Describe the Problem The purpose of this project is to identify, discuss, strategize, and evaluate number four in the Team Structure domain using the TeamSTEPPS Teamwork Perceptions Questionnaire (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [AHRQ], 2013). The Team Structure principle, one of five key principles in TeamSTEPPS, identifies team components that work together to ensure patient safety (AHRQ, 2013). Question four asks whether or not a unit makes efficient use of resources available such as staff, supplies, equipment, and information (AHRQ, 2010). Unit A is an example of a unit where resources are not being used to efficiently and to safely run the unit.
Unit A is a step down unit for both the Cardiac Intensive …show more content…
The staff members are working in silos, not effectively communicating, and failing to discern their environment. The nurses accept patients from multiple units that are often not aware of the timing and status of patients being received from the other units. The lack of continual evaluation, awareness of surroundings, and the assurance of team cohesiveness are key factors in Unit A that affect its efficient use of staff (AHRQ, 2013). A second contributing factor is the level of inexperience a nurse has and his or her inability to seek support when necessary. Some of the nurses on Unit A lack the experience or confidence to ask for assistance. TeamSTEPPS notes the CUS acronym to indicate alarm-- CUS represents for Concerned, Uncomfortable, and Safety issues (AHRQ, 2013). Novice nurses In Unit A are not utilizing their voice to verbalize concerns and obtain the support when they need it. A lack of situational monitoring combined with the level of inexperienced staff, both greatly contribute to an inefficient use of resources. Unit A is not capitalizing on the current staff as a cohesive team and therefore unable to maximize the support of experienced …show more content…
Rouse and Al-Maqbali, used a paper-and-pencil survey to collect data on “dignity-related communication behaviors in response to nondirective open-ended inquiry about nurse managers” (2014). This article is resourceful in showing how to successfully conduct a survey and collect data. Leach and Mayo collected data to determine the efficiency in managing patients’ needs in critical situations in a large teaching hospital (2013). This article is a great example of efficient data collection. Both journal articles give great insight on how to best implement strategies into a facility and monitor participation in order to measure data. Unit A could utilize the hospital’s quality management department to obtain pertinent data and statistics throughout the process. Unit A could compare previous data with statistics collected after implementation of these strategies to measure progress and best determine improvement vs stagnation or