Health Team in Primary Health Care: Facilitators and Inhibitors of the Effective Function

Introduction: Primary health care (PHC) plays a central role in health system reforms of countries across the world, particularly developing countries. PHC teams are considered as one of the key principals for developing these services. This study aimed to identify the facilitators and inhibitors of the effective function of these teams. Method: The current study was a review article, in which relevant articles were extracted from credible databases and studied. Foreign and domestic databases were searched using suitable keywords about effective facilitators and inhibitors of the health team function. The results were presented in descriptive tables after careful investigation and specified classifications. Results: Most important facilitators of the effective function of PHC teams were: clear goals, presence of administrative and clinical systems, labor division, geographical proximity, training, effective communication, conflict solution, integration, participation, job attraction and satisfaction, workplace, career, empathy, professional size and mix, stability, organizational support, encouragement for innovation, regular meetings, performance evaluation system and feedback, competition, leadership, and mutual trust. Furthermore, the most important inhibitors of health teams’ effective function were: inefficient leadership, poor communication, poor decision making, ambiguous goals, destructive conflict, unclear roles, inharmonious team mix, inappropriate rewarding mechanisms, and insufficient knowledge of team members. Discussion and Conclusion: Planning workshops, public empowerment, and promoting intersectoral collaboration with emphasis on facilitators and inhibitors of teams’ effective function are suggested in order to improve team work in the health sector.

Keywords:

Health team , Primary health care , Facilitator , Inhibitor , Effective function , Continuous care , تیم سلامت , مراقبتهای بهداشتی اولیه , تسهیلگر , موانع , کارکرد اثربخش , تداوم مراقبت