Design for Supporting Healthcare Teams

In this chapter, we highlight the key characteristics of collaborative teams in healthcare and identify a variety of healthcare teams that differ by varying degrees of shared objectives, clarity of role specifications, and interdependencies. We then review sociotechnical design requirements for teamwork in healthcare settings, ending with two case studies that employed these concepts to demonstrate the dynamic and complex team collaboration in healthcare. We take the perspective that healthcare is a team sport. Effective collaboration of interdisciplinary teams has enabled stunning achievements in patient care, while breakdowns in communication and coordination all too often lead to adverse events. To support health professional teams, health information technologies (HIT) such as electronic health record (EHR) systems and mobile devices should be designed for effective communication and collaboration. Although much attention in health informatics has been focused on supporting the cognitive activities of individuals, improvements in safety and quality of care will depend on technologies that support teamwork and that account for the sociotechnical systems in which healthcare teams function. Understanding the sociotechnical design requirements and how teams work in healthcare settings can thus improve the design, implementation, and impact of health IT.