Teamwork & Communication Action Series: Wave 2 Evaluation

In the past, the health care system has often focused on the technical skills of providers. However, a growing body of evidence highlights the importance of non-technical skills in patient outcomes and improving safety behaviour in the workplace. Non-technical skills include such elements as leadership, decision-making, situation awareness, communication and teamwork – elements of the team culture. A recent systematic review found a consistent, positive association between workplace and organizational culture and clinical and system-level patient outcomes across a variety of health care settings. Conversely, a negative workplace and organizational culture was linked with poorer patient outcomes.

Effective teamwork and communication in health care delivery can have an immediate and positive impact on patient safety and quality of care. These shifts also have tangible benefits for health care providers, teams and organizations by reducing work-related conflict and stress, fostering team communication to reduce harassment and bullying, and improving job satisfaction and perceptions of working conditions.

In response to this evidence, the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council (the Council) offers a free, virtual, 12-week Action Series with the aim of improving teamwork and communication. The series introduces tools and teaches teams key strategies to foster a healthy culture.

The Action Series was first launched in February 2017 and saw 50 teams participate. Leveraging learning from the first series, a call to action was issued in January 2018 for a second, enhanced and improved series. Teams from across the province signed up for five, one-hour learning webinars complemented by activities designed to reinforce webinar learning.