Effective healthcare teams require effective team members: defining teamwork competencies

BACKGROUND: Although effective teamwork has been consistently identified as a requirement for enhanced clinical outcomes in the provision of healthcare, there is limited knowledge of what makes health professionals effective team members, and even less information on how to develop skills for teamwork. This study identified critical teamwork competencies for health service managers. METHODS: Members of a state branch of the professional association of Australian health service managers participated in a teamwork survey. RESULTS: The 37% response rate enabled identification of a management teamwork competency set comprising leadership, knowledge of organizational goals and strategies and organizational commitment, respect for others, commitment to working collaboratively and to achieving a quality outcome. CONCLUSION: Although not part of the research question the data suggested that the competencies for effective teamwork are perceived to be different for management and clinical teams, and there are differences in the perceptions of effective teamwork competencies between male and female health service managers. This study adds to the growing evidence that the focus on individual skill development and individual accountability and achievement that results from existing models of health professional training, and which is continually reinforced by human resource management practices within healthcare systems, is not consistent with the competencies required for effective teamwork

Assessing patterns of use of cardio-protective polypill component medicines in Australian women

Background: A low-cost 'polypill' could theoretically be one way of improving medication affordability and compliance for secondary prevention of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. The polypill has also been proposed as a primary prevention strategy. Yet many of the issues surrounding the polypill are still being debated and the underlying assumptions have not been proven. In this paper, we step back from the complexities of the debate and report upon the utilization of polypill component medicines in two population cohorts of Australian women who were aged 56-61 years and 81-86 years in 2007. Objectives: The aims of this study were firstly, to describe the association between the women's characteristics (health, illness, behavioural, demographic, socioeconomic) and their use of statins and antihypertensive medicines for the treatment of heart disease, and secondly, to discuss possible health and economic benefits for women with these characteristics that may be expected to result from the introduction of a cardio-protective polypill. Methods: Survey records from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH) were linked to 2007 Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) claims for 7,116 mid-aged women and 4,526 older-aged women. Associations between women's characteristics (self-reported in ALSWH surveys) and their use of statins and antihypertensive medicines (measured through PBS claims in 2007) were analysed using Chi-square and multivariate regression techniques. Results: Between 2002 and 2007, the use of statins in combination with antihypertensives by mid- and older-aged Australian women increased. A moderate yet increasing proportion of mid-aged women were taking statins without antihypertensives, and a high proportion of older-aged women were using antihypertensives without statins. A high proportion of women who were prescribed both statins and antihypertensives were in lower socioeconomic groups and reported difficulty managing on their incomes. Conclusion: These results suggest that a polypill may provide an easy-to-take, cheaper alternative for Australian women already taking multiple cardiovascular disease medications, with particular benefits for older women and women in lower socioeconomic groups. Future research is needed to quantify the potential social and economic benefits of the polypill. © 2013 Springer International Publishing Switzerland