Evaluation of the teamwork in six intensive care units of two university hospitals

Introduction: It has been demonstrated that teamwork has a direct positive effect on the quality and the efficiency of patient's care and consequently on hospital costs. Objectives: 1.To assess attitudes toward the teamwork of nurses and physicians of 6 ICUs in two teaching hospitals. 2.To analyze if there are any relationships between attitudes toward teamwork and socio-demographic variables. 3.To study if there are differences in the attitudes toward teamwork among professionals of the different units. Method: This prospective study evaluated the attitudes of teamwork of 136 professionals with the scale development by Heinemann et al. in 1999. This scale is made up of three subscales that measure the value of being in a team, the efficiency of the team and the function of collaboration of the physician within the team. Results: The majority of professionals had a positive attitude towards teamwork. They obtained a mean score of 97.01 for a maximum of 120 points. In regards to sociodemographic variables, statistically significant differences were only found in gender and professional category, as women and female nurses had better attitudes toward teamwork. There were no differences in attitudes towards teamwork in the different units studied. Conclusion: Attitude toward teamwork by physicians and nurses of the 6 ICUs studied was good. No differences were found between attitudes toward teamwork among the professionals of the different units. (C) 2009 Elsevier Espana, S.L. and SEEIUC. All rights reserved.