Chairman’s File: Teamwork enhances care
In my experience, health care is a team sport. Patient outcomes and experiences improve when caregivers are expert communicators – trained on best practices for interaction not only with patients, but also with one another.
Medical and nursing schools expose students to the concepts of team training. AHA takes those critical skills a step further, offering doctors, nurses and other health care professionals advanced education in the art of “transforming teams of experts into expert teams.”
AHA’s Team Training resources are worth a closer look. Through in-person courses and monthly webinars, they help organizations provide safer, team-based care through diverse curriculums designed to address the unique needs of our field.
The program’s cornerstone is known as Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS®). This training includes ready-to-use materials and evidence-based tools to successfully embed teamwork principles into any hospital or health care system. And now, a TeamSTEPPS® Pocket Guide condenses key lessons into a convenient format.
Seasoned health care professionals describe AHA’s team training as a culture shift and many now consider it foundational for best-in-class patient care. One nurse even declared TeamSTEPPS® “proven to improve patient outcomes.”
That’s a strong endorsement, and I couldn’t agree more. Back home at Atlantic Health System, my colleagues are working closely with AHA Team Training to implement care-enhancing skills across our system of 17,000 caregivers.
On June 12-14, these tools and more will be spotlighted at the AHA Team Training National Conference in San Antonio, where interdisciplinary groups from diverse health care settings will share practical tips for more efficient, team-based care.
Every patient benefits when health care teams work together to enhance care coordination. AHA’s Team Training is a great way to improve cooperation and communication, as we work together to advance health in America.