Building Better Communication for Safer Patient Care

Abstract

Childbearing Poster Presentation Purpose for the Program The obstetric (OB) department at St. Luke's University Hospital and Health Network (SLUHN) has struggled to provide education for staff members to integrate TeamSTEPPS and Perinatal Rapid Response Team (PERRT) initiatives. TeamSTEPPS was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense in collaboration with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). An evidence‐based program, TeamSTEPPS improves communication and teamwork skills among health care professionals by eliminating barriers to quality and safety through increased awareness. The PERRT initiative, developed by OB nurse and physician leaders, prevents and diverts emergent adverse OB outcomes by using subacute trigger identification through a time out and a team‐determined action plan. Proposed Change The department was chosen as a pilot group for an e‐learning program that integrated these concepts. To maintain and sustain the culture of safety in obstetrics, we incorporated My e‐learning/TeamSTEPPS PERRT into a competency training program that provided a cost‐effective alternative to live classroom training and demonstrated ongoing favorable results in staff perceptions of safety. Implementation, Outcomes, and Evaluation In reviewing available curriculums, it was determined that AHRQ and TeamSTEPPS content experts did not have an online curriculum to spread the teamwork concepts. A joint venture with the SLUHN instructional web designer and the OB department, an innovative and interactive e‐learning module, was developed for the TeamSTEPPS curriculum. Online components were developed by nurse and physician leaders from the OB department and consisted of podcasts and PowerPoint presentations with voice over whereas the web designer provided the technology that achieved our team's goals: an interactive, online educational module to provide training and elicit feedback from the participants related to the overall culture of safety and team training. Cost‐effectiveness analysis showed preliminary savings of $8,500 in salaries for staff over a 2‐year period. With an increase in teamwork and subacute trigger identification, a reduction of $79K in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) clinical costs during a 3‐year time frame was calculated by the finance department. Implications for Nursing Practice A culture of safety is an organizational priority. Teamwork, respect, communication, and open discussion of patient safety and quality of care issues support the PERRT and TeamSTEPPS concepts. Through e‐learning, the SLUHN nurses will be able to sustain these concepts. While the e‐learning program provides consistency in education, it also eases the monitoring education compliance along with having significant cost savings for the network.