Understanding Teamwork in Health Care 1st Edition

Interprofessional teams are a hallmark of delivery across an increasingly complex health care continuum. While designed for better patient outcomes, these teams frequently serve as barriers. Drs. Mosser and Begun provide a clear and comprehensive text with practical frameworks and insightful vignettes for clinical and non-clinical health care team members. Their guidance benefits professionals at all career stages and serves as an enjoyable and valuable resource for all in health care.

This book takes an example laden approach to an abstract topic. The use of clinical vignettes is very helpful in teaching these important aspects of team-based communication principles in today's healthcare climate. My main issue with this text is the almost complete lack of inclusion of the physician assistant profession in healthcare teams. This is particularly noticeable as you read through the multitude of vignettes and examples which barely mention PAs other than occasionally by name, with no attention paid to their role. This is a required text for the Interpersonal Communication class that I am the course director for at my university. I will reconsider using this in the future because of this. I suggest inclusion of PAs in future editions.

Screw textbooks.

After 40 years leading elite teams around the world, I took a look at the 'set texts' for my daughter's teamwork course at med school. Without exception, they were all utter crap, decades out of date, didn't cover essentials such as Belbin team roles or other key aspects. It makes you wonder what these professors of medicine do to earn their money - certainly not running teams with any competence! Whilst I am not a medic and have never worked in a healthcare domain (software is my thing), this book is excellent from my perspective and covers all the angles in some depth. I've bought the set texts for her second hand (£3 a piece, or thereabouts - they are that old) and splashed out on this to help her continue her run of annual distinctions, but more importantly to help her shift from being excellent at studying in her teens to the skill that will dominate the rest of her life as a doctor: teamwork.