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

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Organizational Psychology
• Patient Safety

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic significantly strained healthcare systems and personnel.
• This strain potentially affected patient safety and healthcare worker well-being.
• Understanding changes in teamwork climate is vital for mitigating negative impacts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess changes in teamwork climate among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• To investigate the relationship between teamwork climate shifts and safety culture.
• To examine the impact of these changes on workforce well-being.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional observational study involving 50,000 healthcare workers across 3 U.S. health systems.
• Utilized SCORE survey data collected before and during the first year of the pandemic.
• Measured 9 culture domains including teamwork, safety, leadership, and well-being.

Main Results:

• A significant decline in favorable teamwork climate was observed (45.6% to 43.7%, P < 0.0001).
• 35% of facilities experienced a decrease in teamwork climate, correlating with declines in all other culture domains.
• Facilities with improved teamwork maintained well-being and improved other culture domains.

Conclusions:

• Healthcare worker teamwork norms deteriorated during the pandemic.
• Teamwork climate changes were strongly linked to safety culture and workforce well-being.
• Sustaining behaviors like speaking up and interdisciplinary coordination is key to resilience; proactive team training is recommended.