Teamwork Before and During COVID-19: The Good, the Same, and the Ugly…

The COVID 19 pandemic placed unprecedented strain on healthcare systems and workers, likely also impacting patient safety and outcomes. This study aimed to understand how teamwork climate changed during that pandemic and how these changes affected safety culture and workforce well-being.

This cross-sectional observational study of 50,000 healthcare workers (HCWs) in 3 large U.S. health systems used scheduled culture survey results at 2 distinct time points: before and during the first year of the COVID 19 pandemic. The SCORE survey measured 9 culture domains: teamwork climate, safety climate, leadership engagement, improvement readiness, emotional exhaustion, emotional exhaustion climate, thriving, recovery, and work-life balance.

Response rate before and during the pandemic was 75.45% and 74.79%, respectively. Overall, HCWs reporting favorable teamwork climate declined (45.6%-43.7%, P < 0.0001). At a facility level, 35% of facilities saw teamwork climate decline, while only 4% saw an increase in teamwork climate. Facilities with decreased teamwork climate had associated decreases in every culture domain, while facilities with improved teamwork climate maintained well-being domains and saw improvements in every other culture domain.

Healthcare worker teamwork norms worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Teamwork climate trend was closely associated with other safety culture metrics. Speaking up, resolving conflicts, and interdisciplinary coordination of care were especially predictive. Facilities sustaining these behaviors were able to maintain other workplace norms and workforce well-being metrics despite a global health crisis. Proactive team training may provide substantial benefit to team performance and HCW well-being during stressful times.