The United States now has one of the most severe labor shortages ever experienced in nursing and healthcare. Staff turnover and vacancy rates have skyrocketed even in the best health systems. The current nursing care delivery models rely on the availability of many nurses and are unsustainable. The gap between the number of nurses needed to practice primary nursing and the number of nurses available cannot be effectively bridged even with a significant ramp-up in enrollments and certainly not in a cost-effective way.

Outside of a few specialty areas, future care delivery models will necessitate a team-based approach with professionals and support staff all working at the top of their scope of practice. While we once had the luxury of assigning nurses to non-nursing tasks, the situation has changed, and we no longer can. Yet, the transition to a team or collaborative care model is challenging despite the need. Most young nurses today lack the leadership skills to delegate care and manage a team of care providers. It will also require a change in mindset among nurses from thinking about "my patients" to "our patients" as nurses co-manage more patients.

This book, A Team Approach to Nursing Care Delivery: Tactics for Working Better Together, provides a roadmap of what to consider as you redesign care and rebuild teams. In an easy-to-read format, each chapter in this book includes stories of challenges and successes that leaders have shared with me about team-based care delivery and efforts to promote effective teamwork. Let this book be your toolkit and practical guide to fostering effective team-based care delivery regardless of your clinical setting.