Ideas That Work: Teamwork

I In our endoscopy department, we make a MESSSS first thing in the morning. The acronym, which we discovered through SGNA, makes it easy to remember the agenda of our daily huddles:

Method. Our plan for the day — room flow, physicians, cases, add-ons.
Equipment. Is everything in working order?
Staffing. Who's here today? Did anyone call in sick?
Safety. Did anything happen yesterday that needs to be addressed?
Supplies. Any shortages? What's being restocked?
Scoop. This is where we provide facility-wide updates.

MESSSS huddles take place every Monday through Friday in one of our procedure rooms. The charge nurse leads the huddle of about 10 people, including our clinical educator, nurses, techs and others. We lay the day out as a group and discuss when breaks can be taken and potential issues the team needs to know about moving forward. If we had a safety event the day before, we address it and talk about what could have been done differently so the same mistake doesn’t happen again. After six months of holding these meetings and talking with each other every weekday morning, we’ve identified problems and pushed through numerous process improvements.

As a director, I love having the opportunity to see my team first thing in the morning. It gives me the chance to tell the staff what I’m working on behind the scenes. They feel they’re being heard, and know their concerns are my concerns. They know what’s going on with me on a daily basis, and I know what’s going on with them.

Muriel Moyo, MS, BSN, RN, CCRN-K, NE-BC
PIH Health Downey
(Calif.) Hospital
[email protected]