Perceptions of Hospital Safety Improve 8%

New work from The Ohio State University has found that a training program focusing on team communication, leadership, and decision-making practices, known as Crew Resource Management (CRM), was found to improve perceptions of the safety culture by 8% over the course of two years. This study, the largest of its kind, is out now in the American Journal of Medical Quality from SAGE Publishing.

According to the July 15, 2016 news release, “CRM is an approach to training teams to function effectively under demanding or unpredictable situations. The program consists of safety tools, such as checklists, standard protocols, and communication scripts, which help teams establish and follow routine procedures when responding to situations. CRM also addresses conflict management, cross-checking colleagues’ actions, and articulating concerns to others.”

“Comparing 784 survey responses from 2011 to 667 responses from 2013 after the employees received training and had two years to apply its principles, the employees reported a 9% increase in organizational learning/continuous improvement; a 9% increase in frequency of mistakes reported, enabling employees to address potential safety issues; an 8% increase in communication openness; a 6% increase in teamwork within departments; a 4% increase in teamwork across departments.”

As indicated in the news release, “For successful large-scale cultural transformations, the researchers wrote that leadership engagement and endorsement must be continuous. They also recommend putting into place a system, such as a hospital-wide steering committee, to monitor the adoption and use of CRM safety tools. This system should also monitor the occurrence of avoidable medical mistakes both in specific departments and the center overall, and to communicate any potential improvements to employees so they can provide the best care possible for all patients.”

Co-author Susan Moffatt-Bruce, M.D., Ph.D. told OTW, “We started this work because it was clear that with all the changes in healthcare, we needed to work together. Teamwork builds resilience and in this ever-changing healthcare environment we need resilience. I was pleasantly surprised that we have consistently improved despite having new residents and faculty.”

“Orthopedic surgeons are trained as individuals, but we work best as teams. Crew Resource Management is all about a culture of inclusivity and mutual respect. There will always be a tension between safety and productivity for orthopedic surgeons who are incredibly busy; CRM gives them the tools ensure that we are safe and patient centric.”