Table 1.

Common team archetypes in implementation science

Team type	Description	Examples
Implementation support team	The team is created to facilitate the implementation of an innovation. Members share responsibility for implementation. Teams may be within or across organizations/systems. Membership may be voluntary. Teams are typically time-limited.	Teams of external change agents and staff implementing diverse innovations in the Veterans Health Administration (Nevedal et al., 2020). Community-based teams tasked with selecting, implementing, and sustaining preventive interventions (Perkins et al., 2011).
Existing care team	Members share responsibility and work together to provide care. Implementation of an innovation requires participation and change from all members.	Surgical teams implementing the surgical safety checklist (Gillespie et al., 2016). Multidisciplinary child abuse teams implementing mental health screening (McGuier, Aarons, Byrne et al., 2023).
New care team	Implementation of the innovation requires providers to shift from individual responsibilities and tasks to sharing responsibility and working together.	Primary care teams in practices that begin implementing the patient-centered medical home model (Cromp et al., 2015). Creation of assertive community treatment teams (Phillips et al., 2001).
Quality improvement (QI) team	Members share responsibility for improving care. QI teams may be existing teams or new teams created for specific projects; teams typically exist within organizations. Membership may be voluntary.	QI teams working to improve chronic illness care at a hospital (Shortell et al., 2004). QI teams improve access to and quality of care for hepatitis C virus in a health system (Yakovchenko et al., 2021).
Multiteam system	Networks of interdependent teams working toward shared goals as well as individual team goals.	The leadership team (implementation support team), “seed team” responsible for training and coaching (implementation support team), and interagency collaborative teams delivering services (new care teams; Hurlburt et al., 2014)