Establishing Teamwork in the Medical Field

Why Is Teamwork Necessary for Medical Professionals?

The healthcare industry relies heavily on collaboration.

In this profession, you will work with fellow nurses, or MDs, surgeons, specialists, administrators so the people you are helping receive the proper administered health solutions.

As you treat patients, you may face conditions that are not quite familiar to you or outside of your trained practice.

Determining the best solutions to help them could involve consulting with other experts and specialists in your field.

The medical field is continuously evolving.

New healthcare methods are being frequently introduced to improve patient treatment.

As you adapt to new healthcare service innovations and undergo the adjustment period when introducing them in your workplace, you will need to work as a team, so everyone is on the same page for efficient implementation.

If you work in care homes or hospitals which involve shift work, you will need to count on your fellow staff members to continue taking care of patients who have been under your watch during shifts.

You will need to be an effective team collaborator as you pass on the responsibility of your patient’s treatment to another healthcare provider.

To ensure you and your staff work seamlessly as a unit, you need to emphasize valuable teamwork qualities.

The benefit of collaboration is that team members will have these strengths to contribute and motivate others to improve them.

By relying on each other, you can learn to embody the essential qualities to promote teamwork in your workplace:

Communicative

You must be communicative and informative in the medical field, especially when discussing a patient’s healthcare treatment.

If you share details of their circumstances to consult with fellow staff or other experts, ensure that you include all useful information to work as a team properly.

To effectively share information, it helps to:
● Maintain eye contact with the person you are addressing to ensure they are engaged and understand what you are sharing

● Keep an open stance, use your arms when speaking to emphasize your points, and appear approachable

● Be concise, so the details you are sharing don’t become lost in too many words or unclear phrasing

● Elaborate thoroughly where necessary to ensure your team members understand what you are communicating

● Allow room for questions if you may have missed any details or any trouble areas that your team need clarification around

● Speak confidently with an audible pitch and volume, so everything is heard, and you will keep your listeners' attention while speaking

● Be selective of the best methods through speaking, writing, showing, etc.

Detail-Oriented

Working with others will help you address all the fine details that may have been overlooked by one pair of eyes.

Being detail-oriented is especially valuable when consulting with experts or specialists who can offer various outlooks when considering treatment solutions for your patient.

By consulting with multiple medical professionals who have looked at the details of your patient’s health condition or who have personally been involved in treating them, you can find the best strategies that address all their necessary needs.

When sharing responsibilities with other staff members, it always helps to possess detail-oriented qualities.

Being attentive in your administrative duties will ensure any fellow team member will have all the essential information available for properly assisting patients.

Acknowledging all fine details may seem unnecessary or excessive.

However, notifying the nighttime nurse that the patient who has been sick with the flu mentioned headaches from the lights could be an essential detail to guide how they observe the patient’s condition.

This minor piece of information may impact how your patient is treated so they can get better.

Adaptable

Knowing how to roll with changes will help your healthcare team run efficiently.

You may experience schedule changes or have a member call in sick, leaving you with longer shifts or more responsibility.

Life happens.

So, by being understanding and adaptive, you can be an influential support team member who can quickly adjust to updates and not let them impair how you treat your patients.

Being adaptable involves having an open mind and being able to come up with solutions quickly.

Rather than letting slight changes overwhelm you, it helps to remain clear-minded so you can manage stressful situations and get through them.

This will benefit your patients and inspire other team members to do the same.

Your adaptable attitude could help keep your fellow staff members calm as you face unpredictable situations, which is common in this field.

Respectful

When working with others, you must be kind to one another and have shared respect.

Every member is valuable and can offer selective strengths to benefit your staff or team.

The primary purpose of a team is to learn from one another to collectively share ideas and find solutions that will benefit your workplace and the people you are helping.

Fortunately, you can demonstrate being respectful in simple ways that will be impactful and support your teamwork:

● Being receptive to feedback and ideas from team members

● Being an active listener while someone is speaking

● Possessing empathy for fellow staff to understand their perspectives and be considerate

● Being inclusive of all member’s input or ideas

● Taking time to get to know your staff

● Smiling

Willing to Learn

As you know, in the medical field, it is virtually impossible to know everything.

That’s why you always need to be open to learning more.

Your team members may have experiences with patients or conditions that you don’t, so that they could be helpful resources.

It’s important to have humility and be open to gaining information from others who share the same goals to make people feel better.

Conclusion

Training programs are also available to help you learn, so you will have the skills and certification to make you a reliable asset to your team.

Fortunately, with [ProMed Certifications], you can earn your ACLS, PALS, BLS, and CPR training and certification with convenience.

Our engaging online courses will allow you to gain the necessary training around your busy schedule.

With ProMed, you will be able to balance our courses with your workload as you can pause your progress and pick up wherever you left off at any time.

Your completed training will benefit your team and your professional success, so get started today!