Co-Authors
Nurse/Author/Consultant, Beth Boynton, RN, MS, CP
Former Major League Baseball Player & New York Hall of Famer, Jim Mecir
Do you trust your team? Do you feel like everyone on your team has your back when things get rough? Do you have your team’s back?
Even though baseball teams and healthcare teams are different in terms of goals, trust is essential for best outcomes.
In baseball, players want to win the game, in healthcare, staff want to provide safe, quality, timely, compassionate care. Yet, the trust among members of both kinds of teams can make a huge difference. Check out these two stories and consider how trust in self and others plays a part in your teamwork.
Baseball and Jim Mecir’s Story
I played for a lot of teams over my 15-year baseball career. During that time there were some really good players, but if they weren’t good teammates, that cost us games.
In my first big league season I remember one player in particular. In the inning before he made the last out in a crucial situation. He was pissed off and proceeded to throw his bat, helmet and batting gloves all over the field. He came into the dugout, grabbed his mitt and walked out onto the field to his position in the outfield.
As I threw my final warm up pitch I turned around and saw him in the outfield taking practice swings and cursing. I knew he was not ready to play. His mind was still on the last inning.
The first batter hit my first pitch high in the air towards that teammate. The ball sailed inches over his glove and the batter got a double. That run ended up scoring and cost us the game. The play wasn’t that difficult to make but he wasn’t ready because he was concentrating on himself instead of the team. Because he never touched the ball the score keeper called it a hit instead of an error, making it an earned run and a loss for me.
That outfielder let me down, and the team down. He never acknowledged it and I found it hard to trust him ever again. Don’t ever be that outfielder! The team has to know that you have their back. Once trust is gone the team is doomed. If the team fails because it doesn’t have trust then the individuals all fail too. Great teams make all the players look good. Bad teams can make great players look average.
Nursing and Beth’s Story
Early in my career on the Med-Surg unit, I went in to adjust a patient’s morphine pump. The patient, glassy eyed and unsteady started walking towards me. I backed up and was soon against the wall and he started to put his hands around my neck. I grabbed his wrist, took them off my neck, and slid sideways out of the room.
The surgeon, who had ordered the medication change was sitting at the nurses’ station and I told him what had just happened. He explained that the patient was having withdrawal symptoms from the morphine. He didn’t ask if I was ok, show any concern about my experience of a patient attempting to choke me, or offer to help with the patient. My colleagues on the unit didn’t either.
At the time, I didn’t fully appreciate what had happened to me. Clearly the expectation was for me to simply go about my work and just forget I had been choked. I made it through the shift as did the patient.
At the time, I didn’t fully appreciate what had happened to me. Clearly the expectation was for me to simply go about my work and just forget I had been choked. I made it through the shift as did the patient.
Years later as I think about it, I believe the lack of trust I had for that doctor, and for the culture itself, contributed to the unease I felt in that position. That experience was the beginning of me questioning my choice of profession.
What does Trust Mean to You?
We think trust is fundamental to how we show up, feel about our work and interact with our team-members. This means that it will be woven into pretty much everything we do in healthcare. As such, trust (or mistrust) has implications for patient safety, patient experience, workforce health, and cost-effectiveness. Medical Improv is a great way to build trust and confidence as individuals, team members and leaders. Learn more about Medical Improv IMPACT Toolkits and improve the trust on your healthcare team!
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