1. Health Soc Care Community. 2014 Nov 28. doi: 10.1111/hsc.12150. [Epub ahead of
print]
Primary care team working in Ireland: a qualitative exploration of team members'
experiences in a new primary care service.
Kennedy N(1), Armstrong C, Woodward O, Cullen W.
Author information:
(1)Department of Clinical Therapies, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
Team working is an integral aspect of primary care, but barriers to effective
team working can limit the effectiveness of a primary care team (PCT). The
establishment of new PCTs in Ireland provides an excellent opportunity to explore
team working in action. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the
experiences of team members working in a PCT. Team members (n = 19) from two PCTs
were interviewed from May to June 2010 using a semi-structured interview guide.
All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Data were analysed using
NVivo (version 8). Thematic analysis was used to explore the data. We identified
five main themes that described the experiences of the team members. The themes
were support for primary care, managing change, communication, evolution of roles
and benefits of team working. Team members were generally supportive of primary
care and had experienced benefits to their practice and to the care of their
patients from participation in the team. Regular team meetings enabled
communication and discussion of complex cases. Despite the significant scope for
role conflict due to the varied employment arrangements of the team members,
neither role nor interpersonal conflict was evident in the teams studied. In
addition, despite the unusual team structure in Irish PCTs - where there is no
formally appointed team leader or manager - general issues around team working
and its benefits and challenges were very similar to those found in other
international studies. This suggests, in contrast to some studies, that some
aspects of the leadership role may not be as important in successful PCT
functioning as previously thought. Nonetheless, team leadership was identified as
an important issue in the further development of the teams.
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PMID: 25429985 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]