Teamwork
Course
Rationale
Principles of
Health Science
Healthcare workers function as team members, and work with people from
diverse backgrounds. Quality healthcare depends on the ability to work well
with others.
Unit VI
Personal
Qualities of a
Health Care
Worker
Essential
Question
Do I have the
skills to work as
a team
member?
TEKS
130.202 7A
Prior Student
Learning
None
Estimated time
1-1 ½ hours
Objectives
Upon completion of this lesson, the student will be able to:


Perform as part of a team
Explain the importance of working as a team member in the health
field.
Engage
Engage students in a game of “balloon bop.” Place students in teams of 4-5
members. Members grab hands and form a circle. Then throw 1 balloon into
the middle of the circle and members are to keep the balloon up in the air
without breaking hands. They may use any body part to keep balloon up in
the air but may not release hands. As team masters 1 balloon, throw in a 2nd
balloon, and then possibly a 3rd. As team loses control and balloon falls to
ground ask members to think why they had difficulty in keeping all the
balloons up in the air.
 It became more difficult with multiple balloons because the team
members were all going in different directions.
 Pose the question, “Do healthcare workers need to work as a team?”
What happens when health care workers lose their main focus which
should the wellbeing of the patient?
Key Points
I. Characteristics of effective healthcare teams include:
A. A clear focus -- the welfare of the patient
B. A focus on achieving results -- completing the task
C. A plan for reaching the goal -- policies and procedures as well as
working together to problem solve new situations
D. Commitment to the goal -- learning the skills to complete the task
E. Competent members -- keeps up with current trends and
procedures
F. Diversity among team members -- understanding that each
member has special training and expertise
G. Effective communication skills -- communication with both the
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patient and team members
H. High standards of excellence -- integrity and hard work
I. Periodic self-assessment -- find new ways to improve yourself
II. One method commonly used by successful teams is synergism.
Synergism occurs when the actions of the team produce a better total
result than the outcomes that the individual team members working
alone could produce. The total is greater than the sum of its parts.
All members work towards the goal using their expertise for the
greater good.
Activity
I. Complete “How’s Your Memory?” activity
II. Complete “How Many Squares Are There?” activity
III. Complete “Problem Solving Through Synergism” activity
IV. Complete “Uncooperative Puzzle” activity
Assessment
Team Work Rubric
Materials
Activity I: Copies of question page from “How’s Your Memory?” per student;
do not give out to students until after reading the story
Activity II: Flip chart with 16 squares or individual copies of the 16 squares
for students to look at and then an additional copy for groups
Activity III: Copies of the diagram sheet for each team
Activity IV: One puzzle for each group of four students
Accommodations for Learning Differences
For reinforcement, the students will solve a given problem. (i.e., provide the
students with a menu for a special celebration meal at the end of the year.
Have them decide on the menu. Afterwards have them outline the process
they used to reach the decisions and compare it with the process of
consensus.)
For enrichment, the student will design an evaluation sheet for assessing the
group process. (If they belong to a group such as Student Council, Key
Club, etc., have them evaluate the group process in conducting a meeting.
Write a one-page synopsis of finding.)
National and State Education Standards
National Health Science Cluster Standards
HLC07.01 Leadership and Teamwork
Health care workers will understand the roles and responsibilities of
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individual members as part of the health care team, including their ability to
promote the delivery of quality health care.
TEKS
130.202(c)(7)(A) explain the concept of teaming to provide quality health
care.
Texas College and Career Readiness Standards
Social Studies Standards
6. Analyze how individual and group identities are established and change
over time.
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How’s Your Memory?
Objective:
To test individual memory and then see how much better the results are using
synergy.
Materials:
Copy of The Questions
Time:
20-30 minutes
Procedure: Read the story to the group then give the students a copy of The Questions and
instruct them to take 5 minutes to answer all of the questions on the sheet.
Form teams of 5-7 and have students answer the questions again, but this time
they are to discuss the responses and come to consensus on the answers. Give
teams 10 minutes to complete.
Give the correct answers and ask them to compare their individual results with the
group results.
Did the group score better than each individual? Did any individual score better
than the group? What is the significance of this?
The Story:
Margaret was driving along Elizabeth Street early in the morning when she noticed two people
walk quickly out of a service station. She had to stop for a red light. While she was stopped she
saw the two people get into a small European car and take off very quickly. The car was silver in
color and its license plate was COOL 1. As they drove away, a man came racing out of the
service station shouting and waving his arms. She drove over to the man and found that he had
just been robbed. The stolen items included over $400 in cash, 15 cartons of cigarettes and the
man’s wallet. When the police arrived a few minutes later they gave her this list of questions to
answer. Can you answer them for her?
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The Questions
1.
