Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety at primary healthcare units: Effect on patients' outcomes

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of application of team strategies and tools to enhance performance and patient safety at primary healthcare units on patients' safety and outcomes. Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (Team STEPPS) are specially intended to enhance patient safety through effective communication and teamwork skills. To examine, a quasi-experimental (pre-posttest) design was utilized. Six primary healthcare centers in Egypt were selected. The subjects included composed of two groups: (1) All-available healthcare providers (114) and (2) convenience sample of 108 clients. Four questionnaires were used, namely; the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSPSC), Perception of Teamwork Questionnaire, the Short Assessment of Patient Satisfaction Scale, and Patient's Adverse Events Questionnaire. Results showed that there was a highly significant decrease in the level of weakness and the need for potential improvement of all 11 domains of the HSPSC survey except the staffing domain (p < 0.001). The teamwork perceptions scores showed significant improvement post intervention (p < 0.001). In addition, a highly significant decrease in the frequency of patient-reported adverse events compared to a significant increase in patient satisfaction level was proved (p < 0.001). It may, hence, be concluded that Team STEPPS implementation had improved patient safety culture among healthcare providers and significantly improved patient outcomes.