Toxic Teams: Strategies for Improvement

If you work in healthcare, you are likely part of a team, maybe even more than one. We know that sharing perspectives, expertise, and opinions improves patient care. It also impacts our professional identities and job satisfaction. Despite best intentions, teams do not always function well; they need deliberation, intention, and attention to meet their goals and operate at their best. This is often complicated by medical hierarchy, lack of time, role confusion/blurring, and personality mismatches. Such challenges can easily create toxic environments for team members. With an increased understanding of how teams form, change, and adapt we can mitigate some team distress and work towards interdisciplinary excellence, influencing patient care, and our professional wellbeing.