Empowerment

Abstract

In order to empower teams in medical practice, the train-the-trainer method has turned out to be a successful approach to sustainably implement open communication. Further steps include sign-out procedures at the end of every surgical procedure, in which technical details and problems as well as communication issues are discussed. Technical problems are to be resolved immediately. Communication problems and misunderstandings are to be tackled before they become chronic and impact the team climate. People who have not spoken up during sign-out are not supposed to complain and blame others behind their backs. If they do, listeners should inquire as to why they did not mention the given problem during sign-out. Another way to communicate safety-related issues is to write incident reports. Through intranets, literally everybody in a hospital has the possibility to be heard if they perceive an incident and wish to report it. The idea behind these reports is not to blame anybody but to continuously improve processes. A multidisciplinary peer incident-report commission of empowered employees has to meet regularly every month to do additional research into the reported incidents and to formulate advice on how to progress over the following weeks. This way, new insights are perceived as being welcome, and people see that they are being listened to. Yet, to empower others requires insight, courage, and leadership. The leadership needed has to move away from a command-and-control style toward a leadership that works with facilitating, coaching, and guiding and is open to feedback.