Importance of Teams
Maya Roseboro, Donna Mae, Rosemary Stevenson, Tonette Dawkins
HCS/325
June 16, 2015
Professor Shahady
Importance of Teams
Working in health care there is always room for improvement. As the manager of a busy call center for a health care organization, we note that the volume of calls has doubled over the past year. Hiring new staff is out of the budget however; we have an additional $20,000 to spend to improve efficiency and customer satisfaction in our department. In order to increase the efficiency of the current staff, we as managers must address the ideas of creating teams in the department that can help lead to increased customer satisfaction. In this paper we will discus why teams are essential in healthcare, how they are used in other organizations, how lessons from other industries might be applied to the health care industry, and lastly organizational processes that support problem solving.
Teams are Essential to Health Care
In the health care field teams are essential because it allows the work to be divided, it also allows new ideas and different points of views. Building a cohesive team that works well together can make a difficult job much easier. “One of the distinguishing characteristics of healthcare organizations is that the professional staff needs to work closely and collaboratively to meet patient needs. In other words, the tasks of individual employees affect, and are dependent upon, the work of others” (Buchbinder & Shanks, 2012, p.). It is important that teams are set up to ensure the delivery of safe, effective, and timely care (Buchbinder & Shanks, 2012). Some of the funds the department has set aside can be used to purchase a phone system where calls can be sent to appropriate locations. All teams should be assigned to answer certain questions. This could possibly help alleviate the pressure on the staff and reduce the call wait.
How Teams are used in Other Industries
Teams are generally people that work together in one place. Each person in the team has specific roles such as the teams in aviation, auto racing, and the military. Most teams have a pilot and co-pilot that work together for the safety of their passengers. Which is the same in the healthcare field. Effective teamwork in healthcare delivery can have an immediate positive impact on patient safety.
Lessons from Industries Applied to the Health Care Industry The health care industry could benefit from the different lessons of other industries by following some of their practices that make the industry prosper. Some practices the health care industry could adopt from companies such as Target who uses a form of integrative training for all employees. The health care industry could benefit from training where all employees undergo scenarios that allow them to make decisions for the benefit of the company. The health care industry could benefit from team bonding exercise that would allow the team the ability of accomplishing tasks and learn how trusting each member of the team will allow the team to complete tasks (Baker, Day & Salas, 2006). The health care industry will benefit from the Target practice of each member of the con complete the different tasks of the other team members; this will allow the completion of any task even if someone leaves the team prematurely. The health care industry could benefit from a program that would allow for feedback from its customers, which would allow the health care industry the ability of complying with the needs of its customers. The $20,000 that the company can spend to improve customer efficiency could allow the health care industry the ability of implementing more efficient phone system that will help monitor the progress of each customer activity.
Organizational Processes that Support Problem Solving
Hospitals and other health care providers deal with
