Perception of head nurses regarding the importance of team building elements among nurses at main Assuit university hospitals

ABSTRACT

The care and service teams are the new imperative in health care, as a matter of survival. High performance teams are essential to an organization efficiency and effectiveness. This study was conducted at the Main Assiut University Hospital; in the following departments Medical, surgical, I.C.U, obstetric, pediatric, orthopedic, psychiatric departments. To assess the head nurses perceptions regarding the importance and willingness for application of team building elements among head nurses at Main Assuit University Hospitals. The study sample included all the available head nurses [65] currently assigned to work in the selected units. The tool of the study was a questionnaire sheet consisted of two parts The first part was related to socio-demographic characteristics of the study sample including department, years of experience, qualifications, social status and number of children. The second part consisted of 39 items which were categorized into 5 domains goals and objectives [4 items], job roles [3 items], communications [15 items], teams activities [2 items] and finally, environments [15 items]. The present study concluded that defining goals and objectives, clarifying the rules and responsibilities, the role model of assertive communication and, encouraging the team work to develop and experiment new approaches in their work were important elements of team building. The study revealed that there were strongest positive relations between importance of team building elements and willingness of head nurses to apply in team activities, communication and finally environments. It is recommended that the more emphasis is needed for encouragement of every head nurse to share in developing objectives of team work to achieve their goals and create positive work environment to satisfy nurses needs, maintain an enthusiastic team, and allocate rewards based on quality of the work team, and reinforce competitive attitude among team work