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There are many essential elements to successful communication for an effective resuscitation team. It's vital that each professional involved knows what their role is, how to function within their role, and how to communicate that role effectively. We all know that poor communication creates confusion. This can result in procedures being done incorrectly, medication errors, and disagreements amongst team leaders. All of this miscommunication can drastically reduce a patient’s chance of survival. Therefore, let's practice effective communication techniques in order to provide the best care possible. So let’s review some of the most important aspects of that effective communication. First, that each team member must have a clear role and responsibility. Every individual on the resuscitation team needs to understand their specific tasks and responsibilities. Resuscitation team members will have different skill levels depending on their training and expertise. So it's important that the team leader is aware of the skill proficiencies of individual team members so responsibilities can be properly assigned. Now each individual should also be familiar with the roles of their fellow team members. When roles are miscommunicated or unclear, the whole team's performance will suffer. Second, each team member needs to know their limitations. This knowledge allows the team leader to evaluate the available resources and to call for assistance as needed. Remember, it’s not just a sign of incompetence or weakness to ask for help if a team member is limited in a specific function or skill. It’s certainly better to be honest and get appropriate help rather than do something that could negatively impact the whole resuscitation priority of the patient. Third, effective communication includes constructive interventions. There is the possibility that a team leader may need to intervene if a specific action isn’t being performed appropriately. And if it is necessary to take over for a person’s role or to reassign a person to a different role, it should be handled professionally, tactfully, efficiently. Team leaders should avoid confrontation with team members that will have negative consequences on the patient outcome. For example, if there was a situation where the IV team member had attempted a vascular access twice and wasn't successful, the team leader may assign another member to secure that IV or IO. The team leader needs to avoid statements like, and I'm being pretty fictitious here, “You didn’t get the IV yet? What’s wrong with you?”, “just move out of the way, I’ll take care of it myself!!” Statements like this will only cause frustration and greatly reduce the effectiveness of the whole team approach. Now for the fourth point regarding effective communication. We’re going to talk about knowledge sharing. When efforts in resuscitation are ineffective, it’s important to go back to the “basics” and talk as a team. One example may sound something like this. The leader states, “Okay, so the patient is still in Vfib after 3 shocks and delivery of epinephrine and amiodarone. We’ve performed all the treatments correctly up to this point, and is there anything that we’ve missed?” Team members should communicate changes in the patient’s condition in order to help the team leader make calculated and informed decisions correctly. And another key to effective communication is Summarizing and Reevaluating. Remember it’s essential as a team leader to monitor treatments and consistently reevaluate. The team leader should ask himself, “What is the patient’s current status? What treatments have been performed? And What change in the patient’s condition have treatments produced? What are our latest assessment findings?” It’s a good practice to summarize this information out loud in regular periodic updates to the team. Reviewing the status of the resuscitation and verbalizing the next steps is essential to good open communication and effective team leading. The next effective communication point is for team members to use what we call Closed-Loop Communication. This is done when the team leader gives a message, an order or an assignment. The leader should make sure the team member has heard the message and understood it by listening for confirmation before assigning another task. For example, the team leader states to the IV member, “Give 1 mg epinephrine 1:10,000 IV push and let's flush that line with 20 cc’s of normal saline..” The IV team member then should restate the order to make sure it was communicated correctly, like, “Okay, I will give 1 mg epinephrine 1:10,000 IV push and I'll flush the line with 20 cc of normal saline.” Another communication technique is to give Clear Messages. It's important for the success of resuscitation efforts to give concise communication with distinctive speech in a controlled and non-emotional tone of voice. It should be the goal of all healthcare professionals to deliver messages and orders in a calm and direct manner without yelling. Shouting or talking over top of other team members is always going to end up in a negative outcome. So if a team leader gives orders in a frantic and fast paced manner, other team members will feel rushed and confused, and the effectiveness of the team will be hindered. Lastly, mutual respect is vital for effective communication, let alone the fact that it's a professional way to communicate amongst healthcare professionals. The professionals who work together in a respectful and supportive manner achieve much better outcomes. Everyone must work diligently towards the same goal. No one's better than anyone else on the team regardless of the amount of special training, experience or expertise. Every team member needs to recognize the value of each other and eliminate ego. In closing, practicing these effective communication techniques will help produce efficient resuscitation teams with better patient outcomes and increased survival rates and everybody should be working towards that goal.
