The 10th Annual National TeamSTEPPSTeam Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS) is an evidence-based teamwork system designed to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of healthcare. TeamSTEPPS consists of a collection of instructions, materials and tools to help drive a successful teamwork initiative from the initial planning to implementation through to sustainment. The system is designed to improve patient safety using a three-phase approach: Phase I Assessment: Facility determines organizational readiness; Phase II Planning, Training & Implementation: Facility “decides what to do” and “makes it happen;” and Phase III Sustainment: Facility spreads the improvements in teamwork performance, clinical processes and outcomes resulting from the TeamSTEPPS initiative.TeamSTEPPS Conference – an event designed to highlight strategies and techniques to effectively implement and sustain TeamSTEPPS in today’s ever-evolving health care environment – was held 7-10 June, 2016 in Washington, D.C. Welcoming over 700 health care industry professionals and experts, the National TeamSTEPPS conference spotlighted the value of TeamSTEPPS across clinical and non-clinical settings both in the civilian and military space. Addressing a wide range of topics – with over 30 presentations and workshops on subjects ranging from “TeamSTEPPS 101” to “TeamSTEPPS: The Vehicle to Drive your Metrics in the Right Direction,” “The Answer is in the Room: Using TeamSTEPPS to Problem Solve and Reinvigorate Struggling Teams” and “TeamSTEPPS in Times of Transformational Change” – the 2016 TeamSTEPPS National Conference provided attendees the ability to delve into the TeamSTEPPS framework and its application into all aspects of health care and patient safety. (Visit the AHRQ website to access information and materials from the event.)

Each and every topic covered throughout the National Conference was of extreme relevance to not only civilian health care experts but also Military Health System (MHS) patient safety professionals who continue to make strides towards high reliability by learning growing and implementing patient safety best practices to improve the care we deliver. To that end, the National Conference opened with a Department of Defense (DoD) session (7- 8 June) with approximately 80 DoD TeamSTEPPS experts and champions in attendance from all Services and the National Capitol Region Medical Directorate (NCR MD).

This year, the theme of the DoD session was “The Military Health System (MHS) Across the Globe… Don't Stop Believing in Zero Harm”. The focus of the session was on leveraging TeamSTEPPS to accomplish the aims of High Reliability Organizations (HROs), leadership development and learning organizations. There were presentations from the High Reliability Collaboration Board (HRO experts from the Services, the Defense Health Agency (DHA) and the NCR MD) illustrating plans for and progress toward high reliability and the role of TeamSTEPPS in that journey. In addition, there were multiple briefings and discussions from the Services and Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs) on how they have leveraged TeamSTEPPS successes and lessons learned to improve patient safety and quality. TeamSTEPPS experts from the DoD also presented several sessions at the National conference. (Visit the PSLC Home Page to access all DoD TeamSTEPPS National Conference presentations.)

Events such as the National TeamSTEPPS conference are, indeed, of great relevance to MHS staff and patients. This is because both the implementation and sustainment of TeamSTEPPS are closely connected to the MHS journey towards high reliability. In fact, the concept of teamwork fits perfectly into the HRO framework because well-trained operational teams:

• Continually scan their environments for clues of emerging problems
• Constantly communicate to share information across team members
• Swiftly adapt to changing demands
• Continually learn through structured debriefs and real-time collaborative problem-solving
• Defer to those with the most expertise regardless of hierarchy
• Drive safety culture by maintaining found mutual respect, trust and accountability for speaking up about identified safety risks and quickly adjusting to contain them

What’s more, when TeamSTEPPS is implemented effectively and consistently, it can both create high reliability and transform an organization’s culture as it:

• Establishes a common language for discussing “communication” and other teamwork failures
• Provides simple, teachable tools and techniques that produce high reliability behaviors
• Levels the professional hierarchy
• Engages patients and families
• Gives leaders tools for leading change – to become coaches, mentors and effective team leaders
• Empowers all staff members to speak up for patients’ safety

TeamSTEPPS invites us to act our way into a new way of thinking to innovate, collaborate to function as high performing teams and provide the highest level of care to our patients and their loved ones. As the table below indicates, examples of how TeamSTEPPS produces HRO practices include:

As the MHS continues on its path towards high reliability, patient safety champions must continue to be diligent on our focus to mitigate error and identify potential problems by learning from each other and leveraging all the tools at our disposal, especially TeamSTEPPS. After all, TeamSTEPPS is about changing the DNA, revolutionizing the way we provide care by collaborating in innovative ways to eventually achieve zero patient harm.

Learn more about the HRO framework and TeamSTEPPS.