Building and Sustaining
Interdisciplinary Research Teams:
Strategies for Success
Linda Chlan, PhD, RN
Annie Heiderscheit, PhD, MT-BC, FAMI, LMFT
Debra Skaar, PharmD
Mary Fran Tracy, PhD, RN, CCNS, FAAN
Craig Weinert, MD, MPH
Research Seminar
December 8, 2011
1
Presentation Overview
•Challenges and Opportunities
•Managing conflict
•Building and coordinating research teams
•Commitment of members
•Incentives; financial and professional
•Best practice exemplars from U of MN Research Team
–Voices from the Research Team
Background
• Presentation focus on team science or Interdisciplinary science
• Research team building, development, and
sustaining the team
• ICU care is prime example of inter-disciplinary team
work
• Not a new idea
– Manhattan Project (1930’s)
– Human Genome (2000)
Nursing Skills to Lead
Research Teams
• Team player
• Care coordinator
• Communication skills
• Listening skills
• Problem solving
• Multi-tasking skills
• Trouble-shooting skills
Collaboration in Team Science
Collaboration contains two elements:
1) Cooperation: working together to produce mutual benefit
or common purpose
2) Assertiveness: facilitates the exchange of knowledge
among professionals
Hopkins RO, Spuhler V. Strategies for promoting early activity in critically ill mechanically ventilated
patients. AACN Advanced Critical Care 2009; 20: 277-289.
Cooperation versus
Collaboration
• Cooperation: merging of resources; obtain a larger
study sample
• Collaboration: Shared intellectual process; complex
process ranging from one discipline to research
across disciplines
– Researchers work jointly using shared frameworks to address a
common problem
• Potential of the collaborative relationships
• Ascertain benefits of participation
O’Sullivan P, Stoddard H, Kalishman S. Collaborative research in medical education: a discussion of
theory and practice. Med Ed 2010; 44:1175-1184.
Collaboration in Team Science
Essential elements for effective teams:
1. Shared goals: reason to work together
2. Interdependence: recognition of individuals to
arrive at mutual goals
3. Commitment: working together leads to more
effective decisions
4. Accountability: shared commitment as a
functioning unit
Hopkins RO, Spuhler V. Strategies for promoting early activity in critically ill mechanically ventilated
patients. AACN Advanced Critical Care 2009; 20: 277-289.
Challenges and Barriers to
Collaborative Research
• Interdisciplinary research is HARD work!
• Decreased productivity and efficiency
• Conflict
– Personal and professional
• Lack of preparation in research training programs
for interdisciplinary work
– Most researchers are trained in “uni-disciplinary” models
– “Silos”
• Academic structures, systems and infrastructure
– Rewards, incentives, resources, facilities, budget polices
Management of
Collaborative Research
Teams
• Need to effectively harness differences
• Set defensible boundaries
• Gain legitimate authorization
O’Sullivan P, Stoddard H, Kalishman S. Collaborative research in medical education: a discussion of
theory and practice. Med Ed 2010; 44:1175-1184.
Management of
Collaborative Research
Teams
• Careful selection of team members
• Clarification of roles and expectations
• Facilitate regular communication
• Develop relationships and trust among team members
• Examine effectiveness of team functioning
• Ensure “home” school/college/system is tolerant of
collaboration
O’Sullivan P, Stoddard H, Kalishman S. Collaborative research in medical education: a discussion of
theory and practice. Med Ed 2010; 44:1175-1184.
Promoting Collaborative
Research Teams
• Prior to beginning a study:
• Clarification of motives, values, beliefs about science
• Definitions of appropriate data and accepted methods for
research
• Group process and leadership variables
– Relationships
• Along the way:
– Clarification, trust, careful feedback
– Requires culture change!
O’Sullivan P, Stoddard H, Kalishman S. Collaborative research in medical education: a
discussion of theory and practice. Med Ed 2010; 44:1175-1184.
Who is driving the bus?
Team Coordination
• Inform everyone of the goals, timetable, possible
obstacles and scientific issues
• Define each team members role
• Design communication mechanisms
– Meetings, conference calls, progress reports, etc.
• Plan for success
– Determine how significant contributions will be recognized
• Plan for contingencies
– Absence, illness, emergencies or leaving the project
Why Collaborate?
• Inherent complexity of nature & society
– Single discipline cannot solve complex problems alone
• Desire to explore problems and questions that are
not confined to one discipline
• Need to solve societal problems
• Stimulus of enhanced technologies
O’Sullivan P, Stoddard H, Kalishman S. Collaborative research in medical education: a discussion of
theory and practice. Med Ed 2010; 44:1175-1184.
Why Collaborate?
• Productivity
• Flexibility
• NIH recognizes interdisciplinary research teams
Panel Perspectives
• Why be a member of an interdisciplinary research
team?
– What attracts you to an interdisciplinary research team?
– Incentives and barriers
• Insight, advice, team experiences
– Keys to success
– Conflict resolution
Best Practice Exemplar:
U of MN Research Team
• Inter-disciplinary members (R01-NR009295, L.
Chlan, PI)
• Nursing, medicine, pharmacy, music therapy, biomedical
engineering, biostats, neuroscience
• Conflicts and challenges
– New NIH PI
– Senior team members and egos
• Resolution strategies
Best Practice Exemplar:
U of MN Research Team
• Inter-disciplinary members
• Patient-controlled sedation
– Nursing, medicine, pharmacy
• Conflicts and challenges
– Funding and Grant submission issues
– Grant “home”
– Co-PIs; overall responsible PI
– Competing priorities
– Food & Drug Administration Investigational New Drug (IND)
application
– Human Subjects issues
Best Practice Exemplar:
U of MN Research Team
• Inter-disciplinary members
• Patient-controlled sedation
– Nursing, medicine, pharmacy
• Conflicts and challenges
– Funding and Grant submission issues
– Grant “home”
– Co-PIs; overall responsible PI
– Competing priorities
– Food & Drug Administration Investigational New Drug (IND)
application
– Human Subjects issues
Best Practice Exemplar:
U of MN Research Team
• Inter-disciplinary members
• Patient-controlled sedation
– Nursing, medicine, pharmacy
• Conflicts and challenges
– Funding and Grant submission issues
– Grant “home”
– Co-PIs; overall responsible PI
– Competing priorities
– Food & Drug Administration Investigational New Drug (IND)
application
– Human Subjects issues
Summary Points
• Personal relationships are critical to success
• Institutional culture
– Leadership, time, resources
– May require culture change
• Tangible support for collaborative research
• Value of new knowledge to be gained
• Value of the professional relationships that might
be cultivated
– Sustaining teams
“I think it helps enormously to have your own set
of colleagues to follow the same path,
because no investigators in the current
climate can do these things by themselves.”
–Dr. Francis Collins, NIH Director
DISCUSSION