Teamwork & Communication the Focus of Union - Management Conference

HHC and CIR Come Together for Annual Event

   Dr. David Feldman of Maimonides Medical Center leads participants through teamwork exercises

Poor communication not only creates interpersonal problems between staff in different hospital departments, it can also lead to poor patient care. This was the message driving a one-day conference organized jointly by CIR and New York City's Health and Hospitals Corporation on April 21, 2009 at Metropolitan Hospital in East Harlem. 

Learning to work as a team and developing a culture of mutual respect are at the heart of good communication, said Mary Salisbury, RN, one of the presenters at the conference. The multi-specialty, multi-disciplinary event attracted 170 participants from eleven HHC teaching hospitals, including more than 80 residents and attendings, and representatives from every level of hospital administration and staff.

At the heart of good communication is learning to work as a team and developing a culture of mutual respect, said Mary Salisbury, RN, one of the presenters at the conference. The multi-specialty, multi-disciplinary event attracted 170 participants from eleven HHC teaching hospitals, including more than 80 residents and attendings, and representatives from every level of hospital administration and staff.

Ms. Salisbury was one of several experts who spoke throughout the day. She provided participants with a blueprint for optimal team performance, based on work she has done with the Department of Defense and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (Team STEPPS – Strategies & Tools to Enhance Performance & Patient Safety).

“It’s all about relationships," Salisbury said. "Without relationships, we become more bureaucratic and prescriptive. Rule-making can cause more problems." 

Other presenters focused on the evidence linking teamwork and effective communication to improved patient care. “Better patient outcomes and job satisfaction – that’s the goal,” explained Dr. Ed Dunn, ScD, a CT surgeon and former Director of Policy and Clinical Affairs for the VA National Center for Patient Safety. “Happy patients and happy workers are associated with better outcomes.”

In the afternoon, the conference focused more specifically on disruptive behavior, which is the subject of a new Joint Commission Sentinel Alert, requiring every hospital to put in place disruptive behavior policies and procedures. Two presenters from Brooklyn's Maimonides Medical Center -- Dr. David Feldman, Vice-President of Perioperative Services/Vice-Chair of Surgery and Dr. Kathryn Kaplan, Chief Learning Officer – described that hospital’s innovative “Code of Mutual Respect” and their team training efforts. Break-out sessions provided participants with an opportunity to practice what they learned.  

Residents who attended said they left the conference with practical skills and strategies that they could apply to their daily work.

"As a resident, it's a really good learning opportunity, because we don't get formal training in leadership skills," said Dr. Asia Frazier, a pediatrics resident at Jacobi Medical Center. "You're just expected to know." 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                              Dr. Asia Frazier 
                                                                                                                             Jacobi Medical Center