Affiliations: Department of Production Engineering, Polytechnic School, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Correspondence:
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Address for correspondence: Márcia Terra da Silva, Avenida Professor Luciano Gualberto, 530 - Butanta, CEP. 05508-010, São Paulo - SP, Brazil. Tel.: +55 11 30915363; E-mail: mtdsilva@usp.br
Abstract: BACKGROUND:In certain service activities, the intangibility of what is being produced hinders the vision of an expected result or product. In multi-professional teams, this difficulty becomes increasingly greater, as participants’ perceptions are conditioned to their respective fields of knowledge and different professional experiences. This is a common situation in healthcare services. OBJECTIVE:To describe and explain the work coordination process applied by multi-professional teams in order to deal with the intangibility inherent in the healthcare services. METHODS:This study involved six multi-professional teams from the public primary healthcare service in Brazil. Interviews and observations of team meetings were carried out, with focus on the critical elements of a coordination process: work plans and routines, roles and responsibilities, knowledge sharing, and a common reference history. RESULTS:There is coexistence of two distinct coordination processes being performed in the same work activity: operational coordination, associated with activities that somehow follow standard procedures; and diagnostic coordination, associated with diagnosis construction, alternatives analysis and decision making. CONCLUSIONS:The consequences of intangibility can be overcome by mechanisms that enable a common perspective among the participants involved in the productive process, and by the team members’ familiarity with each other.
Keywords: Work organization, coordination of work, health services