What is the name of the witness?
2.
Where were you when you saw this event?
3.
What time did this happen?
4.
How many people were there, and what sex were they?
5.
Can you describe them?
6.
Who was robbed? (Include their position and description.)
7.
Did this person run out of the office?
8.
Can you describe the vehicle they drove away in?
9.
What was stolen?
10.
Who had a weapon?
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How Many Squares Are There?
Objective: To encourage people to see problems from different perspectives, and to look at
problems from different viewpoints in order to reinforce that they are more likely to catch
problems/solutions when they work as a team.
Materials: Individual copies of 16 squares for participants.
Procedure: Ask participants how many squares they see and to write their answer on their
individual sheets. Then have students join into small groups of 2-4 and compare answers; as
small groups compare and combine results the numbers will continue to get larger. Then as
whole group have the group with the largest number show how they came to conclusion on
board or flip chart.
(32-16 individual squares: 1 big square, 11 squares of 4 each, and 4 squares of 9 each)
Discussion Questions:
1. What blocked our sight initially?
2. Have you ever faced a big problem (big square), but as you addressed and solved the parts
(individual squares), the original big problem seemed smaller and easier to manage?
3. What other lessons can we learn from this exercise?
4. What are the implications of what you originally saw as the correct answer?
Tips to Facilitator:
1. Use colored markers to visualize the various squares.
2. If you are challenged that there are actually more than 32, compliment them on their keen
observation skills and agree that there are actually more than 32. The 25 points where the lines
intersect are also squares.
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How many squares can you find?
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Problem Solving Through Synergism
Objective: To demonstrate that team (3-5) effort is better than individual effort.
Time: 10-15 minutes
Procedure: Each team is given a diagram of five squares. Instruct the teams that their task is to
arrange the squares into as many different figures as possible. At least one side of each square
must touch and be in line with one side of another square. They must use five squares each
time. Mirror images are not acceptable.
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Solution – Problem Solving Through Synergism
Objective: To demonstrate that team (3-5) effort is better than individual effort.
Time: 10-15 minutes
Procedure: Each team is given a diagram of five squares. Instruct the teams that their task is to
arrange the squares into many different figures as possible. At least one side of each square
must touch and be in line with one side of another square. They must use five squares each
time. Mirror images are not acceptable.
Solutions: There are 11 possible configurations:
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Uncooperative Puzzle
Before class pick one student per group to be the uncooperative one and talk about what you
want them to do. Try to do this without other students hearing what you say. Tell the student to
be uncooperative when it is their turn to do the puzzle. They can choose to go get a drink, use
the bathroom, whine about how much they hate puzzles, accidentally knock the puzzle on the
floor, start trading pieces with other groups etc.
Divide students into teams of 4, and tell them they are going to put a puzzle together as a group.
The group who finishes first will get a prize.
The rules are:
 Students have 14 minutes to complete the puzzle.
 The first four minutes everyone in the group can work together to complete as much of
the puzzle as possible.
 Then for 10 minutes, each person in the group will have 20 seconds to complete as many
pieces as possible.
o Other members can point out pieces but may not touch any pieces until it is their
turn.
 At the end of 20 seconds, instructor will call for the team members to switch.
 Group cannot not switch order of members or skip members.
Note: Some students may get very frustrated, monitor them.
Discuss what happened in each group.
 How did they feel about the uncooperative student?
 Are they themselves ever guilty of being the uncooperative team member when working
on group work or projects?
 What suggestions do students have to get the uncooperative person to work with the
team?
Instructor may also want to choose a short creative problem challenge project as an alternative
to putting puzzle together. Use the same basic timing -- part team work, part individual work.
Examples:
Spaghetti Tower -- each team gets 20 pieces of spaghetti and 4 inches of masking tape
to build the tallest “free-standing” spaghetti tower possible.
Paper Bridge -- each team gets 2-index cards, 2 paper clips and 6 inches of masking
tape to build a 5 inch bridge that can hold 5lbs. The bridge must be at least 1 ½ inches
above the ground and no taping the bridge to the table.
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Team Work Rubric
Student: ___________________________
Scoring criteria
Date: ________________________
4.
3.
Excellent Good
2. Needs
1. Needs
Some
Much
N/A
Improvement Improvement
Participates in group discussions and
encourages others to join the conversation.
Effectively works to keep the discussion
moving in a rapid progression to achieve
goals.
Actively shares ideas and thoughts while
offering helpful criticism and
recommendations to others.
Gives credit to others for their ideas and
understands the feelings and thoughts of
others.
Involves others by asking questions or
requesting input to reach an agreement.
Clearly and effectively expresses ideas and
thoughts.
NOTE: N/A represents a response to the performance which is "not appropriate."
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