Essay Sample on TeamSTEPPS: Improving Patient Safety, Enhancing Teamwork & Communication

Introduction

TeamSTEPPS is a system of healthcare teams created by professionals that ensure many aims of an organization are successful. These aims are as follows; giving solutions in improving patient's safety within an organization, improving teamwork and communication skills since it is a teamwork system, acting as a source of training especially on a new curriculum for the sake of successful integration of principles into almost all the areas of a system of health care. It has also been rooted for nearly twenty years in the research field and practical application of good principles regarding teamwork since its development by the Department of Defense's Patient Safety Program in conjunction with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

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The team is providing patients with a safe and higher quality services by sending medical practitioners who are very useful to the field in terms of optimizing the data, patients, and resources available in the achievement of quality clinical results for their patients, creating a team awareness and clarifies on the responsibilities and roles of the team to their patients before applying for their course. They also help in the conflict resolution process and encourage data sharing as they also try to eliminate barriers to the safety and quality of the patients.

Phases of Assessment

TeamSTEPPS has three significant phases aiming at the creation and sustenance of a safety culture. All these steps rely on lessons that have been learned, cause of change in agent experience, quality literature, and the safety of the patient and finally change in culture. A profitable TeamSTEPPS must have gone through a thorough organization assessment and have carefully created a development strategy in its sustenance and policy implementation plan (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2020).

Phase one is called Needs Assessment, which focuses on the outcomes and not dwelling much on the process. This phase determines the preparedness of the organization undertaking the initiative, which is known as training needs analysis as a necessary step towards the implementation of the teamwork initiative (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2020). It involves various stages which include, preparation of a management plan, identification of significant issues, determination of indicators of need, consideration of the source of data, deciding on the priorities of preliminary, identification and analysis of causes, and summary of the findings. The preparation of a management plan involves the formation of a committee that presents the organization. The leadership also reports to the upper management as they determine the schedule as project managers. Significant concerns are decided on each goal that has been refined to be the top in the critical list, which is a criterion used in reaching desired outcomes of the goals. Verification of data that may clarify an existence of concern is identified at this early stage as data sources are also considered to help in the determination of data that might be helpful in the definition of the information sources. Priorities are set for each primary concern in the collection of data as the determination of specific causes for general goals is identified and analyzed. Finally, the findings in the document are summarized with explanations for the major causes.

Phase 2 involves the process of executing and planning different segments of the TeamSTEPPS initiative. TeamSTEPPS was officially designed purposely to be tailored in the organizations. Therefore, this phrase emphasizes the implementation of all strategic tools in the organization as a phase approach targeting units and specific departments (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2020). Measurements are conducted through assembling and analysis of data in which the initiative learns when the program is ongoing and how it is improved. There are majorly two types of measurement that can be used in the achievement of primary purposes of the initiative and are done consecutively as they complement each other. The first type of measurement is called process measurement, which captures tall the information concerning the individuals that the program is serving and its implementation as it focuses on the quantity and nature of people the initiative is serving and implementation aspects of the model. This process alerts you when you can hit the intended population target or whether the delivered program as per the design and areas that need to be improved. The other type of measurement is known as Outcome measurement and depicts changes targeting the population based on the outcome of the delivered services. When process measurement and the result are applied, the organization is automatically aware of what works, needs improvement, and means of channeling values of their program.

The final phase is the third phase, also known as the sustainment phase. Its goal is spreading sustenance and improved performance by the team, clinical procedures, and results from the TeamSTEPPS organization. The main objective of this phase is to secure opportunities existing in its implementation tools and taught strategies while practicing on skills and receiving feedback as they embark on the provision of continuous reinforcement of the TeamSTEPPS values in the department (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2020). Various steps used here include the provision of opportunities for application of expertise, leader's assurance in emphasizing upcoming skills, provision of messages and updates, triumphing over the success of the initiative, giving a measurement of success, and finally planning updates. When opportunities to practice are provided, TeamSTEPPS initiatives usually become very successful since they create room for occasions as they account for the change. The role of leaders is very critical in sustainment because they are considered for emphasizing skills learned during TeamSTEPPS in their day-to-day activities. Interventions are sustained through regular coaching and feedback keys. Celebrating wins together as a team creates room for motivation and lengthens the lifespan of sustainment. It is very critical to celebrate successes when using TeamSTEPPS because it acts as a recognition of the efforts of people involved from the start and alerts laggards with examples of the impacts of teamwork. Success is measured through the demonstration of excellent skills attained from learning, training, using tools effectively, and apply changes in process and results (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2020). Finally, interventions are needed in the initiative to revise their plan due to the changes required by the organization.

