When it comes to TeamSTEPPS training, what physicians want is...
Just the 10-minute overview because "I don't have time to sit through 4 hours of training."
A quick recap of the TeamSTEPPS principles because "This stuff doesn't really apply to me... it's really for nurses."
Giving them what they want isn't nearly as powerful as teaching them what they need.
There's always the temptation to take the available shortcut and just "do TeamSTEPPS for nurses."
Or you can dig in, take your time and invest in a process that helps people see what they truly need. At LifeWings, we insist on interdisciplinary TeamSTEPPS training with our partner hospitals. We work very hard on convincing the hospital's physicians that this training is a worthwhile investment on their part in having better teams to work with, and better teams to support their practice in the hospital.
Yes, we could teach physicians the principles of TeamSTEPPS in 10 minutes. But that wouldn't make them a better team leader, or give them a better team to work with. To create a better team, we need the quarterback to practice with the team.
In the end, the gains in efficiency and reduction in rework, confusion, communication breakdowns, and wasted effort will save them far more time in a year than they invested in the training session.
Yes, convincing physicians of their return on investment for TeamSTEPPS training can be slow going. But it can be done. If it were easy, every physician would have attended TeamSTEPPS training already.
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