Chess – a mental simulating game, consists of six different pieces with different functions founded in medieval times, was played in China and Persia, quickly spread to Europe after a series of invasions. All pieces have specific strengths and weaknesses, thus using a single favorite piece can be limiting whereas coordinating moves with difference pieces and taking calculated risk with the other pieces can prove to be powerful. The team must have a clear objective of forming a defense alliance to secure the king and an attack strategy to win the game.

Fast-forward to the 20th century, healthcare system’s complexity, intertwined nature involves an intersection of important stakeholders including patients, healthcare professionals, employers, IT, biomedical technology, insurance and pharmaceutical firms. As a result, organizational development has gained interest from healthcare industries to enhance patient-centered services. These include three important dimensions for an organization: culture, individual competency and application. It has been agreed by multiple researches that effective teamwork is becoming a key instrumentation in successful delivery of high quality patient-centered care. In past years various traditional models in teamwork effectiveness from other industries have been tested including. Healthcare managers no longer apply a single model as the ‘one size fits all’ is less effective due to the complex phenomena of dynamic healthcare delivery. In addition to that, they are becoming increasingly inclined towards application of tailored models to particular types of teams and work processes.

Recently, a new perspective of achieving effectiveness through capturing and transferring of know-hows, emotional intelligence and capabilities from individuals to teams working within and across. The “Deep Smarts” model addresses issues faced by health managers in smooth coordination of activities for patient positive outcomes.

Unlike mechanical systems that interact linearly to produce a predictable controlled output using formulated equations, healthcare systems are dynamic, nonlinear and unpredictable. It is proposed that effective interactions and collaborations between all parties including patients, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and related staff to achieve organizational objectives. With technological advances and increased specialization in clinical sciences, the challenges faced by multi-disciplinary teams are greater than ever. This has sparked interest into enhancing teamwork efficiency, which as a result, leads to improved quality patient-care.

However, this is not solely dependent on healthcare professionals competency, but also on systems that sponsors contexts, processes, settings that is fundamental for good practice and minimizing medical errors. One other reason for the introduction of teamwork is that the patient’s journey in healthcare involves multiple professionals, and therefore collaboration is required for tailored patient treatment.