ABSTRACT
Many of the organizational and psychological variables on decision-making in medical teams can be classified into one of the three categories: characteristics of the task environment; the structure of the team; and process variables that characterize team interaction. This chapter focuses on two task characteristics that frequently pose immense challenges to medical teams: time pressure and the coordination requirements of their task environment. It also examines two structural dimensions of medical teams that have been shown to influence team interactions and decision-making: the size and composition of medical teams. The chapter then discuses the characteristics of the interaction and discussion within medical teams by focusing on two research areas that have been studied extensively: research on information sharing and on transactive memory systems. As the discussion of unshared information may affect group decisions, mechanisms that increase the likelihood that group members would discuss crucial unshared information items can be critical.
