Chapter 9: The Team Approach to Health Care

Define continuum of care

The concept of consistent patient care across the entire health care team from first patient contact to patient discharge; working together with a unified goal results in improved individual and team performance, better patient and provider safety, and improved patient outcome.

List the 5 essential elements of a group

1. a common goal

2. an image of themselves as “a group”

3. a sense of continuity of the group (an understanding that the group may work together more than once, even in a slightly different configuration)

4. a set of shared values (how the group wants to get things done)

5. different roles within the group (often self-assigned)

explain the advantages of a team over a group; include the advantages of regularly training and practicing together.

Emergency response teams have better interaction, performance, and patient outcomes than groups of health care providers who do not share a team dynamic. Team members who frequently train and work together are more likely to move smoothly from one step in the procedure to the next, performing as one seamless unit. By contrast, team members who train and work together less often may need more explicit verbal direction to accomplish their tasks, which can potentially lead to patient care delays.

List the five essential elements of a team

1. a shared goal

2. clear roles and responsibilities

3. diverse and competent skill sets

4. effective collaboration and communication

5. supportive and coordinated leadership

explain how crew resource management (CRM) can be useful in the prehospital environment.

Crew resource management is a way for team members to work together with the team leader to develop and maintain a shared understanding of the emergency situation. CRM allows team members with different skill sets to collaborate and communicate, fulfill their roles and responsibilities, and achieve the shared goal of the best possible patient outcome.

List the five critical elements necessary to ensure effective transfer of patient care from one provider to another.

1. uninterrupted critical care: whenever possible, the team member giving the report and the team members taking the report should hand off life-saving care (such as performing chest compressions) to another team member, allowing them to focus on the transfer of care.

2. minimal interference: The transfer of patient care should occur in a location with the least interference possible. If the transfer takes place at the patient’s side, it should not occur while the patient is being moved.

3. respectful interaction: each team member involved in the transfer must be respectful of members’ different roles and recognize the importance of each role.

4. common priorities: both the team member giving the report and the team member taking the report must focus on their common priorities (critical assessment findings and patient care) vital for the best possible patient outcome

5. common language or system: whenever possible, a mutually agreed-on and standardized patient handoff format should be used.

List the five steps a receiving health care provider should perform when taking a patient care report (PCR)

Explain the stages of effective decision making.

Describe decision traps that can lead to decision-making errors

Describe the steps EMTs can take to troubleshoot interpersonal conflicts