Why Team Work is important in Health Care ?

Teamwork became an important health intervention for a number of reasons. First, clinical care is becoming more complex and specialized, forcing medical staffs to attempt complicated health services and quickly learn new methods. Aging populations, the increase of chronic diseases like diabetes, cancer, and heart disease have forced medical staffs to take a multidisciplinary approach to health care . In countries like the United States, medical teams must manage patients suffering from multiple health problems .
Other countries are also concerned with increasing access to health care for diverse populations. In Brazil, health teams train to intimately understand the needs of patients, but also of local communities and different cultures .
Secondly, researchers have found that working together reduces the number of medical errors and increases patient safety . Teamwork also reduces issues that lead to burnout. No longer is one person responsible for the patient’s health; today, an entire team of health workers comes together to coordinate a patient’s well-being . Health teams help break down hierarchy and centralized power of health organizations, giving more leverage to health workers.
Third, because teamwork is centered on solid communication, patients and their families sometimes feel more at ease and report they accept treatments and feel more satisfied with their health care. Health workers are also found to be more satisfied with their work . A study found nurses who go through successful team building efforts are more satisfied with their work .