and the Potential Applicability of the Case Studies Methodology (Invited Paper

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeffrey A. Dunne

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Increasing the prevalence and effectiveness of interdisciplinary communication/collaboration is not a simple matter, but has significant benefits to offer. Ironically, one of the greatest challenges, namely the diversity in perspectives and contributor nature, provides one of its most significant payoffs. Diversity in backgrounds, skills, knowledge, and approaches promotes ingenuity and creativity, and is a powerful source of innovation. But perhaps more importantly, effective interdisciplinary collaboration is essential for applying forefront research to the most challenging societal problems. This reflection paper describes a line of reasoning for why effective interdisciplinary collaboration skills have emerged as an essential, and yet largely neglected, requirement for maintaining the development and relevance of scholarly research. It outlines challenges that must be overcome in meeting this requirement, important factors for addressing those challenges, and concludes by discussing the applicability of the case methodology, as introduced at the 2014 International Multi-Conference on Complexity, Informatics and Cybernetics, as a mechanism for training people to become effective participants in interdisciplinary endeavors.

Research and Teaching: Toward Interdisciplinary Perspectives--Using Osmotic Pressure as an Example for Analyzing Textbook Explanations

Science.gov (United States)

Sung, Shannon; Shen, Ji; Stanger-Hall, Kathrin F.; Wiegert, Craig; Li, Wan-l; Brown, Scott; Robertson, Tom

2015-01-01

Despite the increasing interests and practices in interdisciplinary science education, little research has been documented to develop effective assessments targeting students' interdisciplinary learning. In response to this gap, a team of scientists and educators developed an interdisciplinary assessment instrument targeting osmosis, which was…

A Project Team: a Team or Just a Group?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kateřina

2014-06-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with issues related to work in either teams or groups. The theoretical part discusses a team and a group with regards to its definition, classification and basic distinction, brings in more on the typology of team roles, personality assessment and sociometric methods. The analytical part tests the project (work team of a medical center represented in terms of personality and motivational types, team roles and interpersonal team relations concerning the willingness of cooperation and communication. The main objective of this work is to verify the validity of the assumptions that the analyzed team represents a very disparate group as for its composition from the perspective of personality types, types of motivation, team roles and interpersonal relations in terms of the willingness of cooperation and communication. A separate output shall focus on sociometric investigation of those team members where willingness to work together and communicate is based on the authors’ assumption of tight interdependence.

Using Network-Based Language Analysis to Bridge Expertise and Cultivate Sensitivity to Differentiated Language Use in Interdisciplinary Geoscience Research

Science.gov (United States)

Hannah, M. A.; Simeone, M.

2017-12-01

On interdisciplinary teams, expertise is varied, as is evidenced by differences in team members' language use. Developing strategies to combine that expertise and bridge differentiated language practices is especially difficult between geoscience subdisciplines as researchers assume they use a shared language—vocabulary, jargon, codes, linguistic styles. In our paper, we discuss a network-based approach used to identify varied expertise and language practices between geoscientists (n=29) on a NSF team funded to study how deep and surface Earth processes worked together to give rise to the Great Oxygenation Event. We describe how we modeled the team's expertise from a language corpus consisting of 220 oxygen-related terms frequently used by team members and then compared their understanding of the terms to develop interventions to bridge the team's expertise. Corpus terms were identified via team member interviews, observations of members' interactions at research meetings, and discourse analysis of members' publications. Comparisons of members' language use were based on a Likert scale survey that asked members to assess how they understood a term; how frequently they used a term; and whether they conceptualized a term as an object or process. Rather than use our method as a communication audit tool (Zwijze-Koning & de Jong, 2015), teams can proactively use it in a project's early stages to assess the contours of the team's differentiated expertise and show where specialized knowledge resides in the team, where latent or non-obvious expertise exists, where expertise overlaps, and where gaps are in the team's knowledge. With this information, teams can make evidence based recommendations to forward their work such as allocating resources; identifying and empowering members to serve as connectors and lead cross-functional project initiatives; and developing strategies to avoid communication barriers. The method also generates models for teaching language

Roles and challenges of the multidisciplinary team involved in prosthetic rehabilitation, in a rural district in South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ennion L

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Liezel Ennion, Anthea Rhoda Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Community and Health Sciences, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa Background: Major lower limb amputations result in a significant sense of loss, psychological stress, and decrease in function and overall quality of life for the amputee. The holistic, patient-centered prosthetic rehabilitation of an amputee requires input from a team of dedicated health professionals from different disciplines commonly referred to as a multidisciplinary team (MDT. MDT rehabilitation is considered crucial in the reintegration of the amputee into the community, as well as for providing psychological support after limb loss. Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary rehabilitation has been proven to be more successful than therapy provided by individual therapists in a number of different populations, regardless of the population studied. However, in most developing countries, there is a significant lack of multidisciplinary rehabilitation.Aim: To explore the roles and challenges of the members of the MDT involved in trans-tibial amputation rehabilitation in a rural community in South Africa (SA.Design: An explorative sequential qualitative descriptive study.Setting: A rural district in the KwaZulu Natal province in SA.Participants: Nine prosthetic users, three surgeons, three traditional healers, 17 therapists, four prosthetists, and four community health workers.Instruments for data collection: Semistructured interviews and focus group discussions.Results: The roles of the members of the MDT were clarified, and various members of the MDT highlighted specific challenges relating to their experiences and roles in the rehabilitation team. Lack of interdisciplinary rehabilitation and communication among team members, as well as lack of resources, and patient education negatively impact the rehabilitation of trans-tibial amputees.Conclusion: Aiming to address the limited resources

Primary care teams in Ireland: a qualitative mapping review of Irish grey and published literature.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Sullivan, M; Cullen, W; MacFarlane, A

2015-03-01

The Irish government published its primary care strategy, Primary Care: A New Direction in 2001. Progress with the implementation of Primary care teams is modest. The aim of this paper is to map the Irish grey literature and peer-reviewed publications to determine what research has been carried out in relation to primary care teams, the reform process and interdisciplinary working in primary care in Ireland. This scoping review employed three methods: a review of Web of Science, Medline and Embase databases, an email survey of researchers across academic institutions, the HSE and independent researchers and a review of Lenus and the Health Well repository. N = 123 outputs were identified. N = 14 were selected for inclusion. A thematic analysis was undertaken. Common themes identified were resources, GP participation, leadership, clarity regarding roles in primary care teams, skills and knowledge for primary care team working, communication and community. There is evidence of significant problems that disrupt team formation and functioning that warrants more comprehensive research.

Exercise physiologists: essential players in interdisciplinary teams for noncommunicable chronic disease management

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Soan EJ

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Esme J Soan,1–3 Steven J Street,1,2 Sharon M Brownie,3,4 Andrew P Hills1–31Mater Mothers' Hospital, South Brisbane, 2Mater Research Institute – University of Queensland, South Brisbane, 3Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia; 4Green Templeton College, Oxford University, Oxford, UKAbstract: Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus, are a growing public health challenge in Australia, accounting for a significant and increasing cost to the health care system. Management of these chronic conditions is aided by interprofessional practice, but models of care require updating to incorporate the latest evidence-based practice. Increasing research evidence reports the benefits of physical activity and exercise on health status and the risk of inactivity to chronic disease development, yet physical activity advice is often the least comprehensive component of care. An essential but as yet underutilized player in NCD prevention and management is the "accredited exercise physiologist," a specialist in the delivery of clinical exercise prescriptions for the prevention or management of chronic and complex conditions. In this article, the existing role of accredited exercise physiologists in interprofessional practice is examined, and an extension of their role proposed in primary health care settings.Keywords: interdisciplinary team, obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, exercise physiology, accredited exercise physiologist

Best practices and pearls in interdisciplinary mentoring from Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health Directors.

Science.gov (United States)

Guise, Jeanne-Marie; Nagel, Joan D; Regensteiner, Judith G

2012-11-01

Increasingly, national programs and leaders are looking at interdisciplinary collaborations as essential to future research. Twelve years ago, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) developed and implemented the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) K12 program to focus on interdisciplinary mentored career development for junior faculty in women's health research. We applied a mixed-methods approach using an electronic survey and in-person presentations and discussions to understand best practices and lessons learned for interdisciplinary mentoring across BIRCWH K12 program leaders. We received responses from all 29 active BIRCWH programs. Factors associated with success included ensuring sufficient protected time for regular (weekly or biweekly) mentoring; mentors promoting the research independence of the Scholar; a team mentoring approach, including career as well as content mentors; and explicit and clear expectations outlined between the Scholar and mentor. The majority of programs conduct formal evaluations of mentorship, and 79% of programs offer training in mentorship for either Scholars, mentors, or both. This article presents program leaders' best practices, challenges, and lessons learned from mentoring junior faculty who are conducting women's health research, whether basic, clinical, behavioral, translational, or health services research, using an interdisciplinary mentoring approach.

The role of architect in interdisciplinary collaborative design studios

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anja Jutraž

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Architectural design is a complex process involving different actors. While studying architecture, students usually work alone, and they do not have many opportunities to collaborate with other professions. Consequently, they end up lacking the knowledge regarding other professions, as well as regarding communic42ation and collaboration with other professionals. They become too proud of themselves, which eventually prevents them from engaging in active collaboration and accepting compromises. Furthermore, it is essential for their future professional careers that architects collaborate with other professions, adopt their ideas and requirements. Such collaboration is recommended from the early stages of the design process onwards. The main focus of this article is to determine the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in architecture projects through the process of studying architecture, the role of the architect within this process, and the manner in which decisions are usually made within an interdisciplinary team. The following research is based on the AEC Global Teamwork Course, which took place during school years 2011/2012, 2012/2013 and 2013/2014, 2013 at Stanford University under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Renate Fruchter. Students from all around the world worked together on an architectural project from its initial stages. They met twice only: at the beginning and at the end of the project, otherwise they worked on a virtual basis, using different digital tools intended for long-distance interdisciplinary collaboration. There were three case studies examined for the purposes of this article in which the main focus was placed on architects, more specifically on the challenges and the problems they were facing, the knowledge architects gained through interdisciplinary collaboration, and lessons learned in such a course that could help them with their professional careers.

Interdisciplinary SBME : a case study in development of B-SBME

OpenAIRE

Shahoumian, Armineh; Parchoma, Gale; Saunders, Murray; Hanson, Jacky; Dickinson, Mike; Pimblett, Mark

2013-01-01

This study examines interdisciplinary practices in the development a blended learning approach to Simulation Based Medical Education (B-SBME). The project team included an emergency medicine consultant, two health care professionals/simulation facilitators, an educational researcher, and an educational research student. The terms, multi- and inter-disciplinary, are often used interchangeably. Whilst in multi-disciplinary projects members of different disciplines “work together on a joint proj...

Determining the need for team-based training in delirium management: A needs assessment of surgical healthcare professionals.

Science.gov (United States)

Sockalingam, Sanjeev; Tehrani, Hedieh; Kacikanis, Anna; Tan, Adrienne; Hawa, Raed; Anderson, Ruthie; Okrainec, Allan; Abbey, Susan

2015-01-01

The high incidence of delirium in surgical units is a serious quality concern, given its impact on morbidity and mortality. While successful delirium management depends upon interdisciplinary care, training needs for surgical teams have not been studied. A needs assessment of surgical units was conducted to determine perceived comfort in managing delirium, and interprofessional training needs for team-based care. We administered a survey to 106 General Surgery healthcare professionals (69% response rate) with a focus on attitudes towards delirium and team management. Although most respondents identified delirium as important to patient outcomes, only 61% of healthcare professionals indicated that a team-based approach was always observed in practice. Less than half had a clear understanding of their role in delirium care, while just over half observed team communication of delirium care plans during handover. This is the first observation of clear gaps in perceived team performance in a General Surgery setting.

Tethered Balloon Technology in Design Solutions for Rescue and Relief Team Emergency Communication Services.

Science.gov (United States)

Alsamhi, Saeed Hamood; Ansari, Mohd Samar; Ma, Ou; Almalki, Faris; Gupta, Sachin Kumar

2018-05-23

The actions taken at the initial times of a disaster are critical. Catastrophe occurs because of terrorist acts or natural hazards which have the potential to disrupt the infrastructure of wireless communication networks. Therefore, essential emergency functions such as search, rescue, and recovery operations during a catastrophic event will be disabled. We propose tethered balloon technology to provide efficient emergency communication services and reduce casualty mortality and morbidity for disaster recovery. The tethered balloon is an actively developed research area and a simple solution to support the performance, facilities, and services of emergency medical communication. The most critical requirement for rescue and relief teams is having a higher quality of communication services which enables them to save people's lives. Using our proposed technology, it has been reported that the performance of rescue and relief teams significantly improved. OPNET Modeler 14.5 is used for a network simulated with the help of ad hoc tools (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;page 1 of 8).

A conceptual framework to study the role of communication through social software for coordination in globally-distributed software teams

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Giuffrida, Rosalba; Dittrich, Yvonne

2015-01-01

Background In Global Software Development (GSD) the lack of face-to-face communication is a major challenge and effective computer-mediated practices are necessary to mitigate the effect of physical distance. Communication through Social Software (SoSo) supports team coordination, helping to deal...... with geographical distance; however, in Software Engineering literature, there is a lack of suitable theoretical concepts to analyze and describe everyday practices of globally-distributed software development teams and to study the role of communication through SoSo. Objective The paper proposes a theoretical...... framework for analyzing how communicative and coordinative practices are constituted and maintained in globally-distributed teams. Method The framework is based on the concepts of communicative genres and coordination mechanisms; it is motivated and explicated through examples from two qualitative empirical...

Co-producing knowledge through dialogue in an interdisciplinary team in “person-centred” care for people with dementia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Phillips, Louise Jane

to residents with dementia. Drawing on Bakhtinian dialogic communication theory, an empirical analysis is presented of how knowledge is co-produced collaboratively in team case meetings. The focus is on the shifting relations between different voices, articulating different knowledge forms and professional...... identities, and on the relational construction of ”person-centred care” and the collective identity of the team in opposition to the practices and identities of residential care workers and relatives of residents. In conclusion, the paper discusses the implications of the empirical results in relation...

[Interdisciplinary teamwork in the OR: Identification and measurement of teamwork in the operating room].

Science.gov (United States)

Passauer-Baierl, Stefanie; Baschnegger, Heiko; Bruns, Christiane; Weigl, Matthias

2014-01-01

Effective teamwork is one of the essentials in conducting successful and safe surgical procedures in the operating theatre (OT). The present paper aims to provide a selective review of various approaches describing effective interdisciplinary teamwork in the OT. Furthermore, it covers observational methods to assess OT teamwork with particular focus on Germany. Our definition of successful surgical teamwork is based on an already established classification system considering five criteria for effective and safe OT teams: coordination, communication, cooperation, leadership, and team monitoring. Well-defined and reliable measures are necessary to examine the quality of OT teamwork. Those methods should entail the special characteristics of the OT team. They should include all phases of the surgical procedure and incorporate all the professions involved (surgeons, surgical nurses, and anaesthetic staff). We conclude that research into methods for the assessment of OTs in Germany needs to be undertaken as a prerequisite to investigating the relationship between OT teamwork and its effects on patient safety and surgical quality. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

An interdisciplinary visual team in an acute and sub-acute stroke unit: Providing assessment and early rehabilitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Norup, Anne; Guldberg, Anne-Mette; Friis, Claus Radmer; Deurell, Eva Maria; Forchhammer, Hysse Birgitte

2016-07-15

To describe the work of an interdisciplinary visual team in a stroke unit providing early identification and assessment of patients with visual symptoms, and secondly to investigate frequency, type of visual deficits after stroke and self-evaluated impact on everyday life after stroke. For a period of three months, all stroke patients with visual or visuo-attentional deficits were registered, and data concerning etiology, severity and localization of the stroke and initial visual symptoms were registered. One month after discharge patients were contacted for follow-up. Of 349 acute stroke admissions, 84 (24.1%) had visual or visuo-attentional deficits initially. Of these 84 patients, informed consent was obtained from 22 patients with a mean age of 67.7 years(SD 10.1), and the majority was female (59.1%). Based on the initial neurological examination, 45.4% had some kind of visual field defect, 27.2% had some kind of oculomotor nerve palsy, and about 31.8% had some kind of inattention or visual neglect. The patients were contacted for a phone-based follow-up one month after discharge, where 85.7% reported changes in their vision since their stroke. In this consecutive sample, a quarter of all stroke patients had visual or visuo-attentional deficits initially. This emphasizes how professionals should have increased awareness of the existence of such deficits after stroke in order to provide the necessary interdisciplinary assessment and rehabilitation.

Emotional Intelligence, Communication Competence, and Student Perceptions of Team Social Cohesion

Science.gov (United States)

Troth, Ashlea C.; Jordan, Peter J.; Lawrence, Sandra A.

2012-01-01

Students generally report poor experiences of group work in university settings. This study examines whether individual student perceptions of team social cohesion are determined by their level of emotional intelligence (EI) and whether this relationship is mediated by their communication skills. Business students (N = 273) completed the 16-item…

Development of a Pedagogical Model to Help Engineering Faculty Design Interdisciplinary Curricula

Science.gov (United States)

Navarro, Maria; Foutz, Timothy; Thompson, Sidney; Singer, Kerri Patrick

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to develop a model to help engineering faculty overcome the challenges they face when asked to design and implement interdisciplinary curricula. Researchers at a U.S. University worked with an Interdisciplinary Consultant Team and prepared a steering document with Guiding Principles and Essential Elements for the…

Students' Perception of Interdisciplinary, Problem-Based Learning in a Food Biotechnology Course

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Betsy L. L.; Yap, Kueh C.; Hoh, Yin K.

2011-01-01

Abstract: Students' perception of 8 criteria (rationale of the problem; interdisciplinary learning; facilitator asked essential questions; learner's skills; assessments; facilitation procedures; team's use of resources [team collaboration], and facilitator within a problem-based learning context) were assessed for a food biotechnology course that…

Team Research at the Biology-Mathematics Interface: Project Management Perspectives

Science.gov (United States)

Milton, John G.; Radunskaya, Ami E.; Lee, Arthur H.; de Pillis, Lisette G.; Bartlett, Diana F.

2010-01-01

The success of interdisciplinary research teams depends largely upon skills related to team performance. We evaluated student and team performance for undergraduate biology and mathematics students who participated in summer research projects conducted in off-campus laboratories. The student teams were composed of a student with a mathematics…

[Communication in the Family Health Program: the health agent as an integrating link between the team and the community].

Science.gov (United States)

Cardoso, Andréia dos Santos; Nascimento, Marilene Cabral do

2010-06-01

This study is part of the project Evaluation of the Family Health Strategy in Rio de Janeiro, developed at Estácio de Sá University with support of the National Advice of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). The study aimed to identify and analyze the perception of the health communitarian agents (HCA) about their main interlocutors, the impact of these interlocutors and the predominant communication forms in their work process. It is a descriptive study, with a qualitative approach, based on theoretical-methodological categories of the popular education and the symbolic market communication model. The data was collected in four teams of the Family Health Program. The results show the communication maps elaborated with the HCA which identifies the group of technical support, the technician team, the HCA themselves and the old inhabitants of the community as their main interlocutors. The communication with the other professionals of the team is acknowledged in a predominantly verticalized way with authoritarianism traces. The results highlight the importance of extending the dialogue and negotiation in the established communication within the team and with the community.

Identifying Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration in Instructional Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Yonjoo

2017-01-01

Interdisciplinarity is defined as communication and collaboration across academic disciplines. The instructional technology (IT) field has claimed to have an interdisciplinary nature influenced by neighboring fields such as psychology, communication, and management. However, it has been difficult to find outstanding evidence of the field's…

In the Loop: The Organization of Team-Based Communication in a Patient-Centered Clinical Collaboration System.

Science.gov (United States)

Kurahashi, Allison M; Weinstein, Peter B; Jamieson, Trevor; Stinson, Jennifer N; Cafazzo, Joseph A; Lokuge, Bhadra; Morita, Plinio P; Cohen, Eyal; Rapoport, Adam; Bezjak, Andrea; Husain, Amna

2016-03-24

We describe the development and evaluation of a secure Web-based system for the purpose of collaborative care called Loop. Loop assembles the team of care with the patient as an integral member of the team in a secure space. The objectives of this paper are to present the iterative design of the separate views for health care providers (HCPs) within each patient's secure space and examine patients', caregivers', and HCPs' perspectives on this separate view for HCP-only communication. The overall research program includes cycles of ethnography, prototyping, usability testing, and pilot testing. This paper describes the usability testing phase that directly informed development. A descriptive qualitative approach was used to analyze participant perspectives that emerged during usability testing. During usability testing, we sampled 89 participants from three user groups: 23 patients, 19 caregivers, and 47 HCPs. Almost all perspectives from the three user groups supported the need for an HCP-only communication view. In an earlier prototype, the visual presentation caused confusion among HCPs when reading and composing messages about whether a message was visible to the patient. Usability testing guided us to design a more deliberate distinction between posting in the Patient and Team view and the Health Care Provider Only view at the time of composing a message, which once posted is distinguished by an icon. The team made a decision to incorporate an HCP-only communication view based on findings during earlier phases of work. During usability testing we tested the separate communication views, and all groups supported this partition. We spent considerable effort designing the partition; however, preliminary findings from the next phase of evaluation, pilot testing, show that the Patient and Team communication is predominantly being used. This demonstrates the importance of a subsequent phase of the clinical trial of Loop to validate the concept and design.

Silence in Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verouden, Nick W.; Sanden, van der Maarten C.A.; Aarts, Noelle

2016-01-01

Solving publicly important issues asks for the development of socio-technical approaches, which demands collaboration between researchers with different perspectives, values, and interests. In these complex interdisciplinary collaborations, the course of communication is of utmost importance,

[Multiprofessional family-system training programme in psychiatry--effects on team cooperation and staff strain].

Science.gov (United States)

Zwack, Julika; Schweitzer, Jochen

2008-01-01

How does the interdisciplinary cooperation of psychiatric staff members change after a multiprofessional family systems training programme? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 49 staff members. Quantitative questionnaires were used to assess burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory, MBI) and team climate (Team-Klima-Inventar, TKI). The multiprofessional training intensifies interdisciplinary cooperation. It results in an increased appreciation of the nurses involved and in a redistribution of therapeutic tasks between nurses, psychologists and physicians. Staff burnout decreased during the research period, while task orientation and participative security within teams increased. The multiprofessional family systems training appears suitable to improve quality of patient care and interdisciplinary cooperation and to reduce staff burnout.

Participation in interdisciplinary meetings on genetic diagnostics (NGS)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koole, Tom; van Burgsteden, Lotte; Harms, Paulien; van Diemen, Cleo C; van Langen, Irene M

2017-01-01

Diagnostics using next generation sequencing (NGS) requires high-quality interdisciplinary collaboration. In order to gain insight into this crucial collaborative process, we made video recordings of a new multidisciplinary team at work in the clinical genetics department of the University Medical

Using an interdisciplinary MOOC to teach climate science and science communication to a global classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, J.

2016-12-01

MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are a powerful tool, making educational content available to a large and diverse audience. The MOOC "Making Sense of Climate Science Denial" applied science communication principles derived from cognitive psychology and misconception-based learning in the design of video lectures covering many aspects of climate change. As well as teaching fundamental climate science, the course also presented psychological research into climate science denial, teaching students the most effective techniques for responding to misinformation. A number of enrolled students were secondary and tertiary educators, who adopted the course content in their own classes as well as adapted their teaching techniques based on the science communication principles presented in the lectures. I will outline how we integrated cognitive psychology, educational research and climate science in an interdisciplinary online course that has had over 25,000 enrolments from over 160 countries.

Research design: the methodology for interdisciplinary research framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Tobi, Hilde; Kampen, Jarl K

2018-01-01

Many of today's global scientific challenges require the joint involvement of researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds (social sciences, environmental sciences, climatology, medicine, etc.). Such interdisciplinary research teams face many challenges resulting from differences in training and scientific culture. Interdisciplinary education programs are required to train truly interdisciplinary scientists with respect to the critical factor skills and competences. For that purpose this paper presents the Methodology for Interdisciplinary Research (MIR) framework. The MIR framework was developed to help cross disciplinary borders, especially those between the natural sciences and the social sciences. The framework has been specifically constructed to facilitate the design of interdisciplinary scientific research, and can be applied in an educational program, as a reference for monitoring the phases of interdisciplinary research, and as a tool to design such research in a process approach. It is suitable for research projects of different sizes and levels of complexity, and it allows for a range of methods' combinations (case study, mixed methods, etc.). The different phases of designing interdisciplinary research in the MIR framework are described and illustrated by real-life applications in teaching and research. We further discuss the framework's utility in research design in landscape architecture, mixed methods research, and provide an outlook to the framework's potential in inclusive interdisciplinary research, and last but not least, research integrity.

Summary of Research 1997, Interdisciplinary Academic Groups

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Boger, Dan

1999-01-01

This report contains information of research projects in the interdisciplinary groups, Command, Control, and Communications Academic Group, Information Warfare Academic Group, Space Systems Academic...

Building the occupational health team: keys to successful interdisciplinary collaboration.

Science.gov (United States)

Wachs, Joy E

2005-04-01

Teamwork among occupational health and safety professionals, management, and employees is vital to solving today's complex problems cost-effectively. No single discipline can meet all the needs of workers and the workplace. However, teamwork can be time-consuming and difficult if attention is not given to the role of the team leader, the necessary skills of team members, and the importance of a supportive environment. Bringing team members together regularly to foster positive relationships and infuse them with the philosophy of strength in diversity is essential for teams to be sustained and work to be accomplished. By working in tandem, occupational health and safety professionals can become the model team in business and industry delivering on their promise of a safe and healthy workplace for America's work force.

A team approach in palliative care: enhancing outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Schrader, Susan L; Horner, Arlene; Eidsness, LuAnn; Young, Sandy; Wright, Chris; Robinson, Michael

2002-07-01

While most Americans envision a "good death" as one occurring quickly and painlessly at home surrounded by loved ones, many people do not die in this fashion. Palliative care focuses on holistic treatment of patients whose disease is not responsive to curative treatment, and strives to improve quality of life for patients and families at end-of-life (EOL). This hospital-based study examines the extent to which a palliative care consultant team makes a difference in EOL for patients and families. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 50 hospitalized patients referred to an interdisciplinary palliative care consulting team at a South Dakota tertiary hospital during 2001. Various palliative care interventions were introduced during the course of hospitalization, and data were collected two days later to see if quality of life had improved. Statistically significant improvements were found in pain levels, non-pain symptom management, numerous psychosocial measures of quality of life, change in code status, and perceptions of communication and treatment during hospitalization. The study demonstrates that consultations with a palliative care team are beneficial and enhance the EOL experience for patients and families.