In order for a resuscitation team to be successful, they must practice effective communication. In this lesson, we'll be getting into some specific techniques or tips to help you achieve this vital element for positive patient outcomes.
It's important that each member of a resuscitation team knows their individual roles and how to function as part of their team. And how to communicate those roles and duties effectively to other team members.
Warning: How important is effective communication? Without it, you greatly increase your odds for confusion, procedures being done incorrectly, medication errors, and disagreements among team members, that also increase the chances for the above to occur. And, of course, all of this reduces the patient's chances for survival.
Good communication doesn't happen by accident; it takes work. It's important to remember, when it comes to communication or any other aspect of your job, that the patient must always come first.
It's vital that every team member knows and understands each of his or her duties on the team. However, it's also important that you understand the roles and responsibilities of the other team members. Understanding everyone's role and properly communicating specifics of each role will be crucial for helping the patient.
All team members will have different levels of skills based on their individual training and experience, which is why it's important for the team leader to be aware of these proficiencies and properly assign responsibilities to those who can handle them.
Every team member must know their own limitations. This will help the team leader to properly evaluate all available resources, assign duties to those who can handle them, and call for assistance if needed.
Pro Tip #1: Asking for help should never be considered a sign of weakness or incompetence. It's better to be honest about your skills and experience and get the appropriate help when needed, than to do something that will negatively impact the team and ultimately the patient.
There will be times when the team leader will have to intervene. For instance, if a team member isn't handling a specific action correctly, it may be necessary for the team leader to take over that duty or reassign it to another member of the team.
However, it's equally important that the team leader handle the situation professionally and tactfully.
Pro Tip #2: Team leaders should always avoid a confrontation with a member of the team. These will only serve to produce negative consequences for the patient. This includes avoiding any statements that may appear derisive or hostile. And watch your tone. Remember, often it's not what you say, but how you say it.
In situations where your resuscitation efforts are proving to be ineffective, it's important to get back to the basics and talk as a team to try and solve the problem.
For instance, the team leader can do this by recapping out-loud what has been done that hasn't worked and encouraging feedback from members of the team. Maybe there's something that was missed. Or something else that may produce a better outcome. Sharing knowledge is crucial, especially in those moments when things aren't working.
Pro Tip #3: All team members should communicate any changes in the patient's condition. This will help the team leader to make calculated, informed decisions correctly.
The team leader should always be asking herself or himself questions pertaining to the patient's condition. Monitoring their condition and reevaluating the situation is essential. These questions can include:
Pro Tip #4: Team leaders should summarize and reevaluate the patient's condition out-loud through regular updates to the team. Verbalizing everything to the team is important for effective communication, efficient team leading, and ultimately providing better care to the patient.
When a team leader gives an assignment or an order, closed-loop communication is how we make certain that the message was understood and is being executed. It serves as confirmation and must be done before the team leader assigns another task.
So, what does closed-loop communication look like? Once the team leader assigns a task or provides direction, the exact message must be repeated by the team member that the message was directed towards. That's it! Simply repeat the message and then began to execute the order.
Giving concise, clear orders is essential for any successful resuscitation team. This includes good enunciation and a tone of voice that's calm and clear. The message should be direct and absent of emotion.
Shouting or flustered speech in a frantic manner isn't going to help the situation. It'll only serve to waste time, as the team member may feel rushed or confused and may even impair that team member's ability to think clearly about the task they're performing.
Mutual respect is vital for effective and efficient communication. It's obviously the professional way to communicate with peers. But also, members of a resuscitation team who work together in a respectful and supportive manner will have more success achieving favorable outcomes.
Pro Tip #5: All members of a resuscitation team work diligently toward the same goal. No one is better than anyone else, regardless of their training, experience, or expertise. Every team member, including the team leader, should recognize the value the other team members provide and leave the ego at home.
Practicing these communication techniques will help you establish an efficient and successful resuscitation team. A team that will better serve the community, produce more positive outcomes, and increase survival rates for those they serve.