OutlineI. ContextII. Literature reviewIII. Nursing ImplicationsIV. Strategies to solve the problemV. ConclusionBackgroundA safety culture requires leadership commitment to positively