UT Southwestern Medical Center will soon launch its 2019 Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), developed in response to an institutional commitment to team-based communication, and as a component of the reaffirmation of its accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).

The 2019 QEP proposal for UT Southwestern underscores the importance of teams in health care by implicitly accepting that humans can and will error, but teams can be flawless. Called Team FIRST, it emphasizes the essential conditions needed for safe, effective, team-based communication during handovers (patient transition from one clinician to another) in the clinical learning environment:

• Face-to-face
• Interprofessional and interactive
• Reliable and resilient
• Safe for synthesis
• Team training

SACSCOC – the accrediting body for institutions of higher education that awards associate’s, baccalaureate, master’s, or doctoral degrees in 11 U.S. Southern states (including Texas) and in Latin America – considers a school’s QEP as a major indicator of its commitment to improving the student experience. Schools undergo accreditation review every 10 years; UTSW was last reviewed in 2009.

Upon approval of the plan by SACSCOC, UT Southwestern will roll out the five-year plan to advance team-based communication by piloting, implementing, and optimizing the new program over the next several years.

UT Southwestern’s Team FIRST approach is innovative in several dimensions. Most importantly, it is driven by and for students. For example, it outlines a progressive series of simulation-based training experiences that promote communication among clinicians during handovers. UT Southwestern has already committed several resources to this initiative, as is evident in the new $40 million Simulation Center and common study areas for students such as the Team Based Learning Center.

“The Office of Quality, Safety and Outcomes Education in conjunction with the Office of Undergraduate Education engaged more than 20 students in scholarly activities related to team-based care during handovers,” said Dr. Philip Greilich, Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Management, and Director of the QEP at UTSW. “Students identified the need to develop communication skills that foster collaboration, innovation, and a more effective learning environment.”

Team FIRST provides an opportunity for student and faculty development, leadership, and scholarship by creating teams with complementary skills to create four new training experiences designed to teach and reinforce behaviors critical to teamwork such as honesty, discipline, humility, curiosity, and creativity.

“Its successful execution has the potential to produce national and international leaders in simulation-based education, patient safety, and quality improvement,” Dr. Greilich said. “Developing team-based communication and care coordination is key to reducing preventable harm and creating joy-in-work for medical teams.”

These educational experiences will build a foundation for learners to apply these skills upon graduation for a wide range of care transfers and handovers within and between hospitals. Learners are also encouraged to serve as leaders and change agents in the national effort to address communication failures – the leading cause of harm in health care.

“We believe this plan leverages the strengths of our academic medical center by aligning academic and health system affairs in their commitment to advancing team-based communication and care ” Dr. Greilich said.

Here’s a more in-depth look at the five dimensions of the Team FIRST QEP: