Shared Mental Model

Cultivate awareness and synergy with your team.

At the end of the day, everyone wants to be part of an effective team that can guarantee the safety of the patients under their care. After all, patient safety isn’t just one person’s job—it’s everyone’s responsibility. When each person on the team practices Situation Monitoring and cultivates Situation Awareness through the TeamSTEPPS communication tools, the team can arrive at a Shared Mental Model where everyone has a shared understanding of what’s going on and what needs to happen next.

What is Shared Mental Model?

See It In Action

Question 1 of 2
Casey, a nurse practitioner, is leading the team during an emergency.

A central line must be inserted into the patient and Casey is the most qualified team member for the task. She delegates leadership to Randy, who is new to the department.

Why is it important for Casey to hand off leadership at this point?

It's important to give newer health care professionals an opportunity to function in a leadership role to learn the ropes.

Not quite. Although this is important, Casey shouldn't pass off leadership for this reason alone.

Once a leader begins a task, it's likely they will lose the situational awareness required to see the big picture.

That's right! Handing off leadership will ensure Casey can focus on the task at hand while someone else leads the team.

She made the wrong decision. It's best to have the most experienced person in the room lead in an emergency situation.

Not exactly. Casey needs to focus on the task at hand and trust her teammate to lead.

Submit
pfl-SM_multchoice
Question 2 of 2
What TeamSTEPPS tools can help your team get to a shared mental model?

Briefs, huddles and debriefs

You're on the right track! Gathering the team to brief, huddle and debrief provides opportunities to check if everyone is on the same page. But it's not the only way that can help you reach a shared mental model.

CUS

It's true that speaking up if you have different information is a chance to course correct and get back to having a shared mental model. But there are other tools that can help you accomplish this.

Closed-loop communication

Almost! Closing the loop can help ensure that communication is effectively sent and received, and gives team members the chance to verify information and reach a shared mental model. But it's not the only way your team can get on the same page.

All of the above

That's right! The CUS tool can help your team iron out a conflict of information, closing the loop can help you communicate information smoothly, and briefs, huddles and debriefs can help your team get on the same page. Using all of these tools can help your team with the "how" and "when" of reaching a shared mental model.

Submit
pfl-SM_multchoice
 

What does a Shared Mental Model look like?

Here are some examples of how Situation Monitoring and Situation Awareness can lead to a Shared Mental Model.

 
 

Situation Monitoring can help teams adjust.

A physician notices that one of the nurses seems overwhelmed and calls for a huddle. The nurse explains that a particularly challenging patient is taking time away from the other patients under her care. Another team member offers to cover one of the nurse’s other patients to help ease the load.

The physician’s deliberate monitoring of the situation helped lower stress and balance the team’s workload.

Learn More about Huddles

 
 

Be proactive.

During a brief, a team reviews the list of patients they’re going to see before lunch. A medical assistant speaks up to point out that one of the patients is Spanish speaking and will need an interpreter. The MA offers to confirm whether there is an interpreter scheduled already, and if not, to schedule one for the patient.

The MA’s situation awareness and willingness to speak up brought everyone up to speed and avoided any miscommunication down the road

Learn More about Briefs

 
 

Use Situation Monitoring to look out for errors.

An assistant uses CUS to point out when a physician accidentally contaminates the field during a sterile procedure, and offers to get fresh drapes and gloves.

By monitoring the situation, the assistant was able to prevent a potential infection.

Learn More about the CUS tool

 
Put It Into Practice
00:00/ 00:00

Help this patient care team arrive at a shared mental model.

This team doesn’t seem to have a shared mental model about the patient’s plan of care. What tools should they have used to get on the same page?

The CUS tool

Almost! If a team member has concerns about a patient's safety, the CUS tool could be a good way to bring attention to them. But there's more than one tool that can help this team out.

A huddle

You're on the right track! Calling for a huddle signals to members of the team that it's time to reevaluate this patient's care. But that's not the only way this team can reach a shared mental model.

The SBAR tool

Close! It's true that SBAR could be an effective way to communicate important information about this patient in order to make a decision. But there's more than one tool this team can use.

All of the above

That's right! These tools are all good strategies that could help this team get on the same page about their patient. They can even use a combination of these tools to arrive at a shared mental model.

Submit

Shared Mental Model

Cultivate awareness and synergy with your team.

At the end of the day, everyone wants to be part of an effective team that can guarantee the safety of the patients under their care. After all, patient safety isn’t just one person’s job—it’s everyone’s responsibility. When each person on the team practices Situation Monitoring and cultivates Situation Awareness through the TeamSTEPPS communication tools, the team can arrive at a Shared Mental Model where everyone has a shared understanding of what’s going on and what needs to happen next.

What is Shared Mental Model?

See It In Action

 

What does a Shared Mental Model look like?

Here are some examples of how Situation Monitoring and Situation Awareness can lead to a Shared Mental Model.

 
 

Situation Monitoring can help teams adjust.

A physician notices that one of the nurses seems overwhelmed and calls for a huddle. The nurse explains that a particularly challenging patient is taking time away from the other patients under her care. Another team member offers to cover one of the nurse’s other patients to help ease the load.

The physician’s deliberate monitoring of the situation helped lower stress and balance the team’s workload.

Learn More about Huddles

 
 

Be proactive.

During a brief, a team reviews the list of patients they’re going to see before lunch. A medical assistant speaks up to point out that one of the patients is Spanish speaking and will need an interpreter. The MA offers to confirm whether there is an interpreter scheduled already, and if not, to schedule one for the patient.

The MA’s situation awareness and willingness to speak up brought everyone up to speed and avoided any miscommunication down the road

Learn More about Briefs

 
 

Use Situation Monitoring to look out for errors.

An assistant uses CUS to point out when a physician accidentally contaminates the field during a sterile procedure, and offers to get fresh drapes and gloves.

By monitoring the situation, the assistant was able to prevent a potential infection.

Learn More about the CUS tool

 

Each individual working towards a Shared Mental Model will result in a coordinated, successful team.

Shared Mental Model - Situation Monitoring (Individual Skill) | Situation Awareness (Individual Outcome) | Shared Mental Model (Team Outcome)

Want to learn more about Project Firstline? 
Contact TeamTraining@aha.org.

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