Abstract:

In recent times, a holistic approach has been used regarding healthcare while underlining that a patient's health disorder is often accompanied by not only physical, but also psychological and social problems which have to be solved complexically by combining forces of different specialists and bringing them together into a team activity. The article analyses the teamwork experience of social workers in healthcare institutions. The strategy of qualitative research was applied. The data collection method was a semi-structured interview. The analysis of the research results was performed by applying the method of content analysis. 12 social workers, that work in the hospitals of different cities, took part in the research. The research results revealed the concept of social workers about teamwork, the organizational aspects of teamwork in healthcare institutions and the role of the social worker in the interdisciplinary team of healthcare institutions. For social workers, teamwork means team cohesion and common effort in the pursuit of a common objective, mutual relationships based on collaboration, sharing experience, the responsibility of every team member, problem solving based on the principle of common agreement, the self-expression of team members as well and their personal and professional development. Teamwork aspects reflect the composition of the team, the nature of team meetings, sharing common responsibility, the importance of teamwork skills and a favourable psychological climate in the team. The research demonstrated that the role of the social worker in a patient's treatment team is regarded necessary and important. In the team, the social worker performs the role of an information manager and provider, consultant, mediator, and also resource researcher and developer, and coordinator.

Keywords:

Healthcare, teamwork, social worker, interdisciplinary team.