Veterinary team interactions, part one: the practice effect

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Medicine
• Organizational Behavior
• Social Network Analysis

Background:

• Modern veterinary practices increasingly function as teams, incorporating diverse roles like surgeons, nurses, and managers.
• The growth of practices, often involving multiple branches, creates distributed teams, necessitating research into their dynamics.
• Existing research on veterinary teamwork and interprofessional collaboration is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the structure and nature of interactions within veterinary teams using Social Network Analysis (SNA).
• To examine how practice size and the presence of multiple branches influence team interactions.
• To identify factors affecting communication and collaboration in veterinary practice settings.

Main Methods:

• Social Network Analysis (SNA) was employed to map and quantify interactions among veterinary practice staff.
• Interactions were categorized by complexity, from simple information sharing to complex problem-solving.
• The study considered the effects of practice size and geographical distribution (multiple branches) on network density and interaction patterns.

Main Results:

• Smaller veterinary practices exhibit higher interaction densities, suggesting greater team cohesion.
• Despite higher density, individuals in smaller practices still selectively interact with specific colleagues.
• Veterinary practices with minimal staff rotation across branches show significantly limited inter-location interactions.

Conclusions:

• Practice size influences team cohesion, with smaller teams generally being more interactive.
• Strategies are needed to foster and maintain effective communication in distributed veterinary teams, especially those with multiple branches.
• Findings offer practical implications for veterinary practices aiming for team expansion or multi-site operations to improve collaboration.