Seminar C1 – Improving patient safety through multidisciplinary teamwork

 

Teamwork, the seamless integration of multiple knowledge, skill and affective competencies is a mechanism to improve patient safety and avoid errors¹. The literature is filled with positive outcomes that teamwork brings and includes improved communication, flattening hierarchies, greater efficiency and improved safety. What impact can multidisciplinary team working bring to a high stress, highly technical hospital setting of a paediatric intensive care unit? How would such a team work? What approach would need to be adopted and what processes would need to be implemented in order for such an approach to work?

 

 

• To identify the steps that need to be taken to create a multidisciplinary team;

• To describe what a safety culture is in the context of a paediatric intensive care unit;

• To investigate what processes are needed to be put in place for teamwork to occur.

 

 

After the presentation the participant should be able:

 

• to define the Multidisciplinary team working;

• to examine the implementation strategy and associated practicalities;

• to list the outcomes that this project has generated.

 

 

*1  Salas E et al; Can team work enhance patient safety https://www.rmf.harvard.edu/~/media/Files/_Global/KC/PDFs/Forum_V23N3_teamworksafety.pdf accessed January 12th 2014.