Creating an Operating Code: PHM Team Formation Practices

While team formation contributes to team effectiveness, the practices of team formation are poorly described in health care settings. This single-center study explores current practices for team formation in pediatric hospital medicine (PHM) through semi-structured interviews with 10 PHM attendings from a tertiary children's hospital. A basic inductive and comparative analysis strategy was used to code interview transcripts and identify themes. Six themes emerged: (1) Team formation practices relate to socialization, role clarity, goal formation, and expectation setting. (2) Initial practices aim toward establishing a psychologically safe learning environment. (3) Initial dedicated time is critical for team formation. (4) Team formation is an ongoing cycle of activity and feedback. (5) The attending-senior resident relationship is central. (6) Practices adjust for environmental issues. This study fills an existing literature gap by describing current practices of PHM team formation and reveals new concepts to refine these practices and ultimately improve team effectiveness.