An Honors Interdisciplinary Community-Based Research Course

Science.gov (United States)

Dunbar, David; Terlecki, Melissa; Watterson, Nancy; Ratmansky, Lisa

2013-01-01

This article describes how two faculty members at Cabrini College--one from biology and the other from psychology--incorporated interdisciplinary community-based research in an honors course on environmental watershed issues. The course, Environmental Psychology, was team-taught in partnership with a local watershed organization, the Valley Creek…

Development and Initial Validation of the Caregiver Perceptions About Communication With Clinical Team Members (CAPACITY) Measure.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Houtven, Courtney Harold; Miller, Katherine E M; O'Brien, Emily C; Wolff, Jennifer L; Lindquist, Jennifer; Kabat, Margaret; Campbell-Kotler, Margaret; Henius, Jennifer; Voils, Corrine I

2017-12-01

Despite the important role that family caregivers play managing the care of persons with complex health needs, little is known about how caregivers perceive themselves to be recognized and valued by health care professionals. Our objective was to develop and validate a novel measure, the CAregiver Perceptions About Commun Ication with Clinical Team members (CAPACITY) instrument. Questions focus on perceived quality of communication with the health care team and the extent to which caregivers believe that the health care team considers their capacity and preferences in decision making. A confirmatory factor analysis supported a two-factor solution addressing communication and capacity. Internal consistency reliability was .90 for the communication domain and .93 for the capacity domain. Correlations between these two subscales and individual difference measures provided evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. The CAPACITY instrument may be a useful performance measure that quantifies the extent to which caregivers' experience person- and family-centered health care.

Interdisciplinarity and Team Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Goodwin, William M.; LeBold, William K.

1975-01-01

Describes eight experimental courses in a series called the Man Series, instituted at Purdue University to improve the social dimensions of engineering education. Each course is team taught by engineering, humanities, and social science faculty members and is interdisciplinary in nature. (MLH)

PERCEPTION AND PERFORMANCE OF THE INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAM IN SERVING DRUG DEPENDENTS IN SPECIALIZED NETWORK OF MENTAL HEALTH SINOP, MATO GROSSO

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. V. C. Santos

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Chemical dependency is currently one of the most important public health problems in our country. The study deals with a quantitative and qualitative research, whose goal is to evaluate the perception and performance of the interdisciplinary team in serving drug dependents in specialized network of mental health Sinop, Mato Grosso. Applied a semi-structured questionnaire with objective and subjective questions with 11 professionals in health care at the Psychosocial Care Center (CAPS and Medical Specialties Center (EMC. The results reveal the importance of the preparation of these professionals to work in service to dependents and interdisciplinarity proved to be the best option to achieve a dignified and humane care

Measurement properties and implementation of a checklist to assess leadership skills during interdisciplinary rounds in the intensive care unit

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ten Have, Elsbeth C M; Nap, Raoul E; Tulleken, Jaap E

2015-01-01

The implementation of interdisciplinary teams in the intensive care unit (ICU) has focused attention on leadership behavior. A daily recurrent situation in ICUs in which both leadership behavior and interdisciplinary teamwork are integrated concerns the interdisciplinary rounds (IDRs). Although IDRs

Organizational Influences on Interdisciplinary Interactions during Research and Design of Large-Scale Complex Engineered Systems

Science.gov (United States)

McGowan, Anna-Maria R.; Seifert, Colleen M.; Papalambros, Panos Y.

2012-01-01

The design of large-scale complex engineered systems (LaCES) such as an aircraft is inherently interdisciplinary. Multiple engineering disciplines, drawing from a team of hundreds to thousands of engineers and scientists, are woven together throughout the research, development, and systems engineering processes to realize one system. Though research and development (R&D) is typically focused in single disciplines, the interdependencies involved in LaCES require interdisciplinary R&D efforts. This study investigates the interdisciplinary interactions that take place during the R&D and early conceptual design phases in the design of LaCES. Our theoretical framework is informed by both engineering practices and social science research on complex organizations. This paper provides preliminary perspective on some of the organizational influences on interdisciplinary interactions based on organization theory (specifically sensemaking), data from a survey of LaCES experts, and the authors experience in the research and design. The analysis reveals couplings between the engineered system and the organization that creates it. Survey respondents noted the importance of interdisciplinary interactions and their significant benefit to the engineered system, such as innovation and problem mitigation. Substantial obstacles to interdisciplinarity are uncovered beyond engineering that include communication and organizational challenges. Addressing these challenges may ultimately foster greater efficiencies in the design and development of LaCES and improved system performance by assisting with the collective integration of interdependent knowledge bases early in the R&D effort. This research suggests that organizational and human dynamics heavily influence and even constrain the engineering effort for large-scale complex systems.

Interprofessional communication in organ transplantation in Gauteng Province, South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harriet Rosanne Etheredge

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Background. Communication is essential to the transplant process, but it is challenging in South Africa (SA because of the complexity of the country and the health system, the nature of transplantation as a technical procedure with inherent psychological considerations, and the large number of professionals involved. Transplant communication has not been explored in SA, and this study was the first to use health communication methods to generate empirical evidence relating to it. Objective. To explore communication in transplant settings in Gauteng Province, SA. Methods. Qualitative methods were used to collect data across six hospitals and transplant centres in Gauteng. State and private institutions were equally represented. Health professionals and transplant co-ordinators participated. Thematic analysis of data was undertaken. Results. Facilitators of interprofessional transplant communication included appreciation of its importance to good practice and cohesive individual transplant teams. Barriers to interprofessional communication were observed when individual teams had to come together in a multi-team, interdisciplinary environment, when interchange became aggressive, and when information was not passed on to other health professionals timeously. These barriers had implications for continuity of care and ethics, which could lead to moral distress. Conclusion. Transplantation in Gauteng is characterised by aspects of good teamwork, and the importance of effective communication is acknowledged. Transplantation also faces some challenges in terms of interprofessional communication. Recommendations for mitigating some of the gaps include integrating a health communication specialist into the transplant process, ‘knotworking’, the use of apology, and an advance warning text-message system for transplant professionals.

The values underlying team decision-making in work rehabilitation for musculoskeletal disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Loisel, Patrick; Falardeau, Marlène; Baril, Raymond; José-Durand, Marie; Langley, Ann; Sauvé, Sandrine; Gervais, Julie

2005-05-20

This paper presents the results of a qualitative study on the values underlying the decision-making process of an interdisciplinary team working in a work rehabilitation facility of a Québec teaching hospital. In order to document the values underlying the decision-making process, a single case observational study was conducted. Interdisciplinary team weekly discussions on ongoing cases of 22 workers absent from work due to musculoskeletal disorders were videotaped. All discourses were transcribed and analyzed following an inductive and iterative approach. The values identified were validated by feedback from team members. Ten common decision values emerged from the data: (1) team unity and credibility, (2) collaboration with stakeholders, (3) worker's internal motivation, (4) worker's adherence to the program, (5) worker's reactivation, (6) single message, (7) reassurance, (8) graded intervention, (9) pain management and (10) return to work as a therapy. The analysis of these values led to the design of a model describing interrelations between them. This study throws light on some mechanisms underlying the decisions made by the team and determining its action. This improves understanding of the actions taken by an interdisciplinary team in work rehabilitation and may facilitate knowledge transfer in the training of other teams.

Rural interdisciplinary mental health team building via satellite: a demonstration project.

Science.gov (United States)

Cornish, Peter A; Church, Elizabeth; Callanan, Terrence; Bethune, Cheri; Robbins, Carl; Miller, Robert

2003-01-01

This paper reports on the results of a demonstration project that examined the role of telehealth/telemedicine (hereafter referred to as telehealth) in providing interdisciplinary mental health training and support to health professionals in a rural region of Atlantic Canada. Special emphasis was placed on addressing the question of how training might affect interdisciplinary collaboration among the rural health professionals. Five urban mental health professionals from three disciplines provided training and support via video-satellite and internet, print and video resources to 34 rural health and community professionals. In order to assess the rural community's needs and the impact of the interventions, questionnaires were administered and on-site interviews were conducted before and after the project. Throughout the project, field notes were recorded and satisfaction ratings were obtained. Satisfaction with the video-satellite presentations was high and stable, with the exception of one session when signal quality was very poor. Rural participants were most satisfied with opportunities for interaction and least satisfied with the variable quality of the video transmission signal. High staff turnover among rural professionals resulted in insufficient power to permit statistical analysis. Positive reports of the project impact included expanded knowledge and heightened sensitivity to mental health issues, increased cross-disciplinary connections, and greater cohesion among professionals. The results suggest that, with some refinements, telehealth technology can be used to facilitate mental health training and promote interdisciplinary collaboration among professionals in a rural setting.

A Method for Knowledge Management and Communication Within and Across Multidisciplinary Teams

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Don Flynn

2009-06-01

Full Text Available The use of knowledge management (KM and communication tools in an applied scientific arena where research is performed and knowledge must be managed within and across multidisciplinary teams and organizations is a challenge. Teams of scientists and engineers from up to 17 different technical specialties required knowledge management tools for developing multiple environmental impact statements under challenging circumstances. Factors that contributed to the success of the KM tools included 1 pairing of project staff with Knowledge Systems staff to determine system requirements, 2 the use of the tools by the team as they were being developed thus allowing many opportunities for feedback and interaction, 3 developing the tools to approximate the overall project structure and work flow already in place, 4 providing immediate assistance to the project team as they learned to use the new KM tools, and 5 replacing earlier practices with the new KM approach by "burning the bridges" to past practices after the team had learned to use the new KM tools.

Effects of time pressure and communication environment on team processes and outcomes in dyadic planning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kleij, R van der; Lijkwan, J.T.E..; Dreu, C.K.W. de

2009-01-01

An experiment compared dyadic performance in a radio communication and a more sophisticated communication environment to face-to-face (FtF) meetings. Thirty-six dyads, working under low or high time-pressure conditions, needed to combine information and to produce a written plan. Teams working in

Facebook as a tool for communication, collaboration, and informal knowledge exchange among members of a multisite family health team

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lofters AK

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Aisha K Lofters,1,2 Morgan B Slater,1 Emily Nicholas Angl,1 Fok-Han Leung1 1Department of Family and Community Medicine, 2Centre for Research on Inner City Health, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada Objective: To implement and evaluate a private Facebook group for members of a large Ontario multisite Family Health Team (FHT to facilitate improved communication and collaboration. Design: Program implementation and subsequent survey of team members. Setting: A large multisite FHT in Toronto, Ontario. Participants: Health professionals of the FHT. Main outcome measures: Usage patterns and self-reported perceptions of the Facebook group by team members. Results: At the time of the evaluation survey, the Facebook group had 43 members (37.4% of all FHT members. Activity in the group was never high, and posts by team members who were not among the researchers were infrequent throughout the study period. The content of posts fell into two broad categories: 1 information that might be useful to various team members and 2 questions posed by team members that others might be able to answer. Of the 26 team members (22.6% who completed the evaluation survey, many reported that they never logged into the Facebook page (16 respondents, and never used it to communicate with team members outside of their own site of practice (19 respondents. Only six respondents reported no concerns with using Facebook as a professional communication tool; the most frequent concerns were regarding personal and patient privacy. Conclusion: The use of social media by health care practitioners is becoming ubiquitous. However, the issues of privacy concerns and determining how to use social media without adding to provider workload must be addressed to make it a useful tool in health care. Keywords: social media, team-based care, communication, interprofessionalism, social network

Frequency and Form of Team Communication from the Perspective of Parents of Preschool Children with Disabilities: Implications for Diverse Families

Science.gov (United States)

Sheppard, Mary Erin

2017-01-01

Effective communication between parents of children with disabilities and other team members positively impacts family-school collaboration. Parents of children with special needs were asked how and how often they communicated with their children's preschool teams. The frequency of both formal and informal meetings varied tremendously. Parents…

FAA and NASA UTM Research Transition Team: Communications and Navigation (CN) Working Group (WCG) Kickoff Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Jaewoo; Larrow, Jarrett

2017-01-01

This is NASA FAA UTM Research Transition Team Communications and Navigation working group kick off meeting presentation that addresses the followings. Objectives overview Overall timeline and scope Outcomes and expectations Communication method and frequency of meetings Upcoming evaluation Next steps.

Managing Geographically Dispersed Teams: From Temporary to Permanent Global Virtual Teams

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svane Hansen, Tine; Hope, Alexander John; Moehler, Robert C.

2012-01-01

for organisations to move towards establishing permanent Global Virtual Teams in order to leverage knowledge sharing and cooperation across distance. To close this gap, this paper will set the scene for a research project investigating the changed preconditions for organisations. As daily face-to-face communication......The rise and spread of information communication technologies (ICT) has enabled increasing use of geographically dispersed work teams (Global Virtual Teams). Originally, Global Virtual Teams were mainly organised into temporary projects. Little research has focused on the emergent challenge...... generation of self-lead digital natives, who are already practising virtual relationships and a new approach to work, and currently joining the global workforce; and improved communication technologies. Keywords: Global Virtual teams, ICT, leadership, motivation, self-management, millenials....

City evacuations an interdisciplinary approach

CERN Document Server

Binner, Jane; Branicki, Layla; Galla, Tobias; Jones, Nick; King, James; Kolokitha, Magdalini; Smyrnakis, Michalis

2015-01-01

Evacuating a city is a complex problem that involves issues of governance, preparedness education, warning, information sharing, population dynamics, resilience and recovery. As natural and anthropogenic threats to cities grow, it is an increasingly pressing problem for policy makers and practitioners.   The book is the result of a unique interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers in the physical and social sciences to consider how an interdisciplinary approach can help plan for large scale evacuations.  It draws on perspectives from physics, mathematics, organisation theory, economics, sociology and education.  Importantly it goes beyond disciplinary boundaries and considers how interdisciplinary methods are necessary to approach a complex problem involving human actors and increasingly complex communications and transportation infrastructures.   Using real world case studies and modelling the book considers new approaches to evacuation dynamics.  It addresses questions of complexity, not only ...

