The Team is the Active Ingredient in Patient Safety



Human factors research has shown that even highly skilled, motivated professionals are vulnerable to error due to human limitations.
 
Research has also shown that teams that communicate effectively and back each other up reduce the potential for error, which results in enhanced safety and improved performance.


 

  




Teamwork principles and training techniques apply to a hospital as well as every other healthcare organization.


• Leadership – how to direct and coordinate, assign tasks, motivate team members, facilitate optimal performance.

• Situation monitoring – how to develop common understandings of team environment, apply strategies to monitor teammate performance and maintain a shared mental model.

• Mutual support – how to anticipate other team members’ needs through accurate knowledge and shift workload to achieve balance during periods of high workload or stress.

• Communication – how to effectively exchange information among team members, regardless of how it is communicated. Use SBAR... Stop the Line!... CUSS. Failure to properly communicate is the root cause of most adverse events that harm patients.

Your healthcare team must be synergistic and cooperative without fear or intimidation. Everyone working with patients must be ready and willing to stand up and take action to protect patients from harm! 




Awad, SS, Fagan, SP, Bellows, C., Albo, D, et al. Bridging the communication gap in the operating room with medical team training. Am J Surg 190(5): 770-4, Nov 2005.

Leonard, M,, Graham, S, Bonacum, D. The human factor: The critical importance of effective teamwork and communication in providing safe care. Qual Saf Health Care 13 Suppl 1:i85-90, Oct 2004.


http://teamstepps.ahrq.gov/


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