Medical crises are in the main unexpected events that create a unique set of challenges to a health care team. There are multiple physical tasks to complete and the mental demands for even experienced individuals can be over whelming. These demands include:
- Extreme time pressures
- Information over load
- An uncertain clinical diagnosis and the effects of our treatment
- Uncertainty about the skills and abilities of the resuscitation team
- Challenge group dynamics as individuals react differently under duress
- Team members deploy to a crises at different times and arrive at different times
- Events that occur infrequently require seldom used skills and knowledge to problem solve commonly driving solutions that are "rule based" and these rules are seldom used creating cognitive challenges for a team leader
Good team work is no accident. It is a co-operative effort of the team members to achieve a common goal. That goal in resuscitation is delivering good resuscitation practice to achieve the best possible clinical outcome for the individual patient involved.
Providing good team work is not as easy as it sounds and like any team (for example a sports team), developing individual technical skills forms only part of the picture. The team needs effective leadership, structure, communication patterns and an appreciation of how and when each required task should be performed to reach the end goal of a successful resuscitation. The skills and behaviors to lead a team differs from those required to be an effective team player and while this presents a unique challenge to training teams it also presents an opportunity for all providers to have an appreciation of how their own behavior contributes to effective team work, to provide the best possible outcomes for the patient.
While various skills and behaviors that contribute to effective team work can be disseminated and taught to individuals there can be little doubt that team performance is best improved when a team trains together. Effective teams train together. They train together in the space they will need to perform with the equipment they have to use.
Resuscitation Skills provides such training. We take a high fidelity patient simulator into your work space and rehearse a medical crises. Not only are technical skills such as using a defibrillator and performing CPR practiced but all the elements of developing good team leadership and effective team player skills and behaviors are coached, critiques and developed so your team is better prepared for such events.
Check out this service by clicking on the picture below. Its surprisingly cost effective!
Also, watch this space for the release of our specialized course Team Resource Management. A course specifically developed for Urgent Care doctors or any acute care provider to develop improved team leadership performance during a medical crises: Due for availability in early 2017.
Regards
