Administrators’ role in clinical healthcare delivery teams and clinicians’ role in healthcare administration teams
There are various challenges that feature in the management and operations of healthcare organizations. Healthcare delivery models are shifting from the traditional modalities and into new value-added systems. Consequently, I fully agree with the sentiment that administrators should play a prominent role in the clinical healthcare delivery teams while clinicians should play a prominent role in healthcare administration teams. This view is informed by various factors that are subject to the structures of modern healthcare organizational models. First, when clinicians are in charge of healthcare administration teams, their credibility increases significantly. For instance, most healthcare staff members believe that a manager with clinical experience has the ability to prioritize on the crucial health care goals. On the other hand, organizations are continuously increasing the scope of administration teams’ activities with the aim of improving their technical skills. (5) Having healthcare administrators participate in clinical activities “makes their roles more strategic and also enables them to respond to the changing organizational demands in their respective fields”. (6 p306) Combining the roles of both clinicians and healthcare administrators is aimed at creating teams that have the ability to think strategically and harness resources with the view of improving efficiency and outcomes. Health organization trends indicate that in future there will be high demand of administrators who have active experience in clinical operations. Overall, healthcare organizations should equip themselves with integrated management teams in response to the increased population health-management demands. (4)
The components of effective team performance
The hallmark of a functional health management team is high task effectiveness, good social climate, and a sense of stability over time. (2) First, a functional team is bound by several principles that are all aimed towards effective healthcare practices. A good management team is dedicated to patient safety at all times. In addition, a good team is motivated by various management factors including punctuality, efficacy, equity, efficiency, and patient-centeredness. The activities of a well-performing team are guided by a common goal that is shared among all team members. A good team also has to embrace shared responsibilities to aid in the achievement of its goal. Another characteristic of a good team is that it has to have a good leader who is accepted by all team members (3). The leader provides a sense of direction to the team members. The team leader should also be supported by a clearly defined hierarchy through which decisions can be made in prompt and fluent manner. A functional team also consists of a sense of authority that legitimizes its activities towards the achievement of a particular goal. Members of a good healthcare team should also have a sense of security within their respective teams. This stability ensures that individuals can perform their duties without the fear of a potential backlash or victimization. (1) The availability of trust among team members is also a sign that the team is functional.
References
Clements D, Dault M, Priest A. Effective teamwork in healthcare: research and reality. Healthcare Papers. 2006; 7:26-34.
Finn R, Learmonth M, Reedy P. Some unintended effects of teamwork in healthcare. Social Science & Medicine. 2010; 70(8):1148-54.
Poulton BC, West MA. Effective multidisciplinary teamwork in primary health care. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 2013; 18(6):918-25.
Sherman R, Pross E. Growing future nurse leaders to build and sustain healthy work environments at the unit level. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. 2010; 15(1):48-54.
Swayne LE, Duncan WJ, Ginter PM. Strategic management of health care organizations. New York: John Wiley & Sons; 2012.
West MA, Wallace M. Innovation in health care teams. European Journal of social psychology. 2011; 21(4):303-15.