A Systematic Review of Team Training in Health Care: Ten Questions

Background: As a result of the recent proliferation of health care team training (HTT), there was a need to update previous systematic reviews examining the underlying structure driving team training initiatives.

Methods: This investigation was guided by 10 research questions. A literature search identified 197 empirical samples detailing the evaluation of team training programs within the health care context; 1,764 measures of HTT effectiveness were identified within these samples. Trained coders extracted information related to study design and training development, implementation, and evaluation to calculate percentages detailing the prevalence of certain training features.

Results: HTT was rarely informed by a training needs analysis (k = 47, 23.9%) and most commonly addressed communication strategies (k = 167, 84.8%). HTT programs that incorporated practice (k = 163, 82.7%) often employed high-fidelity patient simulators (k = 38, 25.2%) and provided participants with feedback opportunities (k = 107, 65.6%). Participants were typically practicing clinicians (k = 154, 78.2%) with a lower prevalence of health care students (k = 35, 17.8). Evaluations primarily relied on repeated measures designs (k = 123, 62.4%) and self-reported data (k = 1,257, 71.3%). Additional trends were identified and are discussed.

Conclusions: Many trends in HTT practice and evaluation were identified. The results of this review suggested that, in the literature, HTT programs are more frequently following recommendations for training design and implementation (for example, providing feedback) in comparison to findings from previous reviews. However, there were still many areas in which improvement could be achieved to improve patient care.