Evaluation of teamwork and its associated factors in the emergency rooms of Sousse - Tunisia

• Published in: European journal of public health Vol. 30; no. Supplement_5
• Main Authors: Lamine, H, Tyss, M, Tlili, M A, Taghouti, E, Aouicha, W, Zedini, C, Ben rejeb, M, Chelbi, S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford Publishing Limited (England) 01-09-2020
• Subjects: Adverse events; Caregivers; Communication; Coordination; Cross-sectional studies; Emergencies; Emergency medical care; Emergency medical services; Hospitals; Leadership; Medical personnel; Nurses; Patient safety; Patients; Physicians; Public health; Quality of care; Respondents; Safety; Social sciences; Teamwork; Technicians; Tunisia
• ISSN: 1101-1262; 1464-360X
• DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/ckaa166.509

Abstract
Background
In recent years, patient safety has become a priority and a major target for improvement especially in the emergency rooms. According to the French National Authority for Health, 1/3 of serious adverse events could be avoided thanks to better coordination and better communication between the teams. Thus, this study aimed to describe the perceptions of healthcare professionals in the emergency rooms of Sousse-Tunisia regarding teamwork, and to determine the factors influencing it.
Methods
It is a descriptive cross-sectional study, conducted between December 2018 and April 2019. It included all the caregivers working in all the emergency rooms of Sousse-Tunisia. The measurement tool used in this study was “Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS)” Teamwork Perception Questionnaire. Data were coded and analyzed by The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 20.0).
Results
A total of 110 participants were recruited with a participation rate of 72.36%. Nurses represent more than half of the respondents (56.4%). Average work experience was 7.27 years. The Teamwork overall score was 2.5±0.5. The most developed dimension was leadership (2.7±0.8) and the less developed dimension was communication (2.3±0.7). Women had a significantly higher overall score than men (2.6±0.5, 2.4±0.3, p = 0.017). Results also showed that emergency technicians have significantly higher overall score than doctors and nurses (p = 1 × 10-5). The overall score also varied significantly across the hospitals (p = 0.016).
Conclusions
Our results showed that the level of teamwork still needs to be improved. Furthermore, various factors are associated with teamwork, and that should be taken into consideration to guide the future interventions.
Key messages
There is a direct relationship between the quality of care and the effectiveness of teamwork. It is necessary to focus on the affecting factors of teamwork, in order to prevent adverse events.