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TeamSTEPPS stands for "Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety." It is an evidence-based set of teamwork tools, aimed at optimizing patient outcomes by improving communication and teamwork skills among healthcare professionals. It was developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in 2003, when AHRQ and the Department of Defense (DoD) convened a national panel on human factors, human error, and medical team training. Approximately 30 of the nation’s leading experts discussed the needs, requirements, and strategies for effective teamwork in healthcare, including what healthcare could learn from aviation and other disciplines. The result was a roadmap that helped guide the research that followed.

Lean Six Sigma practitioners who review TeamSTEPPS' three-phased process and its tools, aimed at creating and sustaining a culture of safety, will see several familiar concepts. Key principles like team structure, communication, leadership... tools like huddles... sound familiar? What do the two systems have in common, and what can Lean Six Sigma practitioners learn from TeamSTEPPS? This session will compare and contrast the frameworks, principles, and behaviors of TeamSTEPPS vs. Lean Six Sigma. The presenter is both an ASQ-Certified Six Sigma Black Belt and an AHRQ-certified TeamSTEPPS Master Trainer. Learning

Objectives: 1: Define TeamSTEPPS as an evidence-based set of teamwork tools aimed at optimizing patient outcomes by improving communication and teamwork skills among healthcare professionals. 2: Identify key principles and tools shared in common between TeamSTEPPS and Lean Six Sigma. 3: Identify additional value found in the TeamSTEPPS system which could supplement Lean Six Sigma disciplines.