Team Performance And Patient Safety Initiatives

Teamwork and collaboration with other healthcare providers is very important. To function effectively there needs to be mutual respect, open communication, and shared decision making in the best interest of the patient. As a member of a team it is vital to know ones own strengths and limitations, this way patients receive the best care.

In the beginning of this activity, I did not know much about collaboration between different healthcare professionals. It helped me to clarify the meaning of a healthcare team and also to understand the role of different professionals in the team. Different team members have their specific roles and all of them work together to achieve a common goal –healthier patient. They work independently, but when it comes to decision making they seek advice from other healthcare provider in order to do the best for the patient. Not only doctor, physiotherapists, pharmacists and etc. are considered being part of the team. Patients must also be considered part of the decision making process,

belief that a team is not successful without its team members. In my field, a successful team is comprised of individuals who are dedicated, experienced, motivated and supported by management. A1a. Strengths Job Satisfaction: In organizations and companies that utilize participative leadership as a management style, many of the employees are satisfied with their jobs. The reason is rather simple; staff sees their suggestions and/or recommendations are being put into practice. Simply stated, their voices are being heard, their input clearly has significance, and there is a sense of being an essential part of the organization. Within our organization, specifically in the operating room arena, nurses are an important aspect of trialing new equipment or materials that may be utilized in the operating rooms. By enabling these individuals to trial new equipment and provide feedback, management ascertains that the items selected by the staff assist them in performing their tasks successfully. In addition, staff is encouraged to suggest alternatives to equipment being trialed. This particular group of nurses originated from other hospitals that utilize a variety of equipment. Thus there may be better suggestions regarding the

“All health care disciplines share a common and primary commitment to serving the patient and working toward the ideal of health for all.” (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2014, p. 1) There are many different professional members in the healthcare system. Each of them, have a specific specialty and responsibility to the patient and play an important role in the patient’s overall plan of care. “The scope of health care mandates that health professionals work collaboratively and with other related disciplines. Collaboration emanates from an understanding and appreciation of the roles and contributions that each discipline brings to the care delivery experience.” (American Association of Colleges of

effectiveness (Cioffi & Ferguson, 2009). Therefore, it is important to ensure that nurses who assume leader roles have the skills to manage and delegate tasks as required. There must be clearly defined roles and responsibilities for each team member that take into account the levels of expertise among the members. It can be troublesome when team members do not carry their share of the work. When this occurs, other team members take on an additional work burden to address the shortfalls in patient care. If the team leader is unable to provide clarity and direction for the team, the model will not be effective.

In healthcare settings a multidisciplinary team (MDT) approach is required to provide a safe and quality holistic care for patients. To achieve this, the different healthcare professionals must work together in order to achieve their goals and promote patient safety. This assignment aims to explore the importance of team work in healthcare. In addition it will consider the qualities and behaviours of a team leader as well as the team behaviours necessary for effective team performance.

Ardizonne’s presentation. Programs such as MedTeams and TeamStepps provide strategies to create teams which are high functioning, resourceful, aware and ultimately achieve desired outcomes. Dr. Ardizzone shared an event which triggered the implementation of checklists in the operating rooms at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center(MSKCC). These checklists were implemented after multiple scholarly articles recommended such measures, with substantial positive outcomes. She also mentioned the challenges faced by enacting such measures, i.e. training, buy-in, interdisciplinary education. All this information gave me a better understanding of the different tools available in healthcare and the constant struggles to implement such measures to fundamentally enhance patient safety.

Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS) is an evidence-based system designed to optimize patient care by improving communication and teamwork skills among health care professionals (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [AHRQ], 2015). TeamSTEPPS® was developed by Department of Defense’s Patient Safety Program in collaboration with AHRQ and is scientifically rooted in more than 20 years of research (AHRQ, 2015). The TeamSTEPPS model develops knowledge, skills, and attitudes that influence team outcome success in the areas of leadership, communication, mutual support, and situation monitoring (Persily, 2013, p. 198). The TeamSTEPPS curriculum is customizable to any health care setting and

The fundamentals to providing quality patient care is teamwork and effective communication. According to O’Daniel and Rosenstein (2008), the components that are needed for successful teamwork as follows :

Teamwork is vital in healthcare.  When all participants are engaged in a program, goals are successfully achieved. Being able to communicate and work collectively as a team requires an appreciation for each other’s area of practice.  Every team member has an important role and being acknowledged provides a sense of responsibility and accountability. Essentially, inter-professional collaboration helps ensure that the patient is getting care that is not only accessible but also comprehensive.  The plan of a patients’ care includes active participation by all health care professionals working interdependently in accordance to the patient’s preferences, values and beliefs. The health care team accomplishes the goal of meeting the patient’s medical needs by delivering evidence-based practice.   To deliver quality care, the patient should always be involved.

The importance of a team working together is a key ingredient to any leadership style to be successful. If a leader can motivate a group of people to cooperate and work together cohesively on a project, the chances of success increase. The concept of a disparate group of people working together under one leader successfully is a surgical team either completing a routine surgery or performing a groundbreaking new surgical procedure. Although the surgeon is nominally in charge of the entire procedure, this focus “risks missing the dynamic and adaptive aspects of work” each professional in the surgical team must exhibit when executing their part (Rydenfält, Johansson, Odenrick, Ackerman, Larsson, 2014). Each member of the surgical team is a professional who contributes their knowledge and experience to the team.

Teams working in a hospital or other healthcare setting may consist of several physicians, nurses, medical assistants, referral coordinators, pharmacists, therapists, and students among others. Such large teams can provide comprehensive care for complex and chronic illnesses, but when they fail to work well together, they

Teams are often depicted as a group of people sharing leadership of and working together on a specific project, whereas a group (but not a team) consists of individuals who work independently and are led by a strong, focused individual (Erofeev, Glazer, & Ivanitskaya, 2009). In the health care organization, it is important to have a group of people working together as a well a team. Each person individually need to fully understand what his or her role is in a group or team, if not there will be conflicts.

Furthermore, a team leader is someone who inspires, mentors, guides, thrives for change and sets an example. Throughout Faye’s life she demonstrated strong team leadership styles such as her remarkable courage and determination for pursuing her vision. The courageous risks she took in her leadership roles were all in an effort to bring about change in nursing and improve patient care throughout the world. For example, during a visit to the San Diego long-term care facility Faye noticed statutory violations and other evidence of substandard care. During her opening of the conference of the American Health Care Association, she announced to them that the lack of patient care was unacceptable in the homes

Fixing problems that face health care in many health facilities demand a system wide set of solutions. The systems used in these facilities must be assessed and redesigned to identify factors that will aid in the achievement of the set goals. The enormous task of achieving the goals should be undertaken collaboratively by all the key stakeholders, who include, health care professionals, planners and policy makers, administrators, payers, and patients and their families. These partnerships must begin with a common understanding of the problems together with a shared commitment to cooperate and work together to eliminate the problems. With this knowledge, therefore, an action plan for redesigning the health care system can be developed and later implemented. For a successful health care service to be realized, there are various factors which should be employed and which are not found in the traditional business setting. These include unique economic processes, proper regulatory requirements and the perfect quality indicators. This creates a need for every leader within the healthcare industry to create or develop unique skill sets that will harmonize both organizational leadership and the inter-professional team development. It is, therefore, important to understand the comprehensive approach to the management of patient care and also how the concepts of team development and organizational leadership support healthcare leaders in creation of a patient-centric