Distributed team processes in healthcare services: a scoping review

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Health Services Research
• Medical Informatics

Background:

• High-quality healthcare relies on multidisciplinary teams and cooperation among dispersed professionals.
• Effective team processes are crucial for patient safety in geographically dispersed healthcare services.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review identifying common barriers to team processes in dispersed healthcare.
• To identify innovative technological applications supporting team processes and patient safety in distributed healthcare settings.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search across APA PsychINFO, Epistemonikos, and Medline databases (2010-2023).
• Inclusion criteria applied to identify relevant studies on distributed healthcare teams.
• Analysis of 19 studies, predominantly quantitative and cross-sectional, from Europe and North America.

Main Results:

• Identified common barriers and innovative technological solutions for distributed healthcare teams.
• Most studies focused on improving communication, coordination, and shared mental models.
• Few studies utilized health services data to examine interpersonal exchange and team dynamics.

Conclusions:

• Technological innovations are key to overcoming barriers in distributed healthcare team processes.
• Recommendations are provided to guide future research on enhancing distributed healthcare team performance and patient safety.