Comparative Study of Knowledge on Team Building Between Healthcare Workers in Two Federal Tertiary Health Facilities in Different Geo-political Zones of Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction: Team building has been found to improve effectiveness and efficiency of workforce in the healthcare system generally.The objective of this study was to compare knowledge of team building between healthcare workers in two federal tertiary health facilities in South-South and South-East geopolitical zones of Nigeria. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive cross sectional study carried out using multistage sampling technique to select a total of 242 subjects from ten categories of health professionals working in South-East(SE) geopolitical zone (Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, NAUTH Nnewi) and South-South(SS) geopolitical zone (Federal Medical Centre , FMC Asaba) with 121 subjects in each geopolitical zone. Respondents participated in the study using same self-administered questionnaire for both geopolitical zones. Results: A total of 242 respondents participated, 121 each from the two different geopolitical zones. Majority were in the age group of 41-50 years and 21-30 years for SE and SS zones respectively. Majority were female and had first degree education for SE and SS zones respectively. Seven variables of knowledge of team building were collected and analysed with SPSS version 22 with results for SE and SS zones respectively with statistical significance set at p< 0.01 . This consisted of respondents that heard of team in healthcare 74.4 % and 91.0% (p<0.01), those that heard of inter-professional team composition in healthcare 65.9% and 78.7% (p>0.01), those that defined correctly team building 75.6% and 91.0% (p< 0.01), those that defined correctly inter-professional team building to involve different professionals 73.5% and 81.4% (p>0.01), those with sources of information on team building in health healthcare 57.3%(mainly health publication) 65.1% (mainly lectures/conferences) (p <0.01), those that defined correctly a team 70.4% and 88.4% (p< 0.01), those that had good knowledge of competencies to possess to be an effective team member 65.9% and 69.6% (p>0.01). Conclusion and recommendations: Proportion of respondents for the seven variables were higher for the South-South geopolitical zone tertiary health facility than the South-East geopolitical zone tertiary health facility though with no statistical significant difference across all seven variables. It is ,therefore, recommended that needs assessment for team building knowledge be done for healthcare workers in health facilities located in different geopolitical zones before team building training and re-training institutionalization building in order to persistently improve their knowledge of team building as a mechanism to reduce inter-professional conflicts and ultimately improve health outcomes in line with the National Health Policy 2016 of the Federal Government of Nigeria. More research is needful to assess intra- and inter-departmental/ and -professional level of knowledge on team building among healthcare workers  in any health facility in a geopolitical zone.

Keywords: Team building, Knowledge, Health facilities, Healthcare workers, Geo-political zones, Nigeria