Teamwork and communication: an effective approach to patient safety

Teamwork and communication failures are leading causes of patient safety incidents in health care. Though health care providers must work in teams, they are not well-trained in teamwork and communication skills. Health care faces the problems of differences in communication styles, communication failures and poor teamwork. There is enough evidence in the literature to show that communication failure is detrimental to patient safety. It is estimated that 80% of serious medical errors worldwide take place because of miscommunication between medical providers. NUH recognizes that effective communication and teamwork are essential in the delivery of high quality safe patient care, especially in a complex organization. NUH is a good example, where there is a rich mix of nationalities and races, in staff and in patients, and there is a rapidly expanding care environment. NUH had to overcome these challenges by adopting a multi-pronged approach. The trials and tribulations of NUH in this journey were worthwhile as the patient safety climate survey scores improved over the years.