Investigation of the relationship between teamwork and individual adaptive performance in emergency room nurses

This study was conducted using a descriptive and correlational design to examine the relationship between teamwork and individual adaptation performance among emergency department nurses, and to determine the effects of demographic and work-related characteristics as well as teamwork on individual adaptation performance. The population of the study consisted of nurses working in the emergency departments of three training and research hospitals, three state hospitals, and one city hospital operating in Istanbul (N=approximately 463 nurses). It was determined that the study sample should include at least 211 nurses based on a 95% confidence interval and a 5% margin of error; ultimately, the final sample consisted of 349 emergency department nurses. Data were collected using the "Nurse Information Form", the "Nursing Teamwork Scale (NTS)", and the "Individual Adaptive Performance Scale (IAPS)". In the study, data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis. It was found that the emergency department nurses had a moderate mean total score on the Nursing Teamwork Scale, while their mean total score on the Individual Adaptation Performance Scale was high. A positive and significant correlation was identified between the mean total and certain subscale scores of teamwork among emergency department nurses and their mean individual adaptation performance scores. The analysis based on nurses' work-related characteristics indicated that perceptions of teamwork tended to decrease with increasing age, years of experience, and shift duration, while perceptions of teamwork improved as the number of nurses working per shift increased. In the first model, it was determined that nurses' sociodemographic and work-related characteristics explained 9.7% of the variance in individual adaptation performance. Among these variables, "working between 221 and 240 hours" had a low-level negative effect on individual adaptation performance, while "employment at Training and Research Hospital-2" showed a low-level positive and significant effect. In the second model, nurses' sociodemographic and work-related characteristics together with the subscales of the Nursing Teamwork Scale explained 14.0% of the variance in individual adaptation performance. Among the subscales of the Nursing Teamwork Scale, the "trust" and "support" subscale variables had a low-level positive and significant effect. In the third model, nurses' sociodemographic and work-related characteristics together with the total score of the Nursing Teamwork Scale explained 10.1% of the variance in individual adaptation performance. Within this context, being a graduate of a health vocational high school had a low-level negative effect on individual adaptation performance, while the total score of the Nursing Teamwork Scale had a low-level positive and significant effect. In conclusion, a positive and significant relationship was identified between teamwork and individual adaptation performance among nurses. Nurses' sociodemographic and work-related characteristics, along with their perceived teamwork scores, explained up to 14% of the variance in individual adaptation performance scores among emergency department nurses. In this context, it is expected that the data obtained from this study will contribute to the existing literature and serve as a foundation for future research. Additionally, the research findings will guide initiatives aimed at improving the adaptation performance of emergency department nurses, whose adaptation performance is expected to be high.