Section 3: Teaching Mutual Support Key Concepts and Tools 

TeamSTEPPS has been taught in a two-day format, is often taught in a half-day format, and is also frequently taught in smaller segments that are only 15–30 minutes long. In the introduction and each module, we provide advice to instructors on how to teach relevant content in the two-day, half-day, or short segment formats. The guidance that follows addresses five issues:

• Maximizing active learning in your trainings
• Teaching objectives (relevant to all TeamSTEPPS training)
• Teaching Module 4 in a 2-day format
• Teaching Module 4 in a half-day format (using a subset of materials from the 2-day format discussion)
• Teaching Module 4 content in very short, focused training sessions

Maximizing Active Learning

Traditionally, much teaching has been done through lectures, where instructors read the contents of slides and trainees listen and take notes. Evidence that lectures are ineffective for teaching is overwhelming, but they are still common because they feel safer and are more familiar to many instructors. They also seem to allow the instructor to cover the greatest amount of content most quickly, although students may not absorb any of it.

Both long-term memory and attitudinal and behavioral change are much more likely to occur when more active teaching approaches are used. Moreover, teaching norms have changed, and students now expect to be actively engaged in learning. If they aren’t, they may use their phones or laptops and be distracted. This situation may be particularly likely when training is provided remotely through a web-based platform and trainees are not using their camera's video feed.

However, if training is engaging—generally not a lecture format—those same phones and laptops that might otherwise distract training participants can help. They enable participants to quickly reference the TeamSTEPPS app* or the entire TeamSTEPPS website; participants can refresh their memories or learn more about concepts or tools they were briefly exposed to in the training.

*The Pocket App is being updated to match the new TeamSTEPPS 3.0 curriculum. A new version of the app will be available in fall 2023.

Options for Maximizing Active Learning

Teaching time is always limited, and less time spent explaining what concepts mean allows more time for applying concepts or tools within the team. Options to limit the amount of time spent talking through slides during your training include:

1. Before, the training, ask trainees to go the AHRQ TeamSTEPPS website and read the sections of the TeamSTEPPS curriculum you plan to teach. If participants review the concepts and tools before the training, you’ll have more time for exercises or scenarios that will help them apply the tools in their patient care teams.
2. Use clinical simulations to introduce the tools and concepts and incorporate them into practice. Have learners read sections before the simulations; or briefly introduce one or two tools or concepts before starting the simulation. The video simulation training units can be used effectively in both in-person and virtual, web-based trainings. The TeamSTEPPS curriculum now includes a video-based training simulation for this module that includes a facilitator guide, participant worksheets, and video segments that can be used to help participants reflect on mutual support tools included in the module.    
3. If feasible, plan for small groups. In a group of six to eight participants, if two participants review one of three or four concepts or tools and then explain it to their peers, learning may be more active. The group time can be used to answer questions or on nondidactic group exercises or discussions. The instructor notes in the slides for this purpose provide more guidance on how to conduct these activities. Peer teaching and learning are now widely used, and evidence for their value is strong.¹
4. Use stories to illustrate concepts. Ask trainees for a personal experience they’ve had that illustrates how the concept or tool was or could have been used to improve team functioning. This approach may take more training time but encouraging participants to make connections between training content and their firsthand experiences promotes learning. Hearing stories from peers will yield more long-term knowledge gains.
5. Blend learning approaches. Using a variety of approaches may best serve participants whose learning styles and preferences differ. Over time you may find that some of these approaches work better for your training style or with certain types of participants. The easiest way to teach TeamSTEPPS may be reading instructor notes while advancing slides. However, as explained previously, active teaching methods will be more effective.

Teaching Goals

It's critical to lay groundwork for the time spent with trainees learning TeamSTEPPS. As you begin your training, aspire to achieve the following goals to lay the foundation for the remainder of the training. These goals relate to how you present yourself and other faculty, how you define the relationships you'd like to develop with the participants and the relationships you'd like the participants to develop with each other, and what you want participants to learn.

Trainer Goals

1. Show that you care about the importance of TeamSTEPPS to patients, family caregivers, and healthcare workers. Show interest in what others say as they introduce themselves and share your own successes and challenges with healthcare teams. For example, you might use a recent conflict with a coworker to show how DESC was used to reach a constructive solution that protected the patient and strengthened the team. 
2. Show that you are both a teacher and a learner. The best trainers demonstrate that they are constantly seeking to learn and that important solutions and ideas come from participants as well as faculty. If participants sense your desire to learn, you’ll foster an environment where they will do the same.

Relationship Goals

1. It's vital to create a relationship characterized by mutual respect, enjoyment, and transparency. Laughing, acknowledging teamwork challenges shared by participants, and demonstrating your enthusiasm may help create an environment that fosters learning and attitudinal and behavioral change.
2. It's also vital for participants to create connections with others in the training. Trainings can give teams from the same organization time to bond and plan for change. Trainings allow participants to meet others with shared goals and challenges and to create connections that will benefit them beyond the training. Introductions allow participants to identify others they can interact with throughout the training. A mix of in-person and virtual trainees may reinforce the message that virtual team members are equals to onsite teams and can interact with each other in mutually supportive ways. 
3. Trainings are also a way to foster the healthy and supportive relationships that healthcare professionals need to have with patients and their family caregivers. Recorded or live patient stories can remind trainees that teamwork matters to them. Having a qualified and trained patient as one of the instructors will reinforce the message that providers should listen to and learn from patients.

Note

1. Tullis JG, Goldstone RL. Why does peer instruction benefit student learning? Cogn Research. 2020 Apr 9;5:15. DOI: 10.1186/s41235-020-00218-5. Accessed April 27, 2023.