A Brief Overview of the TeamSTEPPS Teamwork System
Based on more than 20 years of research, the TeamSTEPPS teamwork system seeks to provide health care professionals with a new, powerful way to maintain and improve patient safety. Standing for Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety, TeamSTEPPS helps create medical teams that are highly effective and provide the best patient outcomes. Dr. Paul Barach, who co-developed and launched the TeamSTEPPS program with his team, has several years of research experience behind him. Working with the Department of Defense’s Patient Safety Program, Paul Barach was the sole clinician and his team created a high-quality teamwork training program. The TeamSTEPPS system consists of three phases that are based on current trainer experience, culture change, research on patient safety and quality, and lessons learned. The first phase of the program involves determining the organization’s ability to begin the TeamSTEPPS program. This involves identifying any barriers that may prevent change, determining whether the necessary resources are currently being used, and assessing the readiness of the organization’s leadership. The second phase involves training, planning, and beginning the program. This includes implementing all the necessary tools within the whole organization and targeting specific departments. Once phase one determines that the opportunities for improvement exist, phase two must look at whether whole training or targeted interventions are best. Phase two also involves ensuring all leaders agree to the plan and communication is open between leaders and all departments. The third phase is sustainment, which seeks to maintain and spread the benefits of the TeamSTEPPS program. This involves keeping training up-to-date and ensuring the opportunity exists to continue practicing and teaching the skills from the program. Regular feedback is required to help maintain the improvements, as are regular updates to the organization’s plan and continued measurements of success. Dr Barach has developed a suite of feedback and training tools for surgical teams in focusing on the non technical skills of reliable healthcare teams. This work has led to numerous peer review papers by Dr Barach's team.