Rebecca Shunk, MD  and Terry Keene, DNP, FNO-BC, ARNP 

Presentation Slides I  Prezi I Huddle Checklist I Video

Many outpatient clinics where health professionals work and train will transition to a team-based medical home model over the next several years. Therefore, these clinics and affiliated training programs need innovative approaches to prepare the workforce and incorporate trainees into team-based delivery systems. To address this need, educators at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care System embraced preclinic team “huddles” which are brief meetings to facilitate care coordination and integrated trainees into these huddles. They developed an interprofessional huddle-coaching program to support staff and trainees (nurse practitioner students and internal medicine residents who function as primary providers for patient panels in VA outpatient primary care clinics) in learning how to huddle and how to work together effectively as a team. The huddle-coaching program focuses on structuring the huddle process via scheduling, checklists, and designated huddle coaches; building relationships among team members through team-building activities; and teaching core skills to support collaborative practice.
 
The webinar will provide information on the SFVAHCS approach to training health professionals how to huddle as well as provide materials, lessons learned and strategies for success.

Objectives:

• Describe specific approaches and techniques, such as coaches and huddles, to support interprofessional staff and trainees in collaborative practice
• Demonstrate the use of a huddle checklist to help develop highly functioning teams
• Discuss common barriers to team development and identify practical strategies to overcome these barriers in participant’s own context