THE YEAR IN VETERANS AFFAIRS & MILITARY MEDICINE
■■ An aerial photograph of the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital in Columbia, Missouri. It is the first VAMC to implement CTT hospital-wide.
or VA leadership will be protected from retribution. VA Secretary Robert A. McDonald has endorsed the Stop the Line campaign, encouraging all VA staff to use the 3Ws. See video at http://www.qualityandsafety.va.gov/StoptheLine/ StoptheLine.asp
PHOTO BY JUSTIN KELLEY
ACHIEVING AND SUSTAINING CULTURAL CHANGE: STEP-BY STEP
Culture change starts when NCPS conducts its initial phone conversation with the participating VAMC’s top leadership. During this initial call, leadership must understand and agree that enrolling in CTT is a long-term commitment, one that must include leader engagement with the unit about to undergo training. Once that agreement is secured, CTT faculty meet with VAMC facility staff to identify specific
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concerns and challenges and thereby customize training. NCPS then dispatches faculty comprised of physicians and nurses to conduct on-site training. Listed below are some of the program’s key elements and milestones: • On-site training – Training consists of three interactive classroom modules and a fourth module that features the use of high fidelity human patient simulators (mannequins). The patient simulators are used to practice tools and strategies for effective leadership, followership, and situational awareness. • Project implementation – Clinical units implement a quality/safety improvement initiative at the front line over the course of one year. Examples of such projects include the implementation of a team briefing, use of a procedural checklist, or the reduction of distractions during the completion of 71