• Marc Lincoln, Ahmed Gabr, Cormac Kennedy, Catherine Murphy, Aileen Patterson, Enda O'Connor, and Martina Hennessy.
• Department of Therapeutics and Clinical Pharmacology, St James's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. Lincolnm@tcd.ie.
• Ir J Med Sci. 2022 Jun 1; 191 (3): 1085-1087.

AimsCOVID-19 resulted in significant changes across medical wards and ICU in St James's Hospital Dublin. This included the implementation of ward-based medical teams (WBMT). The purpose of this study was to identify how these structural changes affected inter-professional collaboration, supervision and patient safety.MethodsQuestionnaires were distributed to doctors working on medical wards and ICU at the height of the first wave of COVID-19. The sense of collaboration, patient safety and supervision were assessed.ResultsFifty-three doctors took part in the study. Thirty-three (62%) felt that collaboration was better than normal. Forty-six (87%) of participants described supervision as "good" or "excellent". Thirty-one out of 40 participants (77%) felt that patient safety was better than normal.DiscussionImplementation of WBMT may result in improved sense of collaboration, supervision and patient safety during COVID-19; however, the increased sense of solidarity and comradery felt during the initial surge make drawing these conclusions challenging.© 2021. The Author(s).

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