The notion of TeamSTEPPS stands for the Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety. These strategies are comprised of four principles: communication, leadership, mutual support, and situation monitoring. The application of TeamSTEPPS enhances the quality of care provided to the patients and makes the working environment in the team more productive and supportive. As King et al. (2008) put it, TeamSTEPPS facilitates the coordination of activities of nurses, physicians, pharmacists, and other medical personnel and, hence, improves the safety and efficiency of patient care.
The strategy that I use on a daily basis is communication. It is necessary to establish a transparent exchange of information between the nurses and other health care professionals at a hospital because it is impossible to provide decent care in conditions of information scarcity. There are different techniques of communication. The one that deserves particular attention is SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation and Request). The crucial advantage of SBAR is that it allows transmitting the most critical information on a patient’s health condition rapidly. More precisely, this technique makes the nurses aware of the current health status of a patient, and his medical history and proposes possible solutions to his problem.
If I were a manager, I would continue to use this method. Without a doubt, it is essential for the manager of a hospital to monitor the atmosphere in a team and check if there are any hindrances to communication between the employees. Apart from the previously mentioned SBAR, there are numerous techniques for communication, including call-out or check-back. Still, I believe that it is up to doctors and nurses to decide which method to use. The manager’s role is to eliminate the hindrances and potential dangers to communication, such as conflicts.
Reference
King, H. B., Battles, J., Baker, D. P., Alonso, A., Salas, E., Webster, J.,… & Salisbury, M. (2008). TeamSTEPPS™: Team strategies and tools to enhance performance and patient safety. Advances in Patient Safety: New Directions and Alternative Approaches, 3. Web.