title: Leveraging Social Science-Healthcare Collaborations to Improve Teamwork and Patient Safety.
abstract: Effective teamwork is critical to the provision of safe, effective healthcare. High functioning teams adapt to rapidly changing patient and environmental factors, preventing diagnostic and treatment errors. While the emphasis on teamwork and patient safety is relatively new, significant team-related foundational and implementation research exists in disciplines outside of healthcare. Social scientists, including, organizational psychologists, have expertise in the study of teams, multi-team units, and organizations. This article highlights guiding team science principles from the organizational psychology literature that can be applied to the study of teams in healthcare. The authors' goal is to provide some common language and understanding around teams and teamwork. Additionally, they hope to impart an appreciation for the potential synergy present within clinician-social scientist collaborations.
authors.affiliation: Division of Emergency Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Electronic address: fernanre@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Rosemarie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fernandez
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD.
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Grand
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D007857:Leadership; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D061214:Patient Safety / Q000592:standards*; D058996:Quality Improvement / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D012942:Social Sciences