Transformational Leadership, Best Practices, and the Operating Room

There continues to be much debate defining best practices in the OR.  This blog is #1 of #10 that points eye key authors who have researched this topic.  The full reference list will be included on #10.

Blog#1-Team Training and the OR

Team training is now widely used in healthcare to help improve patient outcomes and minimize human error.  The healthcare system needs significant reform to prevent injuries and to improve patient outcomes.  The Institute of Medicine reported in 1999 that between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans die each year from preventable medical errors in hospitals alone.   Team training minimizes human error leading to more favorable patient outcomes.  Team training supports collaborative processes that integrate safe practice principles into the within the team leading to decreased injuries and better patient outcomes (Salas, Wilson, Murphy, King, & Baker, 2007). 

The nurse leader must engage the entire clinical team, including physicians, in recognizing and practicing safety principles throughout the organization (Barter, 2010).  The healthcare environment is challenged with breakdowns in communication leading to strained working relationships, coupled with increased workload, and clinical incompetence jeopardizing patient safety.  Twelve-hour shifts and increased part-time work schedules for nursing staff have attributed to decreased continuity of patient care and increased safety risk (Rusch & Bakewell-Sachs, 2007).  Patients are presenting with complex illness that are challenging to management healthcare is often delivered in a rapid pace creating an environment that is hard to be heard and assure that everyone is aligned to provide safe patient care (Weinstock, 2010; Barter, 2010; Salas, et al, 2007).  The priority for many regulatory and consultative agencies, including the Institute of Medicine, The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, and the American Hospital Association, has shifted to focusing on patient outcomes and strategies to improve the overall quality of care (Hospital Leadership Summit, 2006).  

Check back for blog#2 of #10 on this topic to explore more interesting facts about this topic.