Better Teams. Better Systems.

Better Care.

April 2008

SHARPENING THE SAW: A Message from Steve Harden, President of LifeWings Partners, LLC
 

RUNNING THE NUMBERS

Imagine you picked up the Sunday paper and, in giant type on the front page, you read this headline: Deadly Carnage: 8 Airliners Crash This Week. Over 1600 dead. You have to get on a plane that evening and fly across the country to attend a patient safety conference. Are you worried for your safety?

Roll the clock forward a week and as you scan the front page of your Sunday paper you see this headline: Air Disasters Continue: 8 More Airliners Crash This Week. Over 3200 dead in two weeks. FAA considers shutting down all airlines. Monday morning you are scheduled to leave with your family on vacation, flying to Florida for the week. Will you go? Or, will the fear of being in an airline accident keep you home?

Let's say, for the sake of argument, the government and the FAA allow this carnage to go on for three years, and that passengers fearfully continue to fly because they have no other choice. (Both ideas are way too far fetched to believe.)  The net result? 238,337 dead, 1,248 aircraft lost - almost the total fleets of several airlines put together. Would anyone ever set foot on an airplane again? [Read More]

SKILLS AND TOOLS: Get Better Today

"Teamwork divides the task while multiplying success." -- Unknown

Aviators conduct a core CRM practice by performing a feedback session after a flight mission.  During the session all team members involved in the flight discuss what happened and what can be learned to improve performance for next time. A very carefully constructed script, or guide, is followed which keeps the discussion on point and precisely targeted to the most essential action steps needed to improve outcomes.  These sessions normalize discussions about effective and ineffective performance. This habit of performance feedback allows critique without emotional content, as well as provides a mechanism to close the loop on conflict among team members and keep the lines of communication open.

Most healthcare organizations conduct debriefs in the operating room (OR) or at the end of a shift in the ICU or ED. However, the concept can be applied anywhere in a healthcare organization. Debriefs normally take 30 seconds to three minutes. The length is determined by the complexity of the event, the time available, and the lessons that need to be learned.  [Read More]

LEADERSHIP TOOLKIT: Skills for Sustaining an Enduring Cultural Change

Fundamentals of CRM Training Implementation

The following guidelines are a result of airline research programs and operational experiences adapted to healthcare. They suggest that the greatest benefits in CRM training implementation are achieved by adhering to the following practices.

Assess the Status of the Organization Before Implementation. It is important to know how widely CRM concepts are understood and practiced before designing specific training. Surveys of team members, leadership, and management, observation of teams, and analysis of incident/accident reports can provide essential data for program designers. [Read More]

SUCCESS STORIES: Reported Results from Organizations Implementing LifeWings Patient Safety and Quality Programs

Turnaround Times Decrease as Physician & Employee Satisfaction Increases! 

In a large hospital in the Southwest, LifeWings worked with the Chief Executive Officer, the Dean of Medicine, the Chief Nursing Officer, and the Sr. Director of Outcomes and Performance. The hospital was struggling with protracted OR turnaround times. OR personnel were able to meet their turnaround goals only 44% of the time.

Hospital leadership realized the poor levels of efficiency increased staff and physician dissatisfaction, lowered patient satisfaction, and reduced profitability. Their goals were to dramatically improve OR turnaround times, while improving staff and patient safety, and as a by-product, improve staff and physician satisfaction.

To meet their goals, LifeWings provided a combination of teamwork skills workshops and implementation of customized Hardwired Safety Tools^SM. The Safety Tools included checklists and standard operating procedures. Once the LifeWings training and tools were implemented, the hospital experienced a 51% improvement in OR turnaround times. Both efficiency and patient safety increased as reported events of surgical error decreased. As a result, both physicians and staff reported greater satisfaction with their employment. [Read More Success Stories]

ASK THE INNOVATORS: Road Blocks of Project Implementation

Q. If we've attended your Teamwork Skills Workshops, do we really need the Hardwired Safety Tools^SM Workshops and implementation?

Recently, LifeWings received the following testimonial from Laurie G. McKeown, MD, Patient Safety Officer at Salem Hospital, speaking to the value of our Hardwired Safety Tools and Workshops.

A.Hard-wired Safety Tools Workshops are vital to create the foundation for a strong crew resource management (CRM) program that gets results.  Tools Workshops are integral to success and a needed link along with the Communication and Teamwork Skills training.  It's the piece that takes the training and puts it into staff's daily work. The Tools Workshops forced us to take the time, gather the right people, and tackle our issues. The LifeWings pilot, Steve Montague, had the mental picture of what needed to happen, guided us to be compliant with CRM principles, and gave us the discipline to follow through. Otherwise, you receive the Communication and Teamwork Skills training, know it was good, but walk away without applications specific to your care settings. Creating and implementing tools moves staff adoption of communication and teamwork techniques speedily along. An added plus is that buy-in occurs as staff help create their own tools.

Interestingly, a group in our hospital tried to develop their own tools. Their tools were unintentionally unsafe, and had to go through substantial revisions which caused hurt feelings and ruffled feathers. It's better to do the Hard-wired Safety Tools Workshops and get it right the first time.

Laurie G. McKeown, MD

Salem Hospital

Do you have a question or success story you'd like to share? Contact Dawn Colonna at dcolonna@SaferPatients.com or (800) 290-9314.

About Us

LifeWings Partners LLC was founded by a former U.S. Navy Top Gun instructor and commercial airline pilot. The firm specializes in applying CRM based teamwork training and safety tools to help healthcare facilities save patients' lives and reduce costs. LifeWings has helped over 85 facilities nationwide provide better quality care to their patients.

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Knowledge is the only instrument of production that is not subject to diminishing returns.

~J.M. Clark~

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