Video on Team Meetings in a Clinical Environment
June 2009
The best quality improvement is continuous, and having regularly scheduled clinical team meetings can positively affect clinical care delivery. A ten-minute video produced by CHCF and the California Improvement Network shows how such meetings can make a difference in team effectiveness and provides tips on getting the most from these group interactions.
The video features two different health care organizations to demonstrate how team meetings can help in many situations. They are the diabetes improvement team from Ocean Park Health Center, a San Francisco-based ambulatory clinic, and Pod-D, a team of two physicians and five staff from Eureka Internal Medicine, a multi-specialty clinic in Eureka, California. The video shows how the multi-disciplinary diabetes improvement team has been able to dramatically increase the diabetic foot screening rate at the health center, among other improvements. The Pod-D team discusses a wider range of topics, from streamlining the prescription refill process to improving the office environment for staff.
As a result of team meetings, participants say they communicate more consistently with patients, are able to take more initiative because of a greater understanding of clinical goals, and have an increased sense of camaraderie and mutual respect. Among the many tips offered by the video is the importance of including a range of perspectives on the team: at Ocean Park, this included a representative for each discipline involved in caring for patients with diabetes; at Pod-D, it included both providers and frontline staff, such as receptionists and medical assistants.
The video is also available for order free through the mail. You may order up to ten DVDs by submitting a request through the Mail Orders page. Please allow two to three weeks for delivery.
Examples and templates for effective agenda and minutes forms, discussed in the video, are available under Document Downloads.