The May 2011 edition of Canadian Family Physician reports on a study of team members in Ontario’s FHTs, by Dr. Michelle Howard and others from McMaster University. Click here to access the full report.
Key findings are:
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Interprofessional teamwork, by way of family health teams (FHTs), shows promise as a strategy to facilitate optimal primary health care.
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This study aimed to understand how organizational factors influenced team climate and to determine whether there were modifiable factors that predicted a better team climate in the FHT setting.
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Team climate is positively predicted by strong leadership, group or developmental culture, and use of electronic medical records within the FHT.
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The lack of relationships found between most organizational factors, such as governance or mix of health professionals, and team climate suggests that interpersonal aspects of teamwork override organizational aspects, and that individuals who commit to working in this environment will engage in teamwork regardless of other factors in the environment.