CONCLUSION:
The findings of this systematic review highlight the potential value of a daily multidisciplinary healthcare team huddle in terms of improved job satisfaction and teamwork for the healthcare staff involved. It contributes an up-to-date synthesis of literature to the current body of work on healthcare staff retention, communication in healthcare teams, and the importance of collegiality for both staff and patient outcomes. Our review suggests that through strengthening workplace trust relationships, increasing the sense of community and collaboration on healthcare teams, and applying collective leadership models to reduce hierarchical frameworks that currently exist in healthcare settings, it may be possible to decrease turnover intention and improve the overall engagement of staff. With the aforementioned high turnover rates of medical staff in the UK and Ireland, it is important for the healthcare services to implement changes sooner rather than later.
Although much has been written about the value of huddles in healthcare settings, there is an apparent lack of high-quality, peer-reviewed evidence regarding the direct impact of huddles on job satisfaction, teamwork and particularly on work engagement. Further research – particularly controlled studies on adoption, implementation, and outcomes for healthcare team culture – is needed for this important intervention that can strengthen health systems from community level to acute care.