ADV-Lesson 1- Team Dynamics

The dynamics of a team is crucial to the success of any group: a football team must practice, act as a team, share the same ideals, etc. Much like a sports team, a veterinary staff team must be prepared through constant practice and maintaining the team goals. This could not be truer than in the area of emergency and critical care. Some of the most basic steps to being prepared for an emergency are:

• Stock a mobile crash cart with items that will facilitate a team’s quick response to patient
• Train team to recognize rapidly declining patients and patients who have arrested (staff should know the clinical signs of shock, cardiac arrest, etc.)
• Have protocols in place to call a code or an emergency in the hospital (some hospitals have the CRASH code, in which anyone observing an emergency yells CRASH!
• Routine training on managing emergencies

The guidelines also say that after the simulation or training exercise all team members should be asked to evaluate their performance and that of the team in an effort to determine shortcomings and to recognize ways to improve. The more routine the training the more adapted the staff becomes to a quick and aggressive response, which in turn may increase the chances of survival in a real life emergency.