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The role of physical design and informal communication

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teamwork, she cites studies by Weil<strong>and</strong> et al. (1996), McHugh et al. (1996), <strong>and</strong><br />

Langhorne, Williams, Gilchrist, <strong>and</strong> Howie (1993) that found that interdisciplinary<br />

teams correlate with decreased length <strong>of</strong> hospital stay, better coordination <strong>of</strong> patient<br />

care, <strong>and</strong> decreased mortality one year after discharge, respectively. A study by Baggs<br />

et al. (1999) revealed that teamwork between intensive care unit (ICU) physicians <strong>and</strong><br />

nurses resulted in a reduced risk <strong>of</strong> readmission to the ICU <strong>and</strong> decreased mortality.<br />

<strong>The</strong>y also found a perfect rank order correlation between unit collaboration <strong>and</strong> patient<br />

outcomes, that is, the higher the unit collaboration, the better the patient outcomes.<br />

1.6.2 Impact <strong>of</strong> Teamwork on Nurse Job Satisfaction<br />

Not only does teamwork among healthcare pr<strong>of</strong>essionals benefit the patient, it<br />

also improves job satisfaction in staff. In a study <strong>of</strong> nurses’ job satisfaction <strong>and</strong><br />

organizational characteristics, nurses' views <strong>of</strong> cohesion with their ward nursing team<br />

<strong>and</strong> collaboration with medical staff were found to be the best predictors <strong>of</strong> job<br />

satisfaction (Adams & Bond, 2001). Not only did Rafferty et al. (2001) find a positive<br />

relationship between teamwork <strong>and</strong> job satisfaction, they also found that nurses with<br />

higher teamwork scores planned to stay in their jobs <strong>and</strong> had lower burnout scores. In<br />

the same study, it is also interesting to note that nurses with higher teamwork scores<br />

also exhibited higher levels <strong>of</strong> autonomy, which suggests the presence <strong>of</strong> synergy<br />

rather than conflict. Dutta (2008) cited a study by Borill et al (2001) that found that<br />

healthcare staff working in well-functioning teams reported much lower levels <strong>of</strong><br />

stress <strong>and</strong> were less likely to leave their organization or pr<strong>of</strong>ession. <strong>The</strong> mounting<br />

evidence that establishes the link between teamwork <strong>and</strong> nurse job satisfaction<br />

challenges hospital administrators <strong>and</strong> nurse managers to rethink organizational<br />

priorities in an effort to retain their nursing workforce.<br />

11

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