Why Use TeamSTEPPS?

• Goal: Produce highly effective medical teams that optimize the use of information, people and resources to achieve the best clinical outcomes

• Teams of individuals who communicate effectively and back each other up dramatically reduce the consequences of human error

• Team skills are not innate; they must be trained

Slide Notes:

Note: Review the goal statement

health care systems, like many HROs, depend on the coordinated interactions of care providers working in an environment that is:

• Dynamic
• Complex
• High risk

TeamSTEPPS provides the resources to optimize team performance across our organization.

Human factors research has shown that even highly skilled, motivated professionals are vulnerable to error due to human limitations.

But research has also shown that:

Teams that communicate effectively and back each other up reduce the potential for error, which results in enhanced safety and improved performance.

For example, the Joint Commission analyzed the sentinel events that were reported to them over the last 10 years and identified communication failure as the leading root cause of sentinel events.

TeamSTEPPS improves communication and other teamwork skills (e.g., backup behaviors) that help an organization move toward attaining this goal. This is important because teamwork is not innate; it must be learned.