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Balancing cognitive diversity and mutual understanding in multidisciplinary teams
Rebecca Mitchell1, Brendan Boyle, Rachael O'Brien
1Rebecca Mitchell, PhD, is Associate Professor, University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. E-mail: Rebecca.mitchell@newcastle.edu.au. Brendan Boyle, PhD, is Research Academic, University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Rachael O'Brien, BSLP, is Research Associate, University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Ashish Malik, PhD, is Research Academic, University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Karen Tian, PhD, is Research Academic, University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Vicki Parker, PhD, is Professor of Rural Nursing, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. Michelle Giles, RN, is Clinical Nurse Consultant, Hunter New England Local Health District, New South Wales, Australia. Pauline Joyce, DEd, is Academic Director, Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, Ireland. Vico Chiang, PhD, is Assistant Professor, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong.
Cognitive diversity in health care teams drives innovation through debate, especially when teams share trans-specialist knowledge. This highlights the importance of interprofessional education for fostering innovation.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Management
- Team Innovation
- Cognitive Diversity
Background:
- Interprofessional health care teams are common but not always successful.
- Understanding factors influencing team innovation is crucial.
- Cognitive diversity's role in successful innovation requires investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To model team innovation predicted by cognitive diversity in interprofessional health care teams.
- To investigate the mediating role of debate in the cognitive diversity-innovation relationship.
- To explore the moderating effect of trans-specialist knowledge on this pathway.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional, correlational design.
- Survey data collected from 75 interprofessional teams in acute care settings.
- Statistical analysis to test a moderated mediation model.
Main Results:
- Significant positive relationship found between cognitive diversity and debate.
- Trans-specialist knowledge strengthens the link between cognitive diversity and debate.
- Debate positively predicts innovation, supporting the full moderated mediation model.
Conclusions:
- Cognitive diversity can foster innovation in interprofessional teams through enhanced debate.
- Trans-specialist knowledge is key to leveraging cognitive diversity for innovation.
- Interventions promoting shared language, like interprofessional education, can increase team innovation.
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