ABSTRACT
Emergency response typically involves police, fire, and emergency medical service (EMS) individuals, each of whom is guided by a specific mission. EMS professionals also serve a societal need to provide emergency care, yet this is perhaps the most personal of all professional groups. By its very nature, EMS workers are commonly dealing with life-or-death situations. The composition of the team and the structure of the local healthcare system define the linkages and work processes of the EMS team. The environment wherein EMS professionals function can be described as hypercomplex. The hypercomplex world requires teamwork within and between the teams that comprise the multiteam system (MTS). As MTSs can and do occur in various organizational, military, and medical contexts, it is important to consider how to distinguish between different types of MTSs. Many MTSs operate through strong task-related linkages among component teams such that the component teams understand when to communicate with one another.
