The impact of team functioning on the quality of care in rural hospitals: a cross-sectional survey study on similarity and multidisciplinarity

Perceived similarity can promote coordination and subsequently perceived quality of care. Multidisciplinarity does not moderate the relationship between perceived similarity and coordination, and further research into the role of multidisciplinarity is called for. Hospital management may leverage the advantage of similarity to form teams whose members perceive each other as similar. The functioning of teams perceived as less similar may require additional effort to promote coordination and perceived quality of care. Such challenges caused by dissimilarity are especially relevant in the process of workforce strengthening with the aim of quality improvement towards universal health coverage in rural areas of developing countries.