Background: Job satisfaction and retention of healthcare staff remains an ongoing issue in many health systems. Huddles have been endorsed as a mechanism to improve patient safety by improving teamwork, collaboration, and communication in teams.
Aim: This study aims to synthesises the literature to investigate the impact of huddles on job satisfaction, teamwork, and work engagement in multidisciplinary healthcare teams.
Methods: Five academic databases were searched to conduct a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature published from January 2000 to January 2020. Articles were included if they (1) featured a daily huddle, were conducted in a healthcare setting, and involved a multidisciplinary team and (2) measured variables including job satisfaction, work engagement, or teamwork. Results were reported in accordance with the systematic synthesis without meta-analysis and preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis guidelines. We identified 445 articles of which 12 met the eligibility criteria and are included in this review.
Results: All 12 included studies found a predominantly positive impact on teamwork and job satisfaction. None of the studies discussed or reported evidence of the impact of huddles on work engagement. This review highlights the value of a daily multidisciplinary healthcare team huddle in improving job satisfaction and teamwork for the healthcare staff involved. However, there is a dearth of high-quality, peer-reviewed evidence regarding the direct impact of huddles on job satisfaction, teamwork and in particular on work engagement. Further research-particularly controlled studies on adoption, implementation and outcomes for healthcare team culture-is needed to further assess this intervention.
Keywords: collective leadership; health management; huddle; job satisfaction; teamwork; work engagement.
© 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.