Group Communication (Nursing)

00:00 Welcome back everyone. We all know that it takes the collective effort of many individuals to support positive outcomes for our patients and communities but have you stopped to think why this many times worked so well? One reason can be attributed to effective group communication. We all know that little is accomplished in the healthcare facility without individual participation in a team, group or meeting. Participation in groups is a necessary part of the functioning of the larger organization. So there are 4 stages of group development. First is forming. In this stage, most team members are positive and polite, some are anxious as they really haven't fully understood what work they're about to do. Others are simply just excited about the task ahead. Now as a leader, you play a dominant role at this stage because team member's roles and responsibilities aren't quite clear yet. This stage can last for sometime as people start to work together and as they make an effort to get to know their new colleagues. Next, the team moves in to the storming phase where people start to push against the boundaries established in the forming stage. This is the stage where many times team is down. Storming often starts when there is a conflict between team member's natural working styles. People might work together in different ways for all sorts of reasons, but if different working styles cause unforeseen problems, they can become frustrated.

01:25 The third one is norming. Gradually detain moves into the norming stage. This is when people start to resolve their differences, they appreciate their colleague's strengths and they respect your authority as the leader. Now that your team members really know each other better, they may start socializing together and they're able to ask one another for help and provide constructive feedback. People develop a stronger commitment to the team goal and you start to see good progress toward the outcome. And finally, performing. The team reaches the performing stage when hard work leads without friction to the achievement of the team's goal. The structures and processes that you set up support this really well. So there are 3 common strategies for effective team communication.

02:09 The first one is called TeamSTEPS. This is an evidence-based comprehensive education and training program really designed to improve patient safety by eliminating preventable medical errors related to ineffective team communization. So here is a great model showing what TeamSTEPS is all about. TeamSTEPS has 5 key principles. It's based on team structure and 4 teachable learnable skills; communication, leadership, situation monitoring, and mutual support. The arrows depict a 2-way dynamic interplay between the 4 skills and the team-related outcomes. Interaction between the outcomes and skills is the basis of a team's driving to deliver safe quality care and support quality improvement. Encircling the 4 skills is the team structure of the patient care team which represents not only the patient and direct caregivers but also those who play a supportive role within the healthcare delivery system. Next, SBAR. This is a great tool for hand-off communication. It really addresses the communication arm of team TeamSTEPS and it really enhances team work. SBAR stands for situation, background, assessment, and your recommendation. Next, HUDDLES.

03:28 This is a way to create a shared mini model within the team and it promotes employee satisfaction.

03:34 HUDDLE stands for healthcare, utilizing, deliberate, discussion, linking, events. So here is a great example. As a nurse manager, Sarah has been leading a team on an important fall prevention initiative. She notices that the team members who seem to know one another better are able to ask one another for help and provide constructive feedback. She also notices good progress towards their goals. So what stage of group formation is this team in? Is it forming, storming, norming, or performing? The norming stage is when people start to resolve their differences.

04:20 They really appreciate everyone's strengths and they respect your authority as a leader. The team members now know one another better and they're able to ask each other for help and actually receive constructive feedback. People are really developing a strong commitment to the team goal and you start to see good progress. So remember, healthcare teams have a common purpose, to provide safe optimal patient care with successful outcomes through communication and collaboration. So when thinking about what we've covered today, I'd like for you to consider this question. What are the 3 common strategies for effective team communication? They are TeamSTEPS, SBAR, and HUDDLES.

05:06 So I hope you've enjoyed today's video on group communication. Thank you so much for watching.