Results of the present study point to the need to enhance nursing teamwork on patient care units. Salas
et al.(2009) recommended seven evidence-based strategies to develop, enhance and sustain successful team
training. These include: (1) alignment of team training
objectives and safety aims with organizational goals, (2)
providing organizational support, (3) encourage participation of frontline leaders, (4) adequate preparation
of the environment and staff for team training, (5)
determination of resources and required time commitments, (6) facilitation of application of acquired teamwork skills and (7) measurement of the effectiveness of
the team training programme. Kalisch et al. (2007)
found similar essential elements in interventions to improve teamwork. These elements include: (1) promotion
of staff feedback, (2) identification of shared values,
vision and goals, (3) enhanced communication, (4)
coaching (i.e. leadership reinforcement) and (5) implementation of guiding teams (composed of leadership
and staff). Furthermore, efforts to move all staff to 12-hour shifts instead of a mixture of 8- and 12-hour shifts
as a means to decrease hand-offs between shifts and to
decrease the number of different people they worked
with also improved teamwork scores (Kalischet al.
2007). The role of the nurse manager should be in
supporting the application of the teamwork intervention afterwards, coaching and ongoing measurement of
the effect of the teamwork training intervention.