Team creativity as a catalyst for care effectiveness and well-being in primary care teams.

Abstract

Background: Primary care teams play a critical role in delivering high-quality, patient-centered care, yet they face mounting challenges, including high rates of burnout and job dissatisfaction. Creativity within teams may serve as a key resource for fostering continuous improvement and innovation while simultaneously enhancing team members' well-being.

Purpose: This study introduces team creativity as a novel and actionable teamwork construct, assessing its relationship with burnout, job satisfaction, and perceived effectiveness of care delivery. We validate a new multidimensional measure of team creativity tailored to the primary care context.

Methodology/approach: Using survey data from 648 primary care team members across a large health system, we conducted confirmatory factor analysis to validate the Primary Care Team Creativity tool. We then tested hypotheses to assess associations between primary care team creativity, perceived effectiveness of care delivery, and well-being.

Results: Findings confirm the validity of the Primary Care Team Creativity tool. Primary care team creativity was positively associated with job satisfaction and negatively associated with burnout. Perceived effectiveness of care delivery mediated these relationships, indicating that creativity enhances well-being by improving team members' perceptions of the quality of care they provide.

Conclusion: This study establishes team creativity as a validated, actionable construct in primary care and demonstrates its potential for enhancing care effectiveness, reducing burnout and enhancing job satisfaction for primary care professionals.

Practice implications: Health care leaders can foster team creativity by embedding structured opportunities for idea generation, encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration, and leveraging creativity to enhance care processes-ultimately supporting both innovation and provider well-being in primary care.