Browsing by Subject "Teamwork"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Essential Teamwork Skills: Perspectives of Environmental Geoscience Employers
    (TechRxiv, 2022) Nyarko, Samuel Cornelius; Petcovic, Heather L.
    Geoscience employers have increasingly called for the future workforce (students) to demonstrate competence in non-technical skills, including teamwork. This descriptive qualitative study contributes to ongoing efforts to identify the specific practices, skills, habits, and knowledge that make up these desired teamwork competencies in the geosciences. We collected interview data from three online focus group discussions centered around teamwork. Focus group participants (n = 12) were hydrogeology and environmental geology employers and team managers from government, private industry, and nonprofit organizations in the United States. Using a teamwork skills taxonomy model as our conceptual framework, we coded the transcripts to generate three categories of teamwork skills specific to environmental geoscience teams. First, our data indicate that these employers value team transition skills related to specifying goals, interpreting team tasks, identifying resources, and planning. The second category of desired teamwork competencies included action skills such as metacognition, coordination, and mentoring. These skills directly impact successful task completion. The third category captured interpersonal skills such as emotional intelligence, proactive communication, and organization. A fourth category of desired teamwork competencies emerged from data analysis and include ethical skills related to trust, integrity, and humility. This study provides a detailed description of teamwork competencies desired by environmental geoscience employers. We recommend that geoscience instructors consider using techniques such as intentional teaching of teamwork skills, experiential learning, professional development, and teamwork awareness in order to prepare students for workforce expectations.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Improved Teamwork and Implementation of Clinical Pathways in a Congenital Heart Surgery Program
    (Wolters Kluwer, 2019-01-18) Willis, Tina Schade; Yip, Theodore; Brown, Karla; Buck, Scott; Mill, Michael; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Introduction: Complex surgical populations are at increased risk of morbidity, especially when experiencing variations in care and poor teamwork. The goal of this project was to improve teamwork and decrease variations in care in a pediatric congenital heart surgery population by implementing Integrated Clinical Pathways (ICPs) on a foundation of teamwork training. Methods: A core team used project management for completion of the project and measurement of success. The leadership team created a new operations infrastructure for the program to effectively implement and sustain improvement. Master trainers targeting teams caring for the patient population completed teamwork training and coaching. ICPs were designed and implemented using iterative tests of change with the assistance of an expert panel. Results: Three of the 4 units experienced a significant improvement in teamwork after training and coaching. The area without a significant change was one with high-level teamwork training already in place. ICPs were implemented in 2 patient subpopulations. We detected a decrease in total hours intubated using statistical process control charts in both of the ICP patient populations. Despite a decrease in intubation hours, we did not detect a reduction in length of stay in days. The infrastructure for the program was successfully implemented and remains in place 6 years later. Conclusions: Teamwork can be improved with an efficiently delivered training and coaching program. On a foundation of teamwork, ICPs can be implemented and sustained if a supporting infrastructure is in place including program leadership, buy-in from all teams, project management, and ongoing measurement.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Improvisational Theater as a Tool for Enhancing Cooperation in Academic Libraries
    (Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), 2009-03) Stamatoplos, Anthony C., 1958-
    This paper examines the concept of improvisation and its potential role in fostering collaboration and teamwork in academic libraries. It explains basic principles of theatrical improvisation and discusses their practical value in organizational culture. The discussion draws from the literature of organizational improvisation to identify skills applicable to academic libraries and make recommendations for developing improvisational cultures within libraries. The author presented this paper at the 14th National Conference of the Association of College and Research Libraries in Seattle, Washington.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Multiple vantage points of the common operational picture: Supporting International Teamwork
    (HFES Press, 2006) McNeese, Michael D.; Pfaff, Mark S.; Connors, Erik S.; Obieta, Joaquin F.; Terrell, Ivanna S.; Friedenberg, Marc A.
    This paper summarizes multiple perspectives of the common operational picture (COP) in military and civilian crisis management domains viewed from three vantage points: historical, conceptual, and practical. The term COP extends prior research on large group displays to describe a visual representation of tactical, operational, and strategic information intended to generate situation awareness. We present four strata of interest to formulate an innovative conceptual framework of the COP based on user-team needs: structure, representation, processes, and management. This conceptual framework is applied as part of a review of recent and ongoing projects that examines current research gaps in the application of geographic information systems (GIS) to international humanitarian response.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Understanding of Interprofessional Communication to Impact Patient Safety in the Operating Room: A Grounded Theory Study
    (2021-11) McNealy, Kimberly Renee; Reising, Deanna L.; Draucker, Claire Burke; Wonder, Amy Hagedorn; Parrish-Sprowl, John
    Intraoperative adverse events (IAEs) due to interprofessional miscommunication continue to occur despite implementation of surgical checklists and focused communication trainings. Much of the previous intraoperative communication research has focused on the content and quantity of interprofessional communication instead of its context and quality, and current communication interventions seem to have varying levels of engagement, effectiveness, and persistence. The purpose of this dissertation study was to explore the psychosocial processes involved during the establishment and maintenance of interprofessional communication surrounding IAEs or potential IAEs in the intraoperative environment and to identify the perceived facilitators and barriers to communication. Twenty surgical team members participated in semi-structured interviews and described their experiences with interprofessional communication during IAEs. Grounded theory methodology was used to identify the central process, Testing the Water, and two subprocesses, Reading the Room and Navigating Hierarchy. Testing the Water describes the situational nature of interprofessional communication as surgical team members navigate factors influencing the context and probable trajectories of surgical cases and the perceptions of professional rights and responsibilities within surgical teams. Participants in this study experienced Testing the Water differently based on their professional roles and tenure; findings were organized around three emerging groups identified as inexperienced nurses, experienced nurses, and surgeons. Interprofessional communication surrounding IAEs occurred for study participants in fluid, iterative phases identified as 1) Recognition, 2) Reconnaissance, 3) Rallying, 4) Reaction, and 5) Resolution. Participants recognized IAEs or potential IAEs, gathered information through reconnaissance, rallied other team members, reacted to stabilize patients, and resolved IAEs through individual or surgical team reflection. Study participants reported using strategies during communication to accomplish two psychosocial goals, preserving the flow of surgical cases, and protecting the ‘face’ of themselves and other surgical team members. Supporting these psychosocial goals through increased psychological safety for all surgical team members potentially leads to more effective, timely surgical team communication. More effective interprofessional communication facilitates the improved situational awareness, collective sensemaking, and integrated team mental models that are critical to coordinated responses to IAEs. The findings of this study suggest practical implications to increase the effectiveness of interprofessional communication in the intraoperative environment.