It Takes a Team: Evidence-based Communication Tools for the Veterinary Team

By: Daniel J. Fletcher, PhD, DVM, DACVECC

Description: Delivery of quality healthcare requires highly skilled teams that can remain effective in the complex, unpredictable environment that is the modern veterinary practice. Drawing on the evidence based TeamSTEPPS system developed for human health care, this session will describe the VetTEAMS framework, a series of team competencies and simple communication tools that can be integrated into your practice to reduce medical errors, and improve team performance, and enhance staff satisfaction. Delivery of high-quality veterinary care requires extraordinary team work. Learn how you can help your team reach the next level of efficiency, quality, and safety.

By the end of the session, attendees will be able to:

1. Explain the principles of good leadership of a veterinary healthcare team.
2. Describe the 4 fundamental characteristics of good communication in a veterinary healthcare setting.
3. Demonstrate techniques and tools for achieving situation awareness through situation monitoring skills.
4. Describe the principles of mutual support and the behaviors that can maximize a team’s ability to ask for and offer help to allocate resources where they are needed.

Speaker Info: Dr. Fletcher has been faculty at Cornell since 2006. After receiving a BS in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University and a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of California, he obtained his DVM from the University of California at Davis. He then completed an internship and emergency and critical care residency at Penn. He is co-chair of the RECOVER Initiative, which published the first evidence-based veterinary CPR guidelines, and is past-president of the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care.