Development of new taxonomy of inappropriate communication and its application to operating teams in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Ar Ryum; Lee, Seung Woo; Jang, In Seok; Kang, Hyun Gook; Seong, Poong Hyun; Park, Jin Kyun

2012-01-01

Inappropriate communications can cause a lack of necessary information exchange between operators and lead to serious consequences in large process systems such as nuclear power plants (NPPs). In this regard, various kinds of taxonomies of inappropriate communications have been developed to prevent inappropriate communications. However, there seems to be difficult to identify inappropriate communications from verbal protocol data between operators. Because the existing taxonomies were developed for use in report analysis, there is a problem of 'uncertainty'. In consequence, this paper proposes a new taxonomy of inappropriate communications and provides some insights to prevent inappropriate communications. In order to develop the taxonomy, existing taxonomies for four industries from 1980 to 2010 were collected and a new taxonomy is developed based on the simplified one-way communication model. In addition, the ratio of inappropriate communications from 8 samples of audio-visual format verbal protocol data recorded during emergency training sessions by operating teams is compared with performance scores calculated based on the task analysis. As a result, inappropriate communications can be easily identified from the verbal protocol data using the suggested taxonomy, and teams with a higher ratio of inappropriate communications tend to have a lower performance score.

Development of new taxonomy of inappropriate communication and its application to operating teams in nuclear power plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Ar Ryum; Lee, Seung Woo; Jang, In Seok; Kang, Hyun Gook; Seong, Poong Hyun [Dept. of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Park, Jin Kyun [Integrated Safety Assessment Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2012-12-15

Inappropriate communications can cause a lack of necessary information exchange between operators and lead to serious consequences in large process systems such as nuclear power plants (NPPs). In this regard, various kinds of taxonomies of inappropriate communications have been developed to prevent inappropriate communications. However, there seems to be difficult to identify inappropriate communications from verbal protocol data between operators. Because the existing taxonomies were developed for use in report analysis, there is a problem of 'uncertainty'. In consequence, this paper proposes a new taxonomy of inappropriate communications and provides some insights to prevent inappropriate communications. In order to develop the taxonomy, existing taxonomies for four industries from 1980 to 2010 were collected and a new taxonomy is developed based on the simplified one-way communication model. In addition, the ratio of inappropriate communications from 8 samples of audio-visual format verbal protocol data recorded during emergency training sessions by operating teams is compared with performance scores calculated based on the task analysis. As a result, inappropriate communications can be easily identified from the verbal protocol data using the suggested taxonomy, and teams with a higher ratio of inappropriate communications tend to have a lower performance score.

The innovative rehabilitation team: an experiment in team building.

Science.gov (United States)

Halstead, L S; Rintala, D H; Kanellos, M; Griffin, B; Higgins, L; Rheinecker, S; Whiteside, W; Healy, J E

1986-06-01

This article describes an effort by one rehabilitation team to create innovative approaches to team care in a medical rehabilitation hospital. The major arena for implementing change was the weekly patient rounds. We worked to increase patient involvement, developed a rounds coordinator role, used a structured format, and tried to integrate research findings into team decision making. Other innovations included use of a preadmission questionnaire, a discharge check list, and a rounds evaluation questionnaire. The impact of these changes was evaluated using the Group Environment Scale and by analyzing participation in rounds based on verbatim transcripts obtained prior to and 20 months after formation of the Innovative Rehabilitation Team (IRT). The results showed decreased participation by medical personnel during rounds, and increased participation by patients. The rounds coordinator role increased participation rates of staff from all disciplines and the group environment improved within the IRT. These data are compared with similar evaluations made of two other groups, which served as control teams. The problems inherent in making effective, lasting changes in interdisciplinary rehabilitation teams are reviewed, and a plea is made for other teams to explore additional ways to use the collective creativity and resources latent in the team membership.

Towards mutual understanding within interdisciplinary palaeoenvironmental research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Förster, F.; Großmann, R.; Hinz, M.

2013-01-01

The term landscape is a crucial term for a diversity of scientific disciplines researching the Quaternary, each of which maintains different concepts and definitions. With increasing interdisciplinary research cooperation between disparate disciplines, a basis for communication has to be establis......The term landscape is a crucial term for a diversity of scientific disciplines researching the Quaternary, each of which maintains different concepts and definitions. With increasing interdisciplinary research cooperation between disparate disciplines, a basis for communication has...... to be established. The aim of this paper is a) to survey an assortment of concepts and understandings of landscape within diverse disciplinary contexts and b) to explore the possibilities and usefulness of a common concept in an interdisciplinary palaeo-environmental research field, shared by scholars from...... the humanities and natural sciences alike. This comprises the disciplines art history, prehistoric archaeology, classical archaeology, ecology, geography, geology, and history. As a result, it can be stated that landscape is a cultural term: Landscapes are a cultural construct, and any landscape is the result...

Interdisciplinary medical, nursing, and administrator education in practice: the Johns Hopkins experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Walrath, Jo M; Muganlinskaya, Nailya; Shepherd, Megan; Awad, Michael; Reuland, Charles; Makary, Martin A; Kravet, Steven

2006-08-01

Reforming graduate medical, nursing and health administrators' education to include the core competencies of interdisciplinary teamwork and quality improvement (QI) techniques is a key strategy to improve quality in hospital settings. Practicing clinicians are best positioned in these settings to understand systems issues and craft potential solutions. The authors describe how, in ten months during 2004 and 2005 the school of medicine, the school of nursing, and an administrative residency program, all at Johns Hopkins University, implemented and evaluated the Achieving Competency Today II Program (ACT II), a structured and interdisciplinary approach to learning QI that was piloted at various sites around the United States. Six teams of learners participated, each consisting of a medical, nursing, and administrative resident. The importance of interdisciplinary participation in planning QI projects, the value of the patient's perspective on systems issues, and the value of a system's perspective in crafting solutions to issues all proved to be valuable lessons. Challenges were encountered throughout the program, such as (1) participants' difficulties in balancing competing academic, personal and clinical responsibilities, (2) difficulties in achieving the intended goals of a broad curriculum, (3) barriers to openly discussing interdisciplinary team process and dynamics, and (4) the need to develop faculty expertise in systems thinking and QI. In spite of these challenges steps have been identified to further enhance and develop interdisciplinary education within this academic setting.

[Investigation of team processes that enhance team performance in business organization].

Science.gov (United States)

Nawata, Kengo; Yamaguchi, Hiroyuki; Hatano, Toru; Aoshima, Mika

2015-02-01

Many researchers have suggested team processes that enhance team performance. However, past team process models were based on crew team, whose all team members perform an indivisible temporary task. These models may be inapplicable business teams, whose individual members perform middle- and long-term tasks assigned to individual members. This study modified the teamwork model of Dickinson and McIntyre (1997) and aimed to demonstrate a whole team process that enhances the performance of business teams. We surveyed five companies (member N = 1,400, team N = 161) and investigated team-level-processes. Results showed that there were two sides of team processes: "communication" and "collaboration to achieve a goal." Team processes in which communication enhanced collaboration improved team performance with regard to all aspects of the quantitative objective index (e.g., current income and number of sales), supervisor rating, and self-rating measurements. On the basis of these results, we discuss the entire process by which teamwork enhances team performance in business organizations.

Facebook as a tool for communication, collaboration, and informal knowledge exchange among members of a multisite family health team.

Science.gov (United States)

Lofters, Aisha K; Slater, Morgan B; Nicholas Angl, Emily; Leung, Fok-Han

2016-01-01

To implement and evaluate a private Facebook group for members of a large Ontario multisite Family Health Team (FHT) to facilitate improved communication and collaboration. Program implementation and subsequent survey of team members. A large multisite FHT in Toronto, Ontario. Health professionals of the FHT. Usage patterns and self-reported perceptions of the Facebook group by team members. At the time of the evaluation survey, the Facebook group had 43 members (37.4% of all FHT members). Activity in the group was never high, and posts by team members who were not among the researchers were infrequent throughout the study period. The content of posts fell into two broad categories: 1) information that might be useful to various team members and 2) questions posed by team members that others might be able to answer. Of the 26 team members (22.6%) who completed the evaluation survey, many reported that they never logged into the Facebook page (16 respondents), and never used it to communicate with team members outside of their own site of practice (19 respondents). Only six respondents reported no concerns with using Facebook as a professional communication tool; the most frequent concerns were regarding personal and patient privacy. The use of social media by health care practitioners is becoming ubiquitous. However, the issues of privacy concerns and determining how to use social media without adding to provider workload must be addressed to make it a useful tool in health care.

Interdisciplinary teamwork for the treatment of people with Parkinson's disease and their families.

Science.gov (United States)

Giladi, Nir; Manor, Yael; Hilel, Ariela; Gurevich, Tanya

2014-11-01

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic progressive neurodegenerative and multidimensional disease that involves a range of disabling motor and nonmotor symptoms. These symptoms can have a major impact on the quality of life of PD patients. The focus of this article is to stress the importance of the interdisciplinary team intervention approach in the treatment of patients with PD. The team approach uses experts in PD from different health care professions, including a neurologist, a nurse, a speech and language therapist, a physiotherapist, a social worker, a psychiatrist, an occupational therapist, a sexologist, and a dietician. The major aim of the team and of teamwork is to provide professional care in all motor and nonmotor aspects of PD throughout the course of the disease. There are different models of multidisciplinary teams: inpatient facility, community rehabilitation facility, and synchronized multiprofessional treatment in the community. The Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center model of interdisciplinary care was designed to create a coordinated multidisciplinary team in the Movement Disorders Unit. The role of each team member and their professional objective are described. Their collaboration is by design a promotion of a team goal for maintaining and enhancing the quality of life of PD patients and their families.

Trauma teams and time to early management during in situ trauma team training.

Science.gov (United States)

Härgestam, Maria; Lindkvist, Marie; Jacobsson, Maritha; Brulin, Christine; Hultin, Magnus

2016-01-29

To investigate the association between the time taken to make a decision to go to surgery and gender, ethnicity, years in profession, experience of trauma team training, experience of structured trauma courses and trauma in the trauma team, as well as use of closed-loop communication and leadership styles during trauma team training. In situ trauma team training. The patient simulator was preprogrammed to represent a severely injured patient (injury severity score: 25) suffering from hypovolemia due to external trauma. An emergency room in an urban Scandinavian level one trauma centre. A total of 96 participants were divided into 16 trauma teams. Each team consisted of six team members: one surgeon/emergency physician (designated team leader), one anaesthesiologist, one registered nurse anaesthetist, one registered nurse from the emergency department, one enrolled nurse from the emergency department and one enrolled nurse from the operating theatre. HRs with CIs (95% CI) for the time taken to make a decision to go to surgery was computed from a Cox proportional hazards model. Three variables remained significant in the final model. Closed-loop communication initiated by the team leader increased the chance of a decision to go to surgery (HR: 3.88; CI 1.02 to 14.69). Only 8 of the 16 teams made the decision to go to surgery within the timeframe of the trauma team training. Conversely, call-outs and closed-loop communication initiated by the team members significantly decreased the chance of a decision to go to surgery, (HR: 0.82; CI 0.71 to 0.96, and HR: 0.23; CI 0.08 to 0.71, respectively). Closed-loop communication initiated by the leader appears to be beneficial for teamwork. In contrast, a high number of call-outs and closed-loop communication initiated by team members might lead to a communication overload. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Building the team for team science

Science.gov (United States)

Read, Emily K.; O'Rourke, M.; Hong, G. S.; Hanson, P. C.; Winslow, Luke A.; Crowley, S.; Brewer, C. A.; Weathers, K. C.

2016-01-01

The ability to effectively exchange information and develop trusting, collaborative relationships across disciplinary boundaries is essential for 21st century scientists charged with solving complex and large-scale societal and environmental challenges, yet these communication skills are rarely taught. Here, we describe an adaptable training program designed to increase the capacity of scientists to engage in information exchange and relationship development in team science settings. A pilot of the program, developed by a leader in ecological network science, the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON), indicates that the training program resulted in improvement in early career scientists’ confidence in team-based network science collaborations within and outside of the program. Fellows in the program navigated human-network challenges, expanded communication skills, and improved their ability to build professional relationships, all in the context of producing collaborative scientific outcomes. Here, we describe the rationale for key communication training elements and provide evidence that such training is effective in building essential team science skills.

Cooperative Team Networks

Science.gov (United States)

2016-06-01

team processes, such as identifying motifs of dynamic communication exchanges which goes well beyond simple dyadic and triadic configurations; as well...new metrics and ways to formulate team processes, such as identifying motifs of dynamic communication exchanges which goes well beyond simple dyadic ...sensing, communication , information, and decision networks - Darryl Ahner (AFIT: Air Force Inst Tech) Panel Session: Mathematical Models of

Design and Implementation of an Interdisciplinary Marketing/Management Course on Technology and Innovation Management

Science.gov (United States)

Athaide, Gerard A.; Desai, Harsha B.

2005-01-01

Given increasing industry demand for integrative learning, marketing curricula need to emphasize interdisciplinary approaches to teaching. Although team teaching is a useful method for achieving cross-functional integration, there are very few frameworks for effectively implementing team teaching. Consequently, marketing educators seeking to offer…

Patient to Health Team Communications Preferences and Perceptions of Secure Messaging

Science.gov (United States)

2017-04-25

FROM: 59 MDW/SGYU SUBJECT: Professional Presentation Approval 18 APR 20 17 1. Your paper, entitled Patient to Health Team Communications Preferences...and Perceptions of Secure Messaging presented at/publi shed to 2017 Triscrvice Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Dissemination Course...pub I ication/presentation efforts. ~~l,USAf, BSC Director, C linical Investigatio ns & Research Support Warrior Medics - Mission Ready - Patient

Mathematics in Literature and Cinema: An Interdisciplinary Course

Science.gov (United States)

Chabrán, H. Rafael; Kozek, Mark

2016-01-01

We describe our team-taught, interdisciplinary course "Numb3rs in Lett3rs & Fi1ms: Mathematics in Literature and Cinema," which explores mathematics in the context of modern literature and cinema. Our goal with this course is to advance collaborations between mathematics and the written/theatre-based creative arts.