Completion of self-assessment requires the help of people from the organization and outside, for instance, electronic health record developers because organizations are benefitting from the designing of electronic health records and their safety concerns. The combination of staff members and clinicians when completing self-assessment enables the formation of accuracy in snapshotting the status of the organization's safety terms in consideration of patients and their privacy (The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, 2016). Optimizing safety qualities and set up paths leading to prioritizing the future of the organization and their involvement in patients' privacy on the electronic system (The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, 2016). These bodies should work together to help in implementing the available mitigation measures in prioritizing safety risks concerning patients introduced by electronic health records.

There are various steps involved in the supplementation of the TeamSTEPPS. The first step is the creation of a change team whose objective is to bring together staff members and leaders with experience and expertise for driving a quality initiative. Step two is called the definition of the problem, which aims in the statement of the issues, challenges, or opportunities used as tools in the improvement of targeted TeamSTEPPS intervention. Step three involves the definition of aims of the organization's TeamSTEPPS, which states measures that the organization hopes to achieve with the interventions. Step four is the designing of a TeamSTEPPS intervention, which addresses the targeted challenges and achievement of stated aims. Development of plans used for testing TeamSTEPPS interventions is found in step five, where methods are used in the determination of developed TeamSTEPPS in the achievement of goals (The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, 2016). Step six contains the development of an implementation plan whose objective is to train the staff members on the tools of the TeamSTEPPS and strategies used in the implementation and the development of plans. Step seven entails the development of a sustainment plan, which includes planning for ongoing assessment and the sufficient identification of opportunities. In contrast, step eight involves the development of a communication plan whose objective is the creation of a great idea that will target stakeholders who help in the generation of income for the group (The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, 2016). Step nine suggests the development of a TeamSTEPPS implementation timeline plan intending to act as a guide for the components available in the initiative and finally step ten, which entails plan review with key stakeholders where the generation of support and ideas from the stakeholders come from.

Roles of The Informatics Nurse

Nursing informatics is determined when one studies computer and informatics knowledge. Technological skills acquired from the computer entail searches, which are automated and demographic retrieval of patient's data, usage of wireless gadgets, patient care documentation, usage of information and technology in improving nursing care, and safe use of computer networks and technology (Darvish et al., 2014). Informatics skills include proper interpretation of data in the organization, preparation of the flow of information process in all aspects of the system of the clinic, developing standard databases used in the facilitation of clinical care, administration, education, and research. Competencies in nursing informatics show the integration of nurses in the IT field automatically (Darvish et al., 2014). In conclusion, TeamSTEPPS, as an organization, has three major phases for assessment as clinicians and staff members complete the self-assessment process while considering the recommended steps necessary in the initiative through the help of informatics nurses.

References

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2020). TeamSTEPPS 2.0: Module 11. Implementation Workshop. Rockville, MD. https://www.ahrq.gov/teamstepps/instructor/fundamentals/module11/igimplement.html

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2020). Working with Patient Safety Organizations. Rockville, MD. https://www.ahrq.gov/news/pso.html

Darvish, A., Bahramnezhad, F., [...] & Navidhamidi, M. (2014). The Role of Nursing Informatics on Promoting Quality of Health Care and the Need for Appropriate Education. Global Journal of Health Science. Canadian Center of Science and Education. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4825491/#!po=20.3125

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (2016). Self-Assessment Patient Identification. General Instructions for the SAFER Self-Assessment Guides. https://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/safer_patient_identification.pdf