Patient safety and teamwork are closely related in the medical profession, especially in an ICU setting. The PICU in the ErasmusMC Sophia Children’s Hospital started with team training in the form of CRM training in 2005 for all personnel working on the ICU. In 2007 a number of nurses and doctors from the team went to the centre for advanced paediatric and perinatal education in Stanford, USA for a teach the teacher course in paediatric medical simulation. Ever since, simulation training is an inseparable part of the patient safety management system in the Erasmus MC-Sophia. Simulation training in a team setting improves team functioning in the complex work setting of an intensive care by allowing the team to practice skills and communication in safe surroundings. Different learning theories show that this way of teaching is very efficient for the adult learner. Also literature shows that teams function better, there is better leadership, and patient safety increases after the implementation of simulation team training. The systemic approach reduces the chance of team failure and reduces the number of medical errors.

The presentation focusses on the set-up of the patient safety management system on the PICU. It illustrates the need and usefulness of team training embedded in a larger patient safety management system.