Study design
We conducted a study with a pre-post design with measurements at baseline, after 6 months and after 12 months of intervention.
Setting and sample
The intervention was conducted in a 20-bed urology and gastrointestinal surgery ward in a 180-bed hospital in Norway. The study site was selected based on the leaders’ willingness to participate in the project motivated by patient safety incidents in the ward. The profile of the surgical ward is displayed in Table 1. No major changes in the unit profile occurred during the study period, except for changes in leadership positions (which is specified in the intervention section). All of the 43 frontline healthcare professionals (12 physicians, 24 registered nurses, and 7 nursing assistants at baseline) were invited to participate in the study. A total of 41 participated in the 6-hour initial team training. Normal turnover among nurse staff and physicians caused changes in the sample size.
Table 1. Unit profile data
|
Baseline
|
6 months
|
12 months
|
Beds and nurse/bed ratio
|
|
|
|
Number of patient beds
|
20
|
20
|
20
|
Nurse/bed ratio
|
1.16
|
1.16
|
1.16
|
Full-time equivalent positions
|
|
|
|
Physicians
|
13
|
12
|
12
|
Registered nurses
|
17.25
|
19.25
|
20.25
|
Nursing assistants
|
4.95
|
3.1
|
2.1
|
Unit nurse director
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
Clinical nurse specialist
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
Change in positions
|
|
|
|
Clinical nurse specialist
|
-
|
No
|
No
|
Unit nurse manager
|
-
|
No
|
Yes
|
Physician leader gastrointestinal surgery
|
-
|
No
|
No
|
Physician leader urology
|
-
|
No
|
Yes
|
Chair of the surgical department
|
-
|
No
|
Yes
|
Patient data and sick leave (previous 6 months)
|
|
Number of patient admissions per month
|
192
|
174
|
173
|
Length of stay (mean days)
|
3.46
|
3.63
|
3.62
|
Occupied beds
|
87%
|
96%
|
89%
|
Emergency admissions
|
64%
|
65%
|
66%
|
Sick leave nursing staff
|
13.22%
|
5.05%
|
7.58%
|
Sick leave physicians
|
3.55%
|
1.47%
|
2.58%
|
Registered adverse events by year
|
2015
|
2016
|
2017
|
Numbers of reported adverse events
|
38
|
42
|
52
|
The intervention
The intervention was conducted according to the TeamSTEPPS implementation plan [32], which comprises three phases and aligns with the Clinical Human Factors Group recommendation for team training interventions [41].
Phase 1. Set the stage and decide what to do - Assessment and planning:
A site assessment was conducted and an overview of TeamSTEPPS was provided to the leadership of the surgical department and the leaders of the selected ward. After the leaders had decided that their unit was ready for the TeamSTEPPS program, an intervention plan was developed jointly by a project group consisting of the researchers and the leaders of the ward. The leaders consisted of the chair of the surgical department, the unit nurse manager, and the two head surgeons. In advance of the intervention start, all the physicians and nursing staff attended information meetings conducted by the researchers.
Phase 2. Make it happen - Training, planning and implementation:
The onset of the intervention was a mandatory six-hour interprofessional TeamSTEPPS training distributed over three days in a period of three weeks. In advance of the training, TeamSTEPPS leaflets and pocket guides were distributed to all healthcare personnel, which they were asked to read in preparation for the training. The training was conducted in a simulation center at the university and delivered by the master trained nurse and physician leaders in the surgical ward. The team training was a combination of didactics, videos, role play and high-fidelity simulation training. The simulation training included debriefing sessions with a focus on interprofessional teamwork. The first lecture, held by the chair of the surgical department, aimed to create a sense of urgency by presenting the hospital’s reports of adverse events. At the end of the training, the healthcare professionals were asked to identify patient safety issues in the ward and to suggest TeamSTEPPS tools to solve the problems. Immediately after the training, the participants responded to the “The TeamSTEPPS Course Evaluation Survey”. The evaluation results were very good, both regarding training satisfaction and learning outcomes [42].
After the training, an interprofessional change team was established. The change team consisted of 12 members from all levels in the organization, in addition to a former patient and one of the researchers (ORA), and it was led by the unit nurse manager. The researcher coached the change team. Based on the identified safety issues, the change team developed an action plan, according to which they implemented tools and strategies into daily practice. The vision of the action plan was “Zero errors”, and the specific goals were aligned with the organizational goals of the surgical department. The unit nurse manager, the clinical nurse specialist, and the two head surgeons, led the implementation in collaboration with the other members of the change team.
