ANN ARBOR, MI - Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak and the University of Michigan Health System are among 16 centers across the nation taking part in a study that uses a teamwork system borrowed from military aviation to enhance patient care.

The system, known as MedTeams™, draws on lessons learned in the world of military aviation, another high-stress, high-stakes work environment. The goal is to improve patient safety, patient satisfaction and employee satisfaction in labor and delivery units by applying teamwork skills training. In the military, teamwork intervention techniques resulted in a 40 percent reduction in preventable errors, saving lives and millions of dollars each year. MedTeams™, developed by Dynamics Research Corporation, incorporates more than two decades of aviation team research and development. A recognized leader in safety, the aviation industry has established teamwork as essential to human error prevention.

As part of the 12-month study, physicians, nurses and other health care providers involved in direct patient care have received training in teamwork skills, followed by "on the job" training and coaching. The data-collection portion of the study will run through this fall.

The teams have been assigned a limited number of patients to ensure that team members are always aware of patient status and are able to monitor the actions of fellow team members. The intent is to enhance coordination of patient care and communication among providers.

The program streamlines patient care by dividing health care staff into smaller "core" teams differentiated by colored badges. Patients are assigned to that team from the time they are admitted to the labor and delivery unit. Core teams are made up of nurses and attending physicians. The number of caregivers will vary based on patient volumes, and patients are assigned to a team based on their attending physician. Team members care for patients in a collaborative and interactive method, providing a wider safety net.

Med Teams™ training focuses on five elements of teamwork: developing and maintaining team structure and climate; planning and problem solving; communication; managing workload; and improving team skills. These elements are addressed through a number of specific teamwork behaviors such as cross monitoring. This technique teaches all providers, regardless of position, how to actively monitor the actions of other team members to prevent errors.

"We hope to prove that labor and delivery units that are structured into work teams with teamwork training skills will demonstrate better clinical unit performance," says Cosmas Van de Ven, M.D., the principal investigator for the project at the University of Michigan.

Beaumont's chairman of the Obstetric Quality Assurance Committee and Med Teams instructor, Mark Dykowski, M.D., says, "Improved performance means the processes of labor and delivery will be enhanced and that will lead to reductions in adverse patient outcomes and improvement in patient satisfaction."

The University of Michigan Health System is UMHS is on the web at www.med.umich.edu.

Beaumont is on the Web at www.beaumonthospitals.com.

Written by:
Kara Gavin- 734-764-2220 University of Michigan Health System

Brian Taylor- 248-551-0740 Beaumont Hospital

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