Improving the communication between teams managing boarded patients on a surgical specialty ward.

Science.gov (United States)

Puvaneswaralingam, Shobitha; Ross, Daniella

2016-01-01

Transferring patients from the ward of their specialty or consultant is described as boarding. 1 Boarding patients is becoming increasingly prevalent due to greater pressure on hospital capacity. This practice compromises patient safety through delayed investigations, prolonged hospital stays, and increased risk of hospital-acquired infections. 1 2 We evaluated how regularly boarded patients were reviewed, and how effectively information regarding their management was communicated from their primary specialty to ward staff. We aimed to improve the frequency of patient reviews by ensuring that each patient was reviewed every weekday and increase communication between primary specialty, and medical and nursing teams by 20% from baseline during the data collection period. The project was based in the Otolaryngology ward in Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, where there was a high prevalence of boarded patients. Baseline data showed a clear deficit in communication between the primary specialty and ward staff with only 31% of patient reviews being communicated to ward doctors. We designed and implemented a communication tool, in the form of a sticker, to be inserted into patients' medical notes for use by the primary specialty. Implementation of the sticker improved communication between teams as stickers were completed in 93% of instances. In 88% of patient reviews, the junior doctor was informed of the management plan, showing a large increase from baseline. Through PDSA cycles, we aimed to increase the sustainability and reliability of the sticker; however, we faced challenges with sustainability of sticker insertion. We aim to engage more stakeholders to raise awareness of the problem, brainstorm solutions together, and review the production and implementation of stickers with senior hospital management to discuss the potential use of this tool within practice. There is potentially a large scope for utilisation of this communication tool on a local level, which we hope

A web-based team-oriented medical error communication assessment tool: development, preliminary reliability, validity, and user ratings.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Sara; Brock, Doug; Prouty, Carolyn D; Odegard, Peggy Soule; Shannon, Sarah E; Robins, Lynne; Boggs, Jim G; Clark, Fiona J; Gallagher, Thomas

2011-01-01

Multiple-choice exams are not well suited for assessing communication skills. Standardized patient assessments are costly and patient and peer assessments are often biased. Web-based assessment using video content offers the possibility of reliable, valid, and cost-efficient means for measuring complex communication skills, including interprofessional communication. We report development of the Web-based Team-Oriented Medical Error Communication Assessment Tool, which uses videotaped cases for assessing skills in error disclosure and team communication. Steps in development included (a) defining communication behaviors, (b) creating scenarios, (c) developing scripts, (d) filming video with professional actors, and (e) writing assessment questions targeting team communication during planning and error disclosure. Using valid data from 78 participants in the intervention group, coefficient alpha estimates of internal consistency were calculated based on the Likert-scale questions and ranged from α=.79 to α=.89 for each set of 7 Likert-type discussion/planning items and from α=.70 to α=.86 for each set of 8 Likert-type disclosure items. The preliminary test-retest Pearson correlation based on the scores of the intervention group was r=.59 for discussion/planning and r=.25 for error disclosure sections, respectively. Content validity was established through reliance on empirically driven published principles of effective disclosure as well as integration of expert views across all aspects of the development process. In addition, data from 122 medicine and surgical physicians and nurses showed high ratings for video quality (4.3 of 5.0), acting (4.3), and case content (4.5). Web assessment of communication skills appears promising. Physicians and nurses across specialties respond favorably to the tool.

Interdisciplinary action of nurses to children with suspected sexual abuse

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lia Leão Ciuffo

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Objective. Understanding the role of nurses as members of interdisciplinary teams in the care of children with suspected sexual abuse. Methodology. This is a qualitative research based on the sociological phenomenology of Alfred Schutz. In 2008 were interviewed eleven nurses who worked in reference institutions for the care of child victims of sexual abuse in Rio de Janeiro. Results. The category called 'Interacting with other professionals in child care' emerged from the analysis of performance of professionals. The intersubjective relations between the nurses and the interdisciplinary team will enable to understand the intent of care from the perspective of social, emotional and psychological needs of children and their families. Conclusion. Interdisciplinarity favored the development of actions based on acceptance, listening and agreements on possible solutions in the care of children with suspected sexual abuse.

Amelogenesis imperfecta and the treatment plan - interdisciplinary team approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Suchancova, B; Holly, D; Janska, M; Stebel, J; Lysy, J; Thurzo, A; Sasinek, S

2014-01-01

Amelogenesis imperfecta is a set of hereditary defects representing mainly the development defects of enamel without the presence of whole-body symptoms. Developmental disorders can manifest a complete absence of enamel, which is caused by improper differentiation of ameloblasts. This article describes the diagnosis and treatment of a patient with amelogenesis imperfecta, as well as the need for interdisciplinary cooperation to achieve the best possible morphological, skeletal, functional and aesthetic rehabilitation of the patients with this diagnosis. Furthermore, the article reviews literature dealing with other anomalies occurring in association with amelogenesis imperfect (Fig. 12, Ref. 20).

Integration, Language, and Practice: Wittgenstein and Interdisciplinary Communication

Science.gov (United States)

Piso, Zachary

2015-01-01

The dominant account of interdisciplinary integration mobilizes linguistic metaphors such as bilingualism or the learning of new languages. While there is something right about these linguistic metaphors, I urge caution about philosophical confusions that can arise in the absence of careful scrutiny of how our language relates to the world.…

Better team management--better team care?

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Shelley, P; Powney, B

1994-01-01

Team building should not be a 'bolt-on' extra, it should be a well planned, integrated part of developing teams and assisting their leaders. When asked to facilitate team building by a group of NHS managers we developed a framework which enabled individual members of staff to become more effective in the way they communicated with each other, their teams and in turn within the organization. Facing the challenge posed by complex organizational changes, staff were able to use 3 training days to increase and develop their awareness of the principles of teamwork, better team management, and how a process of leadership and team building could help yield better patient care.

Transporting ideas between marine and social sciences: experiences from interdisciplinary research programs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lucy M. Turner

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The oceans comprise 70% of the surface area of our planet, contain some of the world’s richest natural resources and are one of the most significant drivers of global climate patterns. As the marine environment continues to increase in importance as both an essential resource reservoir and facilitator of global change, it is apparent that to find long-term sustainable solutions for our use of the sea and its resources and thus to engage in a sustainable blue economy, an integrated interdisciplinary approach is needed. As a result, interdisciplinary working is proliferating. We report here our experiences of forming interdisciplinary teams (marine ecologists, ecophysiologists, social scientists, environmental economists and environmental law specialists to answer questions pertaining to the effects of anthropogenic-driven global change on the sustainability of resource use from the marine environment, and thus to transport ideas outwards from disciplinary confines. We use a framework derived from the literature on interdisciplinarity to enable us to explore processes of knowledge integration in two ongoing research projects, based on analyses of the purpose, form and degree of knowledge integration within each project. These teams were initially focused around a graduate program, explicitly designed for interdisciplinary training across the natural and social sciences, at the Gothenburg Centre for Marine Research at the University of Gothenburg, thus allowing us to reflect on our own experiences within the context of other multi-national, interdisciplinary graduate training and associated research programs.

Interdisciplinary Roles of Professionals Involved in Mainstreaming Black Exceptional Students in the Mainstream of a Secondary School.

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Sarmiento, Kathleen; And Others

A Connecticut school's interdisciplinary team approach toward maintaining black handicapped students in the mainstream of a secondary school is described from the point of view of individual team members. The team consists of a social worker, a guidance counselor/psychologist, special education teacher, and reading specialist. The special…

Deploying Team Science Principles to Optimize Interdisciplinary Lung Cancer Care Delivery: Avoiding the Long and Winding Road to Optimal Care.

Science.gov (United States)

Osarogiagbon, Raymond U; Rodriguez, Hector P; Hicks, Danielle; Signore, Raymond S; Roark, Kristi; Kedia, Satish K; Ward, Kenneth D; Lathan, Christopher; Santarella, Scott; Gould, Michael K; Krasna, Mark J

2016-11-01

The complexity of lung cancer care mandates interaction between clinicians with different skill sets and practice cultures in the routine delivery of care. Using team science principles and a case-based approach, we exemplify the need for the development of real care teams for patients with lung cancer to foster coordination among the multiple specialists and staff engaged in routine care delivery. Achieving coordinated lung cancer care is a high-priority public health challenge because of the volume of patients, lethality of disease, and well-described disparities in quality and outcomes of care. Coordinating mechanisms need to be cultivated among different types of specialist physicians and care teams, with differing technical expertise and practice cultures, who have traditionally functioned more as coactively working groups than as real teams. Coordinating mechanisms, including shared mental models, high-quality communication, mutual trust, and mutual performance monitoring, highlight the challenge of achieving well-coordinated care and illustrate how team science principles can be used to improve quality and outcomes of lung cancer care. To develop the evidence base to support coordinated lung cancer care, research comparing the effectiveness of a diverse range of multidisciplinary care team approaches and interorganizational coordinating mechanisms should be promoted.

Convalescence care for seniors of lower Manhattan: an interdisciplinary outreach, rehabilitation, and education model.

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Moroz, Alex; Schoeb, Veronika; Fan, Grace; Vitale, Kenneth; Lee, Mathew

2004-03-01

The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of an interdisciplinary geriatric outreach, rehabilitation, and education program for seniors. Community-dwelling Chinese seniors in lower Manhattan were recruited through outreach activities (17 educational workshops, three community health fairs, media interviews) and community physician referrals to offer rehabilitation services. The instrument administered at entry and exit included questions about pain intensity, quality of life, activities of daily living (ADLs), and an assessment of a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic barriers to life participation. The sample included 70 seniors (53 women) with a mean age of 70.5 +/- 7.48 years (range 60-93 years old) of whom 86% were Cantonese-speaking Chinese. The barriers-to-life participation assessment revealed cultural, communication, transportation, and physical environmental barriers as well as insufficient financial resources. Thirty-four patients who completed the program showed a significant improvement in quality of life. Patients' reports reflected a high degree of satisfaction with the program. Interdisciplinary team-oriented patient care, including a physiatrist, social worker, and rehabilitation staff, may result in good outcomes and high patient satisfaction in ambulatory community seniors.

Honorary Authorship Practices in Environmental Science Teams: Structural and Cultural Factors and Solutions.

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Elliott, Kevin C; Settles, Isis H; Montgomery, Georgina M; Brassel, Sheila T; Cheruvelil, Kendra Spence; Soranno, Patricia A

2017-01-01

Overinclusive authorship practices such as honorary or guest authorship have been widely reported, and they appear to be exacerbated by the rise of large interdisciplinary collaborations that make authorship decisions particularly complex. Although many studies have reported on the frequency of honorary authorship and potential solutions to it, few have probed how the underlying dynamics of large interdisciplinary teams contribute to the problem. This article reports on a qualitative study of the authorship standards and practices of six National Science Foundation-funded interdisciplinary environmental science teams. Using interviews of the lead principal investigator and an early-career member on each team, our study explores the nature of honorary authorship practices as well as some of the motivating factors that may contribute to these practices. These factors include both structural elements (policies and procedures) and cultural elements (values and norms) that cross organizational boundaries. Therefore, we provide recommendations that address the intersection of these factors and that can be applied at multiple organizational levels.

Three Interdisciplinary Studies on IT Outsourcing

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Gantman, Sonia Vilvovsky

2012-01-01

This dissertation provides interdisciplinary insights into the role of client's internal collaborative experience in managing communication during a complex outsourced project, building a quality client-vendor relationship and ultimately achieving success in the project. Each of the three studies in this dissertation identifies a gap in…

Best Practices for Interdisciplinary Care Management by Hospital Glycemic Teams: Results of a Society of Hospital Medicine Survey Among 19 U.S. Hospitals

Science.gov (United States)

Magee, Michelle; Ramos, Pedro; Seley, Jane Jeffrie; Nolan, Ann; Kulasa, Kristen; Caudell, Kathryn Ann; Lamb, Aimee; MacIndoe, John; Maynard, Greg

2014-01-01

Abstract Objective. The Society for Hospital Medicine (SHM) conducted a survey of U.S. hospital systems to determine how nonphysician providers (NPPs) are utilized in interdisciplinary glucose management teams. Methods. An online survey grouped 50 questions into broad categories related to team functions. Queries addressed strategies that had proven successful, as well as challenges encountered. Fifty surveys were electronically distributed with an invitation to respond. A subset of seven respondents identified as having active glycemic committees that met at least every other month also participated in an in-depth telephone interview conducted by an SHM Glycemic Advisory Panel physician and NPP to obtain further details. The survey and interviews were conducted from May to July 2012. Results. Nineteen hospital/hospital system teams completed the survey (38% response rate). Most of the teams (52%) had existed for 1–5 years and served 90–100% of noncritical care, medical critical care, and surgical units. All of the glycemic control teams were supported by the use of protocols for insulin infusion, basal-bolus subcutaneous insulin orders, and hypoglycemia management. However, > 20% did not have protocols for discontinuation of oral hypoglycemic agents on admission or for transition from intravenous to subcutaneous insulin infusion. About 30% lacked protocols assessing A1C during the admission or providing guidance for insulin pump management. One-third reported that glycemic triggers led to preauthorized consultation or assumption of care for hyperglycemia. Institutional knowledge assessment programs were common for nurses (85%); intermediate for pharmacists, nutritionists, residents, and students (40–45%); and uncommon for fellows (25%) and attending physicians (20%). Many institutions were not monitoring appropriate use of insulin, oral agents, or insulin protocol utilization. Although the majority of teams had a process in place for post-discharge referrals