Five tools were implemented in the ward during the first five months of the study period, at a rate of approximately one tool per month (Table 3). The tool of the month was communicated through weekly newsletters and staff meetings and implemented in daily practice. A description of the selected tools and strategies implemented in the ward is displayed in Table 2, and an overview of the start times of a new tool to be implemented is displayed in Table 3. Refresher training for the nursing staff (75 minutes), and refresher training for physicians (20 minutes) 5 months after the initial team training.
After eight months of intervention, some changes in the wards’ leadership occurred. The master trained head surgeon of urology left employment at the hospital. The chair of the department moved to a higher position in the hospital organization, and the head surgeon of the gastrointestinal surgery section assumed the position of chair. The unit nurse manager was allocated to a position as assistant chair of the surgical department, and the clinical nurse specialist assumed the role of the leader of the change team (Table 1).
Phase 3. Make it stick – Sustainment:
Rather than reducing the pressure, it was maintained, and the implementation of tools and strategies continued. Five more tools were implemented during the last five months of the 12-month study period (Table 3). Achievements were celebrated along the way. When conducting whiteboard patient safety huddles after rounding every day, 30 days in a row, they celebrated with a whiteboard-themed cake.
After 11 months, another refresher training session was held by the clinical nurse specialist for the nursing staff (75 minutes), but not for the physicians – due to busy work schedules. Except for that, the intervention was conducted as intended with the interprofessional change team and leadership leading the change, and with an active project group that had meetings with the leaders every second month throughout the project period [43].
Table 2. Explanation of the selected tools and strategies implemented in study period [32]
TeamSTEPPS tools and strategies
|
Explanation
|
Closed-loop
|
Using closed-loop communication to ensure that information conveyed by the sender is understood by the receiver as intended
|
ISBAR
|
A technique for communicating critical information that requires immediate attention and action concerning a patient’s condition
|
I-PASS
|
Strategy designed to enhance information exchange during transitions in care
|
Brief
|
Short session prior to start to share the plan, discuss team formation, assign roles and responsibilities, establish expectations and climate, anticipate outcomes and likely contingencies
|
Huddle
|
Ad hoc meeting to re-establish situational awareness, reinforce plans already in place, and assess the need to adjust the plan
|
Debrief
|
Informal information exchange session designed to improve team performance and effectiveness through lessons learned and reinforcement of positive behaviors
|
Task
assistance
|
Helping others with tasks builds a strong team. Key strategies include: Team members protect each other from work overload situations, Effective teams place all offers and requests for assistance in the context of patient safety, Team members foster a climate where it is expected that assistance will be actively sought and offered
|
The two- challenge rule
|
Empowers all team members to “stop the line” if they sense or discover an essential safety breach. When an initial assertive statement is ignored: It is your responsibility to assertively voice concern at least two times to ensure that it has been heard, The team member being challenged must acknowledge that concern has been heard, If the safety issue still hasn’t been addressed: Take a stronger course of action; Utilize supervisor or chain of command
|
Cross monitoring
|
A harm error reduction strategy that involves: Monitoring actions of other team members, Providing a safety net within the team, Ensuring that mistakes or oversights are caught quickly and easily, “Watching each other’s back”
|
STEP
|
Tool to help assess health care delivery situations
|
Table 3. Time of implementation of the selected TeamSTEPPS tools and strategies
The teamwork competencies
|
May
2016
|
June
2016
|
August 2016
|
September 2016
|
October 2016
|
January 2017
|
February 2017
|
March 2017
|
May
2017
|
Communication
|
Closed-loop
|
ISBAR1
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I-PASS3
|
Leadership
|
|
|
Briefs
|
Huddles
|
|
Debriefs
|
|
|
|
Situation Monitoring
|
|
|
|
|
Cross monitoring
|
|
STEP2
|
|
|
Mutual Support
|
|
|
|
|
|
Task assistance
|
|
Two Challenge rule
|
|
1ISBAR=Identification, Situation, Background, Assessment, Request/Recommendation – Use by exchange of critical information
2STEP=Status of the patient, Team members, Environment, Progress toward the goal – Used by focusing on updated electronic care plans
3I-PASS=Illness severity, Patient summary, Action list, Situation awareness and contingency planning, Synthesis by receiver – Systematic handoffs with focus on patient safety risks
Measurements
Three questionnaires were used to evaluate the intervention. For measuring the professional outcomes (teamwork), the TeamSTEPPS Teamwork Perceptions Questionnaire (T-TPQ) and the Collaboration and Satisfaction about Care Decisions in Teams (CSACD-T) were used, and for measuring organizational outcomes (patient safety culture), the Hospital Survey of Patient Safety Culture Questionnaire (HSOPS) was used.
