Implications
There are countless numbers of nursing teams working
in inpatient care units in acute care hospitals across the
world. Yet these teams have received little research
attention. The results of the present study suggest that
efforts to improve teamwork in these settings would
have a positive impact on staff satisfaction. If nursing
staff are not satisfied, like workers in general, they will
be more likely to leave their position/occupation and/or
to have a lower level of productivity (Hayeset al.2006,
Kovneret al.2007). Increasing satisfaction would likely
result in cost savings as high job satisfaction is linked to
lower turnover (Hayes et al.2006) and intent to leave
(Brewer et al.2009). On average nurse turnover costs
hospitals at least $82 000–$88 000 per staff member
(Jones 2008)