Focused team engagements to enhance interprofessional collaboration and safety behaviors among novice nurses and medical residents (6 November 2024)

Summary

Interprofessional communication and teamwork is critical to patient safety. First-year medical and nursing residents participated in team engagement sessions focused on collaboration and safety behaviours through socialisation, team communication, and engagement skills.

Sessions consisted of a pre-recorded scenario of a safety event resulting in a patient's death followed by a facilitated debrief. Escalation of care, SBAR (situation, background, assessment, recommendation), and “ask a question, make a request, voice a concern” were identified as the top 3 safety/communication techniques that could have changed the outcome of the simulated scenario.

Approximately two-thirds of participants perceived lack of confidence and fear of giving the wrong information as barriers to safety/communication techniques.