The What and Why of TeamSTEPPS: A New Way to Look at the Tools and Concepts

January 9, 2019

In most cases in health care, multiple experts are involved in the care of a single patient. However, these multiple experts do not always function together as an expert team, leading to breakdowns in communication, teamwork, and leadership – resulting in poor patient outcomes. Recent evidence tells us that poor communication plays a role in approximately 70% of all preventable medical errors. This webinar introduces the fundamentals of TeamSTEPPS concepts and tools to facilitate better teamwork, communication, and leadership – the foundations to move from a team of experts to an expert team. The University of Washington Medicine TeamSTEPPS faculty discuss the fundamentals of TeamSTEPPS and the systematic approach of the tools and concepts, and provide ideas on how best to implement these tools and concepts in your organization. They discuss organizing the tools into 100, 200, and 300 level skills, which helps organizations systematically move their culture to one with improved communication and teamwork, ultimately leading to improved patient outcomes.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the contributing factors to medical errors and the need for improved communication and teamwork in health care
• Discuss how Implementing TeamSTEPPS in health care can lead to improved patient outcomes through better communication and teamwork
• Identify the TeamSTEPPS tools associated with the 100, 200, and 300 level concepts and discuss how and when they may be best applied in a team setting