On December 4 to 8, 2016, King Abdulaziz Medical City-Jeddah hosted Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS) leadership and master trainer courses, facilitated by Johns Hopkins Medicine, Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety & Quality. More than 100 participants from King Abdulaziz Medical City-Jeddah, King Abdulaziz Medical City-Riyadh, Imam Abdulrahman Al Faisal Hospital – Dammam, Prince Mohammed Bin Abdul Aziz Hospital – AlMadinah, King Abdulaziz Hospital - Al Ahsa, Ministry of Health (MOH) Directorate, and MOH hospitals attended the courses.
According to Dr. Ashraf Alsahafi, Director, Quality & Patient Safety Department-Jeddah, lack of teamwork and communication create situations where medical errors can occur. These errors have the potential to cause severe injury or unexpected patient death. Through TeamSTEPPS, an evidence-based set of teamwork tools, the organization aims to optimize patient outcomes by improving communication and teamwork skills. With the team knowledge, skill and attitude competencies, health care professionals are able to respond quickly and effectively to whatever situations arise; thus preventing and mitigating medical errors and patient harm.
Leadership course provides participants with information on establishing a strong infrastructure to support improvement in teamwork and communication; whereas Master Trainer course equips participants with the skills to develop, implement, evaluate and sustain team training programs in their facilities.