A macroergonomic approach to improve the performance of complex teams in public health and health care

Dallas, Kaitlyn (Hale-Lopez)

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125520 Copy

Description

Title

A macroergonomic approach to improve the performance of complex teams in public health and health care

Author(s)

Dallas, Kaitlyn (Hale-Lopez)

Issue Date

2024-06-26

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Wooldridge, Abigail R

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Wooldridge, Abigail R

Committee Member(s)

• Cao, Caroline
• Diesner, Jana
• Goldstein, Molly H
• Bond, William F

Department of Study

Industrial&Enterprise Sys Eng

Discipline

Systems & Entrepreneurial Engr

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Systems Engineering Initiative For Patient Safety (seips) Model
• Network Analysis
• Centrality
• Fluid Team
• Distributed Team
• Ephemeral Team
• Multiteam System
• Membership Interdependence
• Transactive Memory System
• Team Cognition
• Public Health
• Health Care

Language

eng

Abstract

Teams in health care settings have additional characteristics to meet the complex and changing work demands, such as fluid team membership, distributed team members, an ephemeral nature, a multiteam system structure, and membership interdependence. There is a critical need to understand how these team characteristics impact team processes and team interactions. We designed a multiple case study examining two teams in health care. The first case study examined a COVID-19 pandemic response team, which was an ephemeral multiteam system that was geographically and organizationally distributed and contained members with membership interdependence. The second case study examined a postpartum medical emergency management team, which was a fluid and ephemeral team with organizationally distributed members. For each case study, we performed a macroergonomic analysis to explore how the work system impacts the processes and the system outcomes. We used the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) model to guide our macroergonomic analysis. In the first case study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 27 members of the COVID-19 pandemic response team. In the second case study, we conducted semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 29 clinicians of the postpartum medical emergency management team. Our results included the identification of factors that support and impede team performance to inform recommendations to (re)design the work system to support team performance. Additionally, for each case study, we used social network analysis to explore how the centrality of each team member impacts their perceived team effectiveness. We designed a close-ended survey to collect social network data and team effectiveness data. The relationship between centrality and team effectiveness differed in each case study. In the COVID-19 pandemic response team, there was a negligible negative relationship, whereas in the postpartum medical emergency management team, there was a weak positive relationship. Based on the findings from both case studies, we suggested two overarching recommendations to support team performance in future teams with similar team characteristics. The first recommendation is to develop a transactive memory system, e.g., a shared knowledge and memory system at the team level, through work system design. The results from our case studies suggest that developing a transactive memory system can overcome barriers to team performance that result from team characteristics such as distributed or fluid members. Our results also contain strategies to support the development of transactive memory systems in an organizationally distributed team and in a fluid team. The second recommendation is related to central members facilitating team cognition activities. Team cognition is the cognitive processes that occur at the team level, such as planning, decision-making, and assessing situations. The results from our case studies suggest that members who are central in their team are well suited to facilitate team cognition activities as they may act as a boundary spanner between component teams in a multiteam system or act as a bridge to connect changing team members together in fluid teams.

Graduation Semester

2024-08

Type of Resource

Thesis

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125520

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2024 Kaitlyn Dallas

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