Wahlfach Teamarbeit: Ergebnisse eines Pilotprojektes zur interprofessionellen und interdisziplinären Ausbildung mit formativem Team-OSCE (TOSCE [Teamwork elective: Results of a German pilot project on interprofessional and interdisciplinary education with formative team OSCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Schmidt, Anita

2010-08-01

Full Text Available [english] Aims: There is a growing need to implement teamworking in medical education. In reality, interdisciplinary and interprofessional education is often absent. Here we describe a pilot trial developed jointly by the nursing college and the medical faculty in Erlangen (Germany in which nursing students and undergraduate medical students formed interprofessional teams and were confronted with interprofessional cases using simulated patients (SPs and phantoms. The elective was planned using standard curriculum planning instruments and finally evaluated with a novel formative team OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation instrument.Methods: During one year, 20 nursing students participated voluntarily in the project and 10 medical students took the course as an elective. Results: The pilot project was first performed with two tutors, one from the medical school and one from the nursing school, as well as one to two SPs. During the second course, there was only one tutor. Overall evaluation of the voluntary students was good, with some elements (acute stroke, factual knowledge, and general organizational problems that needed to be improved. Performance of a four-station team OSCE was feasible, but raters reported problems in assessing individuals and the team at the same time. Interobserver agreement was satisfactory (kappa 0.35.Conclusions: Interdisciplinary and interprofessional education between a nursing school and a medical school is feasible within an elective, but requires substantial personnel resources. Design and performance of a team OSCE is possible. The validity of the test has to be shown on follow-up.[german] Zielsetzung: Das Lernziel „Fähigkeit zur interprofessionellen und interdisziplinären Teamarbeit“ wird sowohl in der aktuellen Approbationsordnung für Ärzte als auch im Krankenpflegegesetz gefordert. In der Realität gibt es in beiden Ausbildungen kaum gemeinsame Lehreinheiten. Wir beschreiben ein Pilotprojekt

Humor adds the creative touch to CQI teams.

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Balzer, J W

1994-07-01

The health care industry is looking to continuous quality improvement as a process to both improve patient care and promote cost effectiveness. Interdisciplinary teams are learning to work together and to use data-driven problem solving. Humor adds a creative and welcome touch to the process that makes it easier and more fun to work in teams. The team leader or facilitator who uses humor along the journey sanctions the risk-taking behavior that accompanies creative solutions to tough problems.

Opportunities and challenges of interdisciplinary research career development: implementation of a women's health research training program.

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Domino, Steven E; Smith, Yolanda R; Johnson, Timothy R B

2007-03-01

A key component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Roadmap for Medical Research is the development of interdisciplinary research teams. How best to teach and foster interdisciplinary research skills has not been determined. An effort at promoting interdisciplinary research was initiated by the Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) at NIH in 1999. The following year, 12 academic centers were funded to support 56 scholar positions for 2-5 years under Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH). A second cohort of 12 centers, called BIRCWH II, was funded in 2002. In this paper, we present the experience of the University of Michigan BIRCWH program, including a practical approach to dealing with the challenges and opportunities of interdisciplinary research training. Scholars are mentored not only by their primary research advisor but also by a three-person mentor team as well as by their peers. All scholars and a core of supportive faculty meet regularly to discuss interdisciplinary research career development and approaches to apply knowledge in new ways. Of the original cohort of 10 scholars at the University of Michigan, 7 have achieved independent research funding. Challenges include arranging times to meet, developing a common language and knowledge base, dealing proactively with expectations and misunderstandings, focusing on a conceptual model, and providing timely feedback.

Crime in media: an interdisciplinary research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Palma Wolff

2005-12-01

Full Text Available This article analyses conceptual issues that present problems for interdisciplinary research - criminality and urban space; the transversal aspects of violence - developed by researchers from diff erent fi elds: communications, psychology and social services. Highlighted in this work, above all, are questions related to the media and journalism; which constitute one of the axes of the proposal (media, growing juvenile component of criminality, drugs and social control but are inevitably interconnected with the others due to the interdisciplinary force of the initiative. It is argued that the processes of report construction, the subject agenda and consumption of the news constitute complex semioses that involve other semiotic systems.

Impact of communication delays to and from the International Space Station on self-reported individual and team behavior and performance: A mixed-methods study

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Kintz, Natalie M.; Chou, Chih-Ping; Vessey, William B.; Leveton, Lauren B.; Palinkas, Lawrence A.

2016-12-01

Deep space explorations will involve significant delays in communication to and from Earth that will likely impact individual and team outcomes. However, the extent of these impacts and the appropriate countermeasures for their mitigation remain largely unknown. This study utilized the International Space Station (ISS), a high-fidelity analog for deep space, as a research platform to assess the impact of communication delays on individual and team performance, mood, and behavior. Three astronauts on the ISS and 18 mission support personnel performed tasks with and without communication delays (50-s one-way) during a mission lasting 166 days. Self-reported assessments of individual and team performance and mood were obtained after each task. Secondary outcomes included communication quality and task autonomy. Qualitative data from post-mission interviews with astronauts were used to validate and expand on quantitative data, and to elicit recommendations for countermeasures. Crew well-being and communication quality were significantly reduced in communication delay tasks compared to control. Communication delays were also significantly associated with increased individual stress/frustration. Qualitative data suggest communication delays impacted operational outcomes (i.e. task efficiency), teamwork processes (i.e. team/task coordination) and mood (i.e. stress/frustration), particularly when tasks involved high task-related communication demands, either because of poor communication strategies or low crew autonomy. Training, teamwork, and technology-focused countermeasures were identified to mitigate or prevent adverse impacts.

Paradigmatic approaches to studying environment and human health: (Forgotten) implications for interdisciplinary research

OpenAIRE

Phoenix, Cassandra; Osborne, Nicholas J.; Redshaw, Clare; Moran, Rebecca; Stahl-timmins, Will; Depledge, Michael H.; Fleming, Lora E.; Wheeler, Benedict W.

2013-01-01

Interdisciplinary research is increasingly promoted in a wide range of fields, especially so in the study of relationships between the environment and human health. However, many projects and research teams struggle to address exactly how researchers from a multitude of disciplinary and methodological backgrounds can best work together to maximize the value of this approach to research. In this paper, we briefly review the role of interdisciplinary research, and emphasise that it is not only ...

The Electric Humanities: An Interdisciplinary Perspective.

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Marsden, Michael T.; Litwin, James L.

An interdisciplinary "Coordinated Quarter of Mass Media Studies," instituted at Bowling Green State University with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, is the subject of this paper. The first part of the paper tells how instructors from the subject areas of popular culture, psychology, sociology, speech communication, and…

Leadership styles in interdisciplinary health science education.

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Sasnett, Bonita; Clay, Maria

2008-12-01

The US Institute of Medicine recommends that all health professionals should deliver patient-centered care as members of interdisciplinary health science teams. The current application of the Bolman and Deal Leadership model to health sciences provides an interesting point of reference to compare leadership styles. This article reviews several applications of that model within academic health care and the aggregate recommendations for leaders of health care disciplines based on collective findings.

Increasing patient safety with neonates via handoff communication during delivery: a call for interprofessional health care team training across GME and CME.

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Vanderbilt, Allison A; Pappada, Scott M; Stein, Howard; Harper, David; Papadimos, Thomas J

2017-01-01

Hospitals have struggled for years regarding the handoff process of communicating patient information from one health care professional to another. Ineffective handoff communication is recognized as a serious patient safety risk within the health care community. It is essential to take communication into consideration when examining the safety of neonates who require immediate medical attention after birth; effective communication is vital for positive patient outcomes, especially with neonates in a delivery room setting. Teamwork and effective communication across the health care continuum are essential for providing efficient, quality care that leads to favorable patient outcomes. Interprofessional simulation and team training can benefit health care professionals by improving interprofessional competence, defined as one's knowledge of other professionals including an understanding of their training and skillsets, and role clarity. Interprofessional teams that include members with specialization in obstetrics, gynecology, and neonatology have the potential to considerably benefit from training effective handoff and communication practices that would ensure the safety of the neonate upon birth. We must strive to provide the most comprehensive systematic, standardized, interprofessional handoff communication training sessions for such teams, through Graduate Medical Education and Continuing Medical Education that will meet the needs across the educational continuum.

Team approach to management of oro.facial cleft among African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: An interdisciplinary team approach concept has been proposed for management of oro.facial cleft in the last two decades. Our objective was to evaluate the practice of the team approach concept and practices of the specialists involved in oro.facial cleft care in Africa. Materials and Methods: A snapshot survey ...

The Use of WhatsApp Smartphone Messaging Improves Communication Efficiency within an Orthopaedic Surgery Team.

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Ellanti, Prasad; Moriarty, Andrew; Coughlan, Fionn; McCarthy, Thomas

2017-02-18

Effective and timely communication is important for any surgical specialty to function. The use of smartphones is prevalent amongst doctors. Numerous smartphone applications offer the potential for fast and cost-effective communication. WhatsApp is a commonly used application that is free, easy to use, and capable of text and multimedia messaging. We report on the use of WhatsApp over a six month period in our unit. WhatsApp communication between non-consultant members of an orthopaedic team over a six-month period was analysed. Both the phones and the WhatsApp application were password-protected, and patient details were anonymised. A series of 20 communications using the hospital pager system and the telephone system were also analysed. A total of 5,492 messages were sent during the six-month period and were part of 1,916 separate communication events. The vast majority of messages, 5,090, were related to patient care. A total of 195 multimedia messages were sent and these included images of radiographs and wounds. When using the hospital telephones, the length of time spent on a communication averaged 5.78 minutes and using the hospital pager system averaged 7.45 minutes. Using the WhatsApp messaging system has potentially saved up to 7,664 minutes over the study period. All participants found WhatsApp easy to use and found it to be more efficient than the traditional pager system Conclusion: Compared to the traditional pager systems, the use of WhatsApp is easy, inexpensive, and reliable and can help improve the efficiency of communication within a surgical team.

Team climate and attitudes toward information and communication technology among nurses on acute psychiatric wards.

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Koivunen, Marita; Anttila, Minna; Kuosmanen, Lauri; Katajisto, Jouko; Välimäki, Maritta

2015-01-01

Objectives: To describe the association of team climate with attitudes toward information and communication technology among nursing staff working on acute psychiatric wards. Background: Implementation of ICT applications in nursing practice brings new operating models to work environments, which may affect experienced team climate on hospital wards. Method: Descriptive survey was used as a study design. Team climate was measured by the Finnish modification of the Team Climate Inventory, and attitudes toward ICT by Burkes' questionnaire. The nursing staff (N = 181, n = 146) on nine acute psychiatric wards participated in the study. Results: It is not self-evident that experienced team climate associates with attitudes toward ICT, but there are some positive relationships between perceived team climate and ICT attitudes. The study showed that nurses' motivation to use ICT had statistically significant connections with experienced team climate, participative safety (p = 0.021), support for innovation (p = 0.042) and task orientation (p = 0.042). Conclusion: The results suggest that asserting team climate and supporting innovative operations may lead to more positive attitudes toward ICT. It is, in particular, possible to influence nurses' motivation to use ICT. More attention should be paid to psychosocial factors such as group education and co-operation at work when ICT applications are implemented in nursing.

When Teams Go Crazy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kuhrmann, Marco; Münch, Jürgen

2016-01-01

Software development consists to a large extend of human-based processes with continuously increasing demands regarding interdisciplinary team work. Understanding the dynamics of software teams can be seen as highly important to successful project execution. Hence, for future project managers......, knowledge about non-technical processes in teams is significant. In this paper, we present a course unit that provides an environment in which students can learn and experience the impact of group dynamics on project performance and quality. The course unit uses the Tuckman model as theoretical framework......, and borrows from controlled experiments to organize and implement its practical parts in which students then experience the effects of, e.g., time pressure, resource bottlenecks, staff turnover, loss of key personnel, and other stress factors. We provide a detailed design of the course unit to allow...

The human side of lean teams.

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Wackerbarth, Sarah B; Strawser-Srinath, Jamie R; Conigliaro, Joseph C

2015-05-01

Organizations use lean principles to increase quality and decrease costs. Lean projects require an understanding of systems-wide processes and utilize interdisciplinary teams. Most lean tools are straightforward, and the biggest barrier to successful implementation is often development of the team aspect of the lean approach. The purpose of this article is to share challenges experienced by a lean team charged with improving a hospital discharge process. Reflection on the experience provides an opportunity to highlight lessons from The Team Handbook by Peter Scholtes and colleagues. To improve the likelihood that process improvement initiatives, including lean projects, will be successful, organizations should consider providing training in organizational change principles and team building. The authors' lean team learned these lessons the hard way. Despite the challenges, the team successfully implemented changes throughout the organization that have had a positive impact. Training to understand the psychology of change might have decreased the resistance faced in implementing these changes. © 2014 by the American College of Medical Quality.

Assessment of teamwork during structured interdisciplinary rounds on medical units.

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O'Leary, Kevin J; Boudreau, Yvonne N; Creden, Amanda J; Slade, Maureen E; Williams, Mark V

2012-01-01

Interdisciplinary rounds (IDR) provide a means to assemble hospital team members and improve collaboration. Little is known about teamwork during IDR. To evaluate and characterize teamwork during IDR. Cross-sectional observational study. Six medical units which had implemented structured interdisciplinary rounds (SIDR). We adapted the Observational Teamwork Assessment for Surgery (OTAS) tool, a behaviorally anchored rating scale shown to be reliable and valid in surgical settings. OTAS provides scores ranging from 0 to 6 (0 = problematic behavior; 6 = exemplary behavior) across 5 domains (communication, coordination, cooperation/backup behavior, leadership, and monitoring/situational awareness) and for prespecified subteams. Two researchers conducted direct observations using the adapted OTAS tool. We conducted 7-8 independent observations for each unit (total = 44) and 20 joint observations. Inter-rater reliability was excellent at the unit level (Spearman's rho = 0.75), and good across domains (rho = 0.53-0.68) and subteams (rho = 0.53-0.76) with the exception of the physician subteam, for which it was poor (rho = 0.35). Though teamwork scores were generally high, we found differences across units, with a median (interquartile range [IQR]) 4.5 (3.9-4.9) for the lowest and 5.4 (5.3-5.5) for the highest performing unit (P teamwork during SIDR across units, domains, and most subteams. Variation in performance suggests a need to improve consistency of teamwork and emphasizes the importance of leadership. Copyright © 2012 Society of Hospital Medicine.

Team Science, Justice, and the Co-Production of Knowledge.

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Tebes, Jacob Kraemer

2018-06-08

Science increasingly consists of interdisciplinary team-based research to address complex social, biomedical, public health, and global challenges through a practice known as team science. In this article, I discuss the added value of team science, including participatory team science, for generating scientific knowledge. Participatory team science involves the inclusion of public stakeholders on science teams as co-producers of knowledge. I also discuss how constructivism offers a common philosophical foundation for both community psychology and team science, and how this foundation aligns well with contemporary developments in science that emphasize the co-production of knowledge. I conclude with a discussion of how the co-production of knowledge in team science can promote justice. © Society for Community Research and Action 2018.

Preventing the obesity epidemic by second generation tailored health communication: an interdisciplinary review.

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Enwald, Heidi Päivyt Karoliina; Huotari, Maija-Leena Aulikki

2010-06-28

The prevention of obesity and health concerns related to obesity are major challenges worldwide. The use of eHealth communication and the tailoring of information delivered via the Internet at the individual level may increase the effectiveness of interventions. Mastering behaviors related to nutrition, physical activity, and weight management are the main issues in preventing obesity, and the need for interdisciplinary knowledge within this area is obvious. The objectives were to review the literature on tailored health communication and to present an interdisciplinary analysis of studies on "second" generation tailored interventions aimed at behavior change in nutrition, physical activity, or weight management. A literature search was conducted of the main electronic information sources on health communication. Selection criteria were defined, and 23 intervention studies were selected. The content analysis focused on the following: study designs, objectives of behavior change, target groups, sample sizes, study lengths, attrition rates, theories applied, intervention designs, computer-based channels used, statistically significant outcomes from the perspective of tailoring, and possible biases of the studies. However, this was not a structured meta-analysis and cannot be replicated as such. Of the 23 studies, 21 were randomized controlled trials, and all focused on behavior change: 10 studies focused on behavior change in nutrition, 7 on physical activity, 2 on nutrition and physical activity, and 4 on weight management. The target groups and the number of participants varied: 8 studies included more than 500 participants, and 6 studies included less than 100. Most studies were short; the duration of 20 studies was 6 months or less. The Transtheoretical Model was applied in 14 of the 23 studies, and feedback as a tailoring mechanism was used in addition to an Internet site (or program) in 15 studies and in addition to email in 11 studies. Self-reporting was used

Characteristics of team briefings in gynecological surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Forsyth, Katherine L; Hildebrand, Emily A; Hallbeck, M Susan; Branaghan, Russell J; Blocker, Renaldo C

2018-02-24

Preoperative briefings have been proven beneficial for improving team performance in the operating room. However, there has been minimal research regarding team briefings in specific surgical domains. As part of a larger project to develop a briefing structure for gynecological surgery, the study aimed to better understand the current state of pre-operative team briefings in one department of an academic hospital. Twenty-four team briefings were observed and video recorded. Communication was analyzed and social network metrics were created based on the team member verbal interactions. Introductions occurred in only 25% of the briefings. Network analysis revealed that average team briefings exhibited a hierarchical structure of communication, with the surgeon speaking the most frequently. The average network for resident-led briefings displayed a non-hierarchical structure with all team members communicating with the resident. Briefings conducted without a standardized protocol can produce variable communication between the role leading and the team members present. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Translating concerns into action: a detailed qualitative evaluation of an interdisciplinary intervention on medical wards

Science.gov (United States)

Archer, Stephanie; Johnston, Maximillian J; Beveridge, Iain; Long, Susannah Jane; Athanasiou, Thanos; Sevdalis, Nick

2017-01-01

Objectives To understand how frontline reports of day-to-day care failings might be better translated into improvement. Design Qualitative evaluation of an interdisciplinary team intervention capitalising on the frontline experience of care delivery. Prospective clinical team surveillance (PCTS) involved structured interdisciplinary briefings to capture challenges in care delivery, facilitated organisational escalation of the issues they identified, and feedback. Eighteen months of ethnography and two focus groups were conducted with staff taking part in a trial of PCTS. Results PCTS fostered psychological safety—a confidence that the team would not embarrass or punish those who speak up. This was complemented by a hard edge of accountability, whereby team members would regulate their own behaviour in anticipation of future briefings. Frontline concerns were triaged to managers, or resolved autonomously by ward teams, reversing what had been well-established normalisations of deviance. Junior clinicians found a degree of catharsis in airing their concerns, and their teams became more proactive in addressing improvement opportunities. PCTS generated tangible organisational changes, and enabled managers to make a convincing case for investment. However, briefings were constrained by the need to preserve professional credibility, and staff found some comfort in avoiding accountability. At higher organisational levels, frontline concerns were subject to competition with other priorities, and their resolution was limited by the scale of the challenges they described. Conclusions Prospective safety strategies relying on staff-volunteered data produce acceptable, negotiated accounts, subject to the many interdisciplinary tensions that characterise ward work. Nonetheless, these strategies give managers access to the realities of frontline cares, and support frontline staff to make incremental changes in their daily work. These are goals for learning healthcare

Combining Chemical Information Literacy, Communication Skills, Career Preparation, Ethics, and Peer Review in a Team-Taught Chemistry Course

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Mary Lou Baker; Seybold, Paul G.

2016-01-01

The widely acknowledged need to include chemical information competencies and communication skills in the undergraduate chemistry curriculum can be accommodated in a variety of ways. We describe a team-taught, semester-length course at Wright State University which combines chemical information literacy, written and oral communication skills,…

Students' perceptions of the interprofessional team in practice through the application of servant leadership principles.

Science.gov (United States)

Neill, Mark; Hayward, Karen S; Peterson, Teri

2007-08-01

This study examined students' perceptions of interprofessional practice within a framework of servant leadership principles, applied in the care of rural older adults utilizing a service learning model. Mobile wellness services were provided through the Idaho State University Senior Health Mobile project in a collaborative team approach in the community-based setting. Students from varied health professional programs were placed in teams for the provision of wellness care, with communication among team members facilitated by a health professions faculty member serving as field coordinator. The Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS) was used to measure students' perceptions of interprofessional practice using a pretest post-test research design. Multivariate analysis was performed revealing a significant pretest to post-test effect on students' perceptions as measured by factors inherent in the IEPS and deemed essential to effective interprofessional practice. Univariate analysis revealed a significant change in students' perception of professional competence and autonomy, actual cooperation and resource sharing within and across professions, and an understanding of the value and contributions of other professionals from pretest to post-test.

BURECS: An Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Climate Science Program

Science.gov (United States)

Dennis, D. P.; Marchant, D. R.; Christ, A. J.; Ehrenfeucht, S.

2017-12-01

The current structure of many undergraduate programs, particularly those at large research universities, requires students to engage with a major or academic emphasis early in their university careers. This oftentimes curbs exploration outside the major and can inhibit interdisciplinary collaboration. The Boston University Research Education and Communication of Science (BURECS) program seeks to bridge this institutional divide by fostering interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary collaboration on climate change-related issues by students from across Boston University (B.U.). Every year, approximately fifteen first-year students from B.U.'s College of Arts and Sciences, College of Communication, and School of Education are selected to join BURECS, which includes a climate science seminar, a hands-on lab course, a supported summer internship with Boston-area researchers, and the opportunity to participate in Antarctic field work during subsequent B.U. Antarctic Research Group expeditions. Currently in its third year, BURECS is funded through the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Professors Program.

Improving recovery time following heart transplantation: the role of the multidisciplinary health care team

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roussel MG

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Maureen G Roussel,1 Noreen Gorham,2 Lynn Wilson,2 Abeel A Mangi2 1Heart and Vascular Center, Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT, USA; 2Center for Advanced Heart Failure, Mechanical Circulatory Support and Cardiac Transplantation, Yale New Haven Heart and Vascular Institute, Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT, USA Background: The care of cardiac transplant patients is complex requiring a finely orchestrated endeavor to save a patient’s life. Given the chronic and complex nature of these patients, multiple disciplines are involved in their care. Recognizing difficulties with communication among team members and striving for improved efficiencies in our pretransplant listing process and in our inpatient care, our team was prompted to change the existing approach to patient care related to heart transplantation. Methods: Daily multidisciplinary rounds were instituted and the format of the weekly Multidisciplinary Review Committee (MDRC meetings was modified with the list of attendees broadened to include a larger interdisciplinary team. Additionally, the approach to patient care was analyzed for process improvement. Results: The quality improvements are improved communication and throughput, quantified in an 85% decrease in time to complete transplant evaluation, a 37% decrease in median length of stay posttransplantation, and a 33% reduction in the 30 day readmission rate. In addition, pre- and posttransplant caregivers now participate in MDRC in person or via an electronic meeting platform to support the continuum of care. Quality metrics were chosen and tracked via a transparent electronic platform allowing all involved to assess progress toward agreed upon goals. These were achieved in an 18 month time period following the recruitment of new leadership and invested team members working together as a multidisciplinary team to improve the quality of cardiac transplant care. Discussion: Implementation of daily multidisciplinary rounds and

Dealing with aggressive behavior within the health care team: a leadership challenge.

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Hynes, Patricia; Kissoon, Niranjan; Hamielec, Cindy M; Greene, Anne Marie; Simone, Carmine

2006-06-01

During an interdisciplinary Canadian leadership forum [ (click on the Conferences icon)], participants were challenged to develop an approach to a difficult leadership/management situation. In a scenario involving aggressive behavior among health care providers, participants identified that, before responding, an appropriate leader should collect additional information to identify the core problem(s) causing such behavior. Possibilities include stress; lack of clear roles, responsibilities, and standard operating procedures; and, finally, lack of training on important leadership/management skills. As a result of these core problems, several potential solutions are possible, all with potential obstacles to implementation. Additional education around communication and team interaction was felt to be a priority. In summary, clinical leaders probably have a great deal to gain from augmenting their leadership/management skills.

Illusions of team working in health care.

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West, Michael A; Lyubovnikova, Joanne

2013-01-01

The ubiquity and value of teams in healthcare are well acknowledged. However, in practice, healthcare teams vary dramatically in their structures and effectiveness in ways that can damage team processes and patient outcomes. The aim of this paper is to highlight these characteristics and to extrapolate several important aspects of teamwork that have a powerful impact on team effectiveness across healthcare contexts. The paper draws upon the literature from health services management and organisational behaviour to provide an overview of the current science of healthcare teams. Underpinned by the input-process-output framework of team effectiveness, team composition, team task, and organisational support are viewed as critical inputs that influence key team processes including team objectives, leadership and reflexivity, which in turn impact staff and patient outcomes. Team training interventions and care pathways can facilitate more effective interdisciplinary teamwork. The paper argues that the prevalence of the term "team" in healthcare makes the synthesis and advancement of the scientific understanding of healthcare teams a challenge. Future research therefore needs to better define the fundamental characteristics of teams in studies in order to ensure that findings based on real teams, rather than pseudo-like groups, are accumulated.

Measurement properties and implementation of a checklist to assess leadership skills during interdisciplinary rounds in the intensive care unit.

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Ten Have, Elsbeth C M; Nap, Raoul E; Tulleken, Jaap E

2015-01-01

The implementation of interdisciplinary teams in the intensive care unit (ICU) has focused attention on leadership behavior. A daily recurrent situation in ICUs in which both leadership behavior and interdisciplinary teamwork are integrated concerns the interdisciplinary rounds (IDRs). Although IDRs are recommended to provide optimal interdisciplinary and patient-centered care, there are no checklists available for leading physicians. We tested the measurement properties and implementation of a checklist to assess the quality of leadership skills in interdisciplinary rounds. The measurement properties of the checklist, which included 10 essential quality indicators, were tested for interrater reliability and internal consistency and by factor analysis. The interrater reliability among 3 raters was good (κ, 0.85) and the internal consistency was acceptable (α, 0.74). Factor analysis showed all factor loadings on 1 domain (>0.65). The checklist was further implemented during videotaped IDRs which were led by senior physicians and in which 99 patients were discussed. Implementation of the checklist showed a wide range of "no" and "yes" scores among the senior physicians. These results may underline the need for such a checklist to ensure tasks are synchronized within the team.

Diagnostic radiology on multiple injured patients: interdisciplinary management; Radiologische Diagnostik beim Polytrauma: interdisziplinaeres Management

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Linsenmaier, U.; Pfeifer, K.J. [Inst. fuer Radiologische Diagnostik, Klinikum der Univ. Muenchen (Germany); Kanz, K.G.; Mutschler, W. [Chirurgische Klinik Innenstadt, Klinikum der Univ. Muenchen, (Germany)

2001-06-01

The presence of a radiologist within the admitting area of an emergency department and his capability as a member of the trauma team have a major impact on the role of diagnostic radiology in trauma care. The knowledge of clinical decision criteria, algorithms, and standards of patient care are essential for the acceptance within a trauma team. We present an interdisciplinary management concept of diagnostic radiology for trauma patients, which comprises basic diagnosis, organ diagnosis, radiological ABC, and algorithms of early clinical care. It is the result of a prospective study comprising over 2000 documented multiple injured patients. The radiologist on a trauma team should support trauma surgery and anesthesia in diagnostic and clinical work-up. The radiological ABC provides a structured approach for diagnostic imaging in all steps of the early clinical care of the multiple injured patient. Radiological ABC requires a reevaluation in cases of equivocal findings or difficulties in the clinical course. Direct communication of radiological findings with the trauma team enables quick clinical decisions. In addition, the radiologist can priority-oriented influence the therapy by using interventional procedures. The clinical radiologist is an active member of the interdisciplinary trauma team, not only providing diagnostic imaging but also participating in clinical decisions. (orig.) [German] Die Anwesenheit des Radiologen im Schockraum und dessen Teamfaehigkeit bestimmen den Status der diagnostischen Radiologie in der Traumaversorgung. Voraussetzung zur Mitarbeit im interdisziplinaeren Traumateam ist die detaillierte Kenntnis der wesentlichen Entscheidungskriterien, Algorithmen und Behandlungsablaeufe. Das hier vorgestellte interdisziplinaere Managementkonzept der radiologischen Diagnostik beim Polytrauma mit Basisdiagnostik, Organdiagnostik, radiologischer ABC-Regel und Algorithmen zur fruehklinischen Behandlung beruht auf einer prospektiven Polytraumastudie mit

Parental Perspectives of Communication at the End of Life at a Pediatric Oncology Institution.

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Snaman, Jennifer M; Torres, Carlos; Duffy, Brian; Levine, Deena R; Gibson, Deborah V; Baker, Justin N

2016-03-01

The interaction of health care providers and hospital staff with patients and families at the end of life affects the parental grief experience. Both verbal and nonverbal communication are key components of this interaction. The study objective was to explore the communication between hospital staff members and patients and families at the time of patients' health decline near the end of life. Twelve bereaved parents participated in a focus group. Semantic content analysis was used to analyze the transcript. Parents' responses to the prompt about typical ways the medical team communicated yielded 109 codes, which were grouped into 12 themes. The most common themes were "patient inclusion" and "explanation of medical plan," both used in 17% of responses. Responses to the prompt about positive and negative aspects of communication generated 208 codes, yielding 15 different themes. The most common theme about positive communication was the "strong relationship between family and staff." The theme "variations in care with a negative impact" was used most frequently in describing negative communication. This study helps to identify techniques that should be used by clinicians as they work with children with cancer and their families, particularly including patients in treatment decisions, ongoing relationship building, communicating with caring and empathy, using an interdisciplinary team for additional support, and pairing bad news with a plan of action.

Measuring patterns in team interaction sequences using a discrete recurrence approach.

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Gorman, Jamie C; Cooke, Nancy J; Amazeen, Polemnia G; Fouse, Shannon

2012-08-01

Recurrence-based measures of communication determinism and pattern information are described and validated using previously collected team interaction data. Team coordination dynamics has revealed that"mixing" team membership can lead to flexible interaction processes, but keeping a team "intact" can lead to rigid interaction processes. We hypothesized that communication of intact teams would have greater determinism and higher pattern information compared to that of mixed teams. Determinism and pattern information were measured from three-person Uninhabited Air Vehicle team communication sequences over a series of 40-minute missions. Because team members communicated using push-to-talk buttons, communication sequences were automatically generated during each mission. The Composition x Mission determinism effect was significant. Intact teams' determinism increased over missions, whereas mixed teams' determinism did not change. Intact teams had significantly higher maximum pattern information than mixed teams. Results from these new communication analysis methods converge with content-based methods and support our hypotheses. Because they are not content based, and because they are automatic and fast, these new methods may be amenable to real-time communication pattern analysis.

Palliative care teams: effective through moral reflection.

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Hermsen, M.A.; Have, H.A.M.J. ten

2005-01-01

Working as a multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary team is an essential condition to provide good palliative care. This widespread assumption is based on the idea that teamwork makes it possible to address the various needs of the patient and family more effectively. This article is about teamwork

A novel method for reproducibly measuring the effects of interventions to improve emotional climate, indices of team skills and communication, and threat to patient outcome in a high-volume thoracic surgery center.

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Nurok, Michael; Lipsitz, Stuart; Satwicz, Paul; Kelly, Andrea; Frankel, Allan

2010-05-01

To create and test a reproducible method for measuring emotional climate, surgical team skills, and threats to patient outcome by conducting an observational study to assess the impact of a surgical team skills and communication improvement intervention on these measurements. Observational study. Operating rooms in a high-volume thoracic surgery center from September 5, 2007, through June 30, 2008. Thoracic surgery operating room teams. Two 90-minute team skills training sessions focused on findings from a standardized safety culture survey administered to all participants and highlighting positive and problematic aspects of team skills, communication, and leadership. The sessions created an interactive forum to educate team members on the importance of communication and to role-play optimal interactive and communication strategies. Calculated indices of emotional climate, team skills, and threat to patient outcome. The calculated communication and team skills score improved from the preintervention to postintervention periods, but the improvement extinguished during the 3 months after the intervention (P skills and communication and decrease a calculated score of threats to patient outcome. However, the effect is only durable for threats to patient outcome.

A Project Team: A Team or Just a Group?

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Katerina Hrazdilova Bockova

2013-11-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with issues related to work in either teams or groups. The theoretical part which discusses a team and a group with regards to its definition, classification and basic distinction brings in more on the typology of team roles, personality assessment and sociometric methods. The analytical part tests the project (work team of a medical center represented in terms of personality and motivational types, team roles and interpersonal team relations concerning the willingness of cooperation and communication. The main objective of this work was to determine whether the existing team is not by its nature rather a working group that contributes to the generally perceived stagnation of that field.

Leveraging mobile smart devices to improve interprofessional communications in inpatient practice setting: A literature review.

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Aungst, Timothy Dy; Belliveau, Paul

2015-01-01

As mobile smart device use has increased in society, the healthcare community has begun using these devices for communication among professionals in practice settings. The purpose of this review is to describe primary literature which reports on the experiences with interprofessional healthcare communication via mobile smart devices. Based on these findings, this review also addresses how these devices may be utilized to facilitate interprofessional education (IPE) in health professions education programs. The literature search revealed limited assessments of mobile smart device use in clinical practice settings. In available reports, communication with mobile smart devices was perceived as more effective and faster among interdisciplinary members. Notable drawbacks included discrepancies in the urgency labeling of messages, increased interruptions associated with constant accessibility to team members, and professionalism breakdowns. Recently developed interprofessional competencies include an emphasis on ensuring that health profession students can effectively communicate on interprofessional teams. With the increasing reliance on mobile smart devices in the absence of robust benefit and risk assessments on their use in clinical practice settings, use of these devices may be leveraged to facilitate IPE activities in health education professions programs while simultaneously educating students on their proper use in patient care settings.

Increasing patient safety with neonates via handoff communication during delivery: a call for interprofessional health care team training across GME and CME

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vanderbilt AA

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Allison A Vanderbilt,1 Scott M Pappada,2 Howard Stein,3 David Harper,4 Thomas J Papadimos5 1Department of Family Medicine, 2Department of Anesthesiology, College of Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Toledo, 3Department of Pediatrics, ProMedica Toledo Children’s Hospital, 4Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, ProMedica Toledo Hospital, 5Department of Anesthesiology, College of Medicine and the Life Sciences, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA Abstract: Hospitals have struggled for years regarding the handoff process of communicating patient information from one health care professional to another. Ineffective handoff communication is recognized as a serious patient safety risk within the health care community. It is essential to take communication into consideration when examining the safety of neonates who require immediate medical attention after birth; effective communication is vital for positive patient outcomes, especially with neonates in a delivery room setting. Teamwork and effective communication across the health care continuum are essential for providing efficient, quality care that leads to favorable patient outcomes. Interprofessional simulation and team training can benefit health care professionals by improving interprofessional competence, defined as one’s knowledge of other professionals including an understanding of their training and skillsets, and role clarity. Interprofessional teams that include members with specialization in obstetrics, gynecology, and neonatology have the potential to considerably benefit from training effective handoff and communication practices that would ensure the safety of the neonate upon birth. We must strive to provide the most comprehensive systematic, standardized, interprofessional handoff communication training sessions for such teams, through Graduate Medical Education and Continuing Medical Education that will meet the needs across the educational continuum. Keywords

What makes teacher teams in a vocational education context effective?: A qualitative study of managers' view on team working

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Truijen, Karin; Sleegers, Peter; Meelissen, Martina; Nieuwenhuis, Loek

2018-01-01

Purpose – At a time when secondary vocational education is implementing competence-based education (CBE) on a large scale, to adapt to the needs of students and of the labour market in a modern society, many vocational schools have recognised that interdisciplinary teacher teams are an important

What makes teacher teams in a vocational education context effective? A qualitative study of managers' view on team working

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Truijen, K.J.P.; Sleegers, P.J.C.; Meelissen, Martina R.M.; Nieuwenhuis, Loek

2013-01-01

Purpose – At a time when secondary vocational education is implementing competence-based education (CBE) on a large scale, to adapt to the needs of students and of the labour market in a modern society, many vocational schools have recognised that interdisciplinary teacher teams are an important

Challenges to effective crisis management: using information and communication technologies to coordinate emergency medical services and emergency department teams.

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Reddy, Madhu C; Paul, Sharoda A; Abraham, Joanna; McNeese, Michael; DeFlitch, Christopher; Yen, John

2009-04-01

The purpose of this study is to identify the major challenges to coordination between emergency department (ED) teams and emergency medical services (EMS) teams. We conducted a series of focus groups involving both ED and EMS team members using a crisis scenario as the basis of the focus group discussion. We also collected organizational workflow data. We identified three major challenges to coordination between ED and EMS teams including ineffectiveness of current information and communication technologies, lack of common ground, and breakdowns in information flow. The three challenges highlight the importance of designing systems from socio-technical perspective. In particular, these inter-team coordination systems must support socio-technical issues such as awareness, context, and workflow between the two teams.

The Generational Impact in Virtual Teams

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Ferrara, Samuel Joseph

2016-01-01

The world of today allows groups of people who are geographically-distributed to communicate through information and communication technologies (ICTs). In the workplace, these geographically-distributed teams are referred to as virtual teams. Quantifying and understanding issues in virtual teams has been a focus of research for the past two decades. This thesis aims to quantify generational differences between the Millennials and the Baby Boomers in the context of virtual teams in the enginee...

Me, Myself, My Team How to be an effective team player using NLP

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McLeod, Angus

2006-01-01

Me, Myself, My Team brings you effective strategies to improve your team's communication and motivation, discover new perceptions and begin new courses of action. Full of practical ideas, this exceptional book demonstrates how team playing achieves the best results.

Leadership for Distributed Teams

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Rooij, J.P.G.

2009-01-01

The aim of this dissertation was to study the little examined, yet important issue of leadership for distributed teams. Distributed teams are defined as: “teams of which members are geographically distributed and are therefore working predominantly via mediated communication means on an

The adoption of an interdisciplinary instructional model in secondary education

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Misicko, Martin W.

This study describes the experiences of a secondary high school involved in the adoption of an interdisciplinary curriculum. An interdisciplinary curriculum is defined as both the precalculus and physics curriculums taught collaboratively throughout the school year. The students' academic performances were analyzed to gage the success of the interdisciplinary model. The four year study compared students taught precalculus in a traditional discipline-based classroom versus those facilitated in an interdisciplinary precalculus/physics model. It also documents the administrative changes necessary in restructuring a high school to an interdisciplinary team teaching model. All of the students in both pedagogical models received instruction from the same teacher, and were given identical assessment materials. Additionally, the curriculum guidelines and standards of learning were duplicated for both models. The primary difference of the two models focused on the applications of mathematics in the physics curriculum. Prerequisite information was compared in both models to ensure that the students in the study had comparable qualifications prior to the facilitation of the precalculus curriculum. Common trends were analyzed and discussed from the student's performance data. The students enrolled in the interdisciplinary model appeared to outperform the discipline-based students in common evaluative assessments. The themes and outcomes described in this study provide discussion topics for further investigation by other school districts. Further study is necessary to determine whether scheduling changes may have influenced student performances, and to examine whether other content areas may experience similar results.

Interdisciplinary methods and practices for integrating social sciences into studies on catchment evolution

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Carr, G.

2017-12-01

Real world problems rarely regard disciplinary boundaries. This is particularly apparent in catchments, where knowledge and understanding from many different research disciplines is essential to address the water resource challenges facing society. People are an integral part of any catchment. Therefore a comprehensive understanding of catchment evolution needs to include the social system. Socio-hydrological models that can simulate the co-evolution of human-water systems, for example, with regards to floods and droughts, show great promise in their capacity to capture and understand such systems. Yet, to develop socio-hydrological models into more comprehensive analysis tools that adequately capture the social components of the system, researchers need to embrace interdisciplinary working and multi-disciplinary research teams. By exploring the development of interdisciplinary research in a water programme, several key practices have been identified that support interdisciplinary collaboration. These include clarification where researchers discuss and re-explain their research or position to expose all the assumptions being made until all involved understand it; harnessing differences where different opinions and types of knowledge are treated respectfully to minimise tensions and disputes; and boundary setting where defensible limits to the research enquiry are set with consideration for the restrictions (funds, skills, resources) through negotiation and discussion between the research team members. Focussing on these research practices while conducting interdisciplinary collaborative research into the human-water system, is anticipated to support the development of more integrated approaches and models.