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24-WD-SPEC-432-Core Surgical Training Blog - 03. Creative-CN-FINAL (1)

The Risks of Ineffective Core Surgical Training in your Team

October 9th, 2024
October 9th, 2024

Ineffective surgical training increases the clinical and operational risks of healthcare organizations. Clinical risks include increased patient errors, inconsistent surgical quality, poor patient outcomes, and increased surgical infection rates. Operational risks include increased cost, flow inefficiencies, high staff turnover, and negative team dynamics.

Investing in a dynamic and comprehensive surgical training program for the entire team can help reduce risk and ensure patient safety.

Addressing Patient Safety in Surgical Settings

Safety in surgical settings is a shared responsibility. Preventing errors and harm is an important aspect of patient safety. Surgical errors have many causes, one of the most common being miscommunication.

Improving patient safety begins with clear communication and strong team dynamics. Strategies to maximize communication include using protocols, structured tools, and checklists and fostering a culture of open communication. All staff should be trained and competent in organizational policies and protocols regarding their specific safety responsibilities. Safety-centered communication is critical.

Creating a safety culture involves attitudes, beliefs, and actions that focus on safety. It encourages reporting without retaliation, identifying system issues, and providing consistent transparency. Examples of safety-centered communication include total team involvement and silence during safety timeouts and staff speaking up when there is a concern in the moment. Staff and leadership should encourage collaborative solutions to safety concerns.

The Cost of Not Having a Cohesive Team

Without a cohesive team, communication breakdowns occur, affecting patient safety and outcomes. Ineffective communication can result in confusion and errors. Some examples include using vague or abbreviated terms, incomplete patient reports, interruptions and multiple conversations between surgeons and team members, and confusion about job-specific roles and responsibilities. 

Cohesive teams are clear in their roles, communicate respectfully, and show strong leadership accountability, shared goals, and continuous improvement. These teams are created through education, preparation, and leadership. Observing a cohesive team shows smooth and coordinated actions with minimal disruptions and a positive environment.   

Demonstrating healthy team dynamics in the dyadic and clinical portion of core surgical training lays the foundation for strong team members.

Redefining Competency in the Operating Room

Traditional surgical nurse training programs are non-dynamic and inconsistent. Typical surgical orientation programs provide protocols and checklists but fail to teach critical thinking or collaborative learning.  

Competency development includes understanding the curriculum, skill proficiency, and analytical skills. Giving new employees opportunities to analyze complex situations, problem-solve, and make informed decisions in online training and real-time with a prepared preceptor allows critical thinking to develop.

Collaborative learning in the operating room includes sharing role-specific feedback and knowledge to improve skills and outcomes. These may be questions related to the rationale of surgical decisions or tips on handling surgical instruments for efficiency and safety. Senior team members coach and mentor less experienced staff and provide resources, which fosters a positive team environment.

Expanding the definition of competency prepares surgical team members. It helps them rise to meet the challenging demands of their roles.

Healthstream’s Comprehensive Surgical Orientation Program

Healthstream has designed a unique surgical orientation program that surpasses conventional training methods. This program uses blended learning to meet the varied needs of the entire surgical team. To engage learners, it includes multiple learning methods, such as assessments, videos, and online tools with supported software. Online asynchronous learning and facilitator-led training provide maximum flexibility for staff. Each experience is tailored to the staff's specialty and their required competencies.  

Critical thinking skills are fostered through realistic, challenging examples presented in video vignettes. Using Healthstream’s surgical training models, leaders can create solid and organized surgical orientation programs. The impact will prepare staff to collaborate, optimize success, and foster essential critical thinking skills. The goal is to improve performance to create a cohesive surgical team.

Continuous Improvement and Accountability in Surgical Training

Success requires strong leadership. Continuous competency development, improvement, and accountability are vital to enhancing surgical training. 

Through continuing education, the surgical team and providers evolve their practice with new advancements. They will enhance their skills and techniques and build competence and confidence.

Leaders should provide accountability on metrics, such as compliance with protocols, performance evaluations, and benchmarks.

Open communication, ongoing conversations, and collaboration encourage staff participation. The surgical team will facilitate enhanced performance by providing continuing education, support, and technical competency development to all staff.

Engaging and Flexible Learning for Positive Outcomes

Limited frontline workers and resources create challenges for healthcare organizations. Traditional surgical orientation programs can lack engagement and support.

Healthstream’s surgical training solutions enable staff to be seamlessly onboarded.

Their comprehensive program will prepare staff to collaborate, think critically, maintain patient safety, and create cohesive surgical teams.

 

References
Azyabi, A., Karwowski, W., & Davahli, M.R. (2021). Assessing patient safety culture in hospital settings. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(5), 2466. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7967599/
Rodziewicz, T. L., Houseman, B., Vaqar, S., & Hipskind, J. E. (2024, February 12). Medical error reduction and prevention. StatPearls Publishing. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29763131/
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