The T-TPQ is a 35-item questionnaire [44, 45] that measures individuals’ perception of the level of teamwork that exists in their work unit. Participants responded using a 5-point Likert scale of agreement (5=strongly agree to 3=neutral to 1=strongly disagree). The T-TPQ measures five teamwork dimensions addressed in the TeamSTEPPS program; there are seven items for each of the following five dimensions: “Team structure”, “Leadership”, “Mutual Support”, “Situational Monitoring” and “Communication”.
The CSACD-T is a questionnaire measuring clinical decision making in teams. It is composed of seven items with statements regarding collaboration in team decision making about patient care and two items about satisfaction with decision making. The participants responded by using a 7-point Likert scale of agreement (from 1=strongly disagree to 7=strongly agree), global collaboration (from 1=no collaboration to 7=complete collaboration), and satisfaction about care decisions (from 1=not satisfied to 7=very satisfied). The questionnaire was developed from the original nurse-physician “Collaboration and Satisfaction about Care Decisions” questionnaire [46].
The HSOPS [47] is a questionnaire that assesses the extent to which healthcare professionals’ organizational culture supports patient safety. It is recommended for evaluating the cultural impact of team training and patient safety interventions [47]. The full HSOPS comprises 2 single items and 12 patient safety culture dimensions. Each dimension is composed of three or four items [47]. The two single items (“Number of Events Reported” and “Patient Safety Grade”) and two of the dimensions (“Overall Perceptions of Patient Safety” and “Frequency of Events Reported”) are regarded as outcome measures. Three dimensions are regarded as hospital-level measures [48]. Because we only studied one unit, we excluded the hospital-level section of the questionnaire (11 items – 3 dimensions) and used the 2 single items and the remaining 33 items of the nine unit-level dimensions: “Teamwork Within Unit”, “Manager’s Expectations & Actions Promoting Patient Safety”, “Organizational Learning - Continuous Improvement”, “Feedback and Communication About Error”, “Communication Openness”, “Staffing”, “Nonpunitive Response to Errors”, “Overall Perceptions of Patient Safety”, and “Frequency of Events Reported” [48]. The participants responded by using a 5-point Likert scale of agreement (from 1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree, with “neither” in the middle) or frequency (from 1=very seldom to 5=very often). The single item “Patient Safety Grade”, which asks participants to provide an overall grade on patient safety for their unit, has the following five response options: A = Excellent, B = Very Good, C = Acceptable, D = Poor, E = Failing. The single item “Number of Events Reported”, which indicates the number of adverse events the participants have reported over the past 12 months, has six response options: 1 = No events, 2= 1 to 2 events, 3= 3 to 5 events, 4 = 6 to 10 events, 5 =11 to 20 events, 6 = 21 events or more [47].
All three questionnaires were translated into Norwegian and psychometrically tested [49-51]. In addition to the questionnaires, participants’ background information was solicited (sex, age group, profession group, and employee time in the unit).
Data collection
An electronic survey (SurveyXact) was distributed by email to the healthcare professionals to evaluate the effect of the TeamSTEPPS program. Data collection was conducted at baseline (February-March 2016) and after 6 months (November -December 2016) and 12 months of intervention (June 2017). Unit profile data were collected from the unit nurse manager.
Statistical analyses
To test for statistically significant changes between baseline and 6 months and between baseline and 12 months, a paired t-test was applied on the healthcare professional`s mean scores of the T-TPQ and HSOPS dimensions and the total score of the CSACD-T, and a Wilcoxon signed-rank test was applied on the two single items of the HSOPS [52]. A generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) [53] was used to investigate the outcome of TeamSTEPPS by estimating the associations among the nine HSOPS dimensions used as dependent variables and “Profession group” (nursing staff and physicians) and “Time” (baseline, after 6 and 12 months of intervention) as the two independent variables. A GLMM is a generalization of traditional linear regression that adjusts for the correlation between repeated measurements within each subject and finds the best linear fit to the data across all individuals. The model maximizes power by utilizing all data despite missing observations in some subjects [54, 55]. The GLMM was applied to the total sample (n=98), and the results are reported as estimates with 95% confidence intervals. To test whether any of the three significant improved teamwork dimensions of the T-TPQ were associated with two of the patient safety culture outcomes (“Overall patient safety” and “Patient Safety Grade”) after 12 months of intervention, multiple linear regression analysis was performed on all healthcare professionals (n=31) who responded after 12 months of intervention [56]. A p-value < .05 was considered to be statistically significant for all analyses. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24 (Armonk, New York) and R 3.1.1 were used to analyze the data. The study adheres to the Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Nonrandomized Designs (TREND) guidelines [57].