TeamSTEPPS (Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety) was developed in order to provide healthcare employees with the opportunities to advance patient safety, as well as to make work in teams smoother and more consistent. It should be emphasized that TeamSTEPPS is founded on the four core competencies – leading teams, mutual support, situation monitoring, and communication (Zerwekh & Garneau, 2021). In conjunction, the mentioned competencies contribute to a healthy working environment and to coherent interactions between healthcare professionals who are involved in teamwork continuously. It seems apparent that if they communicate efficiently and provide mutual support to each other, the critical errors are not likely to occur, which leads, again, to significant patient safety and overall performance.
There are a plethora of useful tools that TeamSTEPPS offers – starting from the two-challenge rule and ending with cross-monitoring. However, I should state that there is one that I tend to utilize on a daily basis – DESC Script. The latter may be defined as a constructive method that might help in resolving various conflicts. It includes the following: D – description of the situation or behavior; E – expression of how I feel about the situation; S – suggestion of alternatives; C – consequences that are to be analyzed within the scope of influence on the team’s goals (Zerwekh & Garneau, 2021).
If I were a manager, I would continue to use the described approach. Given the fact that my work is characterized by the presence of many daily tasks and issues, there are many contradictory opinions on them, which may evolve into conflicts at times. DESC script allows me to assess such situations reasonably and consistently – this averts unnecessary escalations constantly. It seems rational to state that such a healthy nursing working environment – without inner, interpersonal struggles – results in great teammates’ interactions, which, in turn, is a foundation for quality and safe patient care as we focus on appropriate things.
Reference
Zerwekh, J., & Garneau, A. (2021). Nursing today: Transition and trends (10th ed.). Elsevier.