In the long-term care industry, teamwork is key in offering consistent as well as high-quality care to our loved residents. Based on findings at Health Services Research, long-term care communities with a better teamwork structure and good staff communication are more likely to provide better senior care!

So if we want to create a high-performing team, we must have a clearly defined team structure. Among various team structures, CareStory recommends that caregiving communities should adopt a multi-team system (MTS) team structure. It consists of 6 smaller teams: the Administrative Team, the Core Team, the Coordinating Team, the Emergency Team, the Ancillary Team, and the Support Services Team.

Multi-team System (MTS) Caregiving Team Structure

The Administrative Team includes the medical directors, the nursing directors, and the administrators. The Administrative Team has 24-hour accountability for the overall nursing home’s management. Administrative team members need to ensure that all teams at the caregiving communities understand their role, responsibility and specific tasks.

The Core Team has leaders and members who provide direct care to the residents: for instance, nurses, restorative aides, attending physicians, etc. Members in the Core Team not only need to be fully aware of the overall caregiving performance, but also need to have good communication skills to keep all team members on the same page. 

The Coordinating Team consists of nursing supervisors and heads from different departments. Coordinating team members are responsible for the daily operational management and coordination functions in the organization. Moreover, they also provide the maximum support to the Core Team, and they are responsible for resource management as well.

The Emergency Team is responsible for immediate and emergent situations. It’s is important to make sure that the Emergency Team always composes members from different teams so that they can respond to different types of crises. Possible emergency team members can be emergency response members, care planning professionals, etc.

The Ancillary Team also provides direct and task-specific care to residents, but in a supporting manner. Ancillary team members provide specific services that support the care of residents, and members can be X-Ray technicians, pharmacists, and laboratory professionals.

The mission for members of the Support Services Team is to provide safe, comfortable, and clean environments for residents. Possible members can be volunteers, housekeeping staff, gardeners, etc.

The structure of the MTS team can vary from long-term care community to community, as long as all members in the communities have specific responsibilities and close ties to the team members.

REFERENCES:
https://www.belbin.com/media/1818/belbin-team-work-in-care-homes-cmm-april2012.pdf
https://seniorhousingnews.com/2012/06/21/better-care-found-nursing-homes-with-good-staff-communication-teamwork/
https://www.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/professionals/education/curriculum-tools/teamstepps/longtermcare/module2/igltcteamstruct.pdf

Morning administrators! Have you ever found that your colleagues don’t have enough motivation for their work and are less connected to each other, especially during the pandemic? Today, CareStory is going to provide some engagement strategies for your colleagues and caregivers:

Firstly, involve caregivers in decision-making!

As the administrator, your proposed changes will directly impact your caregivers, which may have positive or negative influences. So before you actually implement these changes, please, listen to your colleagues — What feedback do they have? Any better ideas? Give them a voice in how plans are implemented, and make them feel deeply involved! Trust me, they may surprise you with incredible suggestions!

Besides, ask for feedback and improvements!

Regularly send out surveys to your employees; anonymous ones are recommended. Find out what resources they need, what resources you don’t currently provide but would help them develop their competence and confidence, their motivation, and their job satisfaction. You can also schedule one-on-one interviews and connect with your team members. Sample questions can be:

• What are your recent goals?
• What is going well so far?
• Any obstacles or challenges are you currently facing?
• What else do you expect from the company?
• How can I better support you?

Keep doing that and show that you really care about them!

Moreover, launch wellness and fitness programs and promote staff well-being!

We all know that caregivers are more likely to experience stress, and the admin staff should help them stay healthy and positive! For instance, providing information about mental health, hosting workshops and webinars on how to regulate negative emotions, offering meditation training, creating peer support groups, etc. But trust me, this will gradually build a positive work culture!

To fuel motivation, one of the most effective ways is to show caregivers they are supported by their CEOs, executive directors, and administrators. Let’s work together! So if you have thoughts or ideas of strategies that can keep caregivers engaged, feel free to share with CareStory below in the comment section!

REFERENCES:
https://www.celltrak.com/blog/10-ways-to-help-home-health-caregivers-feel-connected-as-an-agency-team
https://www.relias.com/blog/refuel-your-caregivers-with-these-engaging-strategies