Emergence of power and complexity in obstetric teamwork

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Medical Sociology
• Organizational Psychology

Background:

• Increasing focus on team processes in peripartum care to enhance fetomaternal outcomes.
• Limited understanding of how teamwork perceptions form in complex, multidisciplinary peripartum settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the lived experiences of successful peripartum emergency management.
• To understand teamwork as an emergent phenomenon shaped by relationships, power, and quality management practices.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative social-scientific methodology.
• Gathering lived experiences of managing peripartum emergencies.
• Analysis of interpersonal relationships, power dynamics, and quality management enactment.

Main Results:

• Caregivers define teamwork by collaboration quality (respect, communication, roles, shared experiences).
• Teamwork serves as a platform for negotiating external conflicts.
• Power emerged as a central theme, contrasting with egalitarian team training rhetoric.

Conclusions:

• Peripartum work environments are complex systems with intricacies, constraints, and hierarchical struggles.
• Power dynamics significantly influence workplace social dynamics and teamwork discourse.
• Hidden agendas within teamwork discourse were revealed through the lens of power.