Teamwork in psychiatry is a very specific property of care organization, especially in the Italian tradition and daily practice. The purpose of the study was to define and describe the main variables that might influence and determine it.

A 15-item ad hoc questionnaire was specially designed and administered to health professionals of Modena Department of Mental Health. This questionnaire contained socio-demographic data (age, sex, longevity of service), professional characteristics, personal level of satisfaction and identification, and opinions on “ideality” and “reality” of teamwork. Statistical analysis was conducted to explore significant correlations.

Satisfaction rate was 46.2%, identification rate 59.1%. Teamwork seems to function well as far as “information circulation” and “making practical decisions”, but lacks in “reciprocal understanding” and “reciprocal emotional support”. The level of correspondence between ideal and real teamwork is strongly correlated to satisfaction (p = 0), identification (p = 0), but not to age, sex or duration of service. The priority of teamwork was “discussion of clinical cases”.

This study attempts to suggest difficulties and limits of contemporary care organization in Italian psychiatry, but also offers several ideas for organizational, administrative, clinical, and human improvements. It represents a first step to analyze and identify the qualitative determinants of psychiatric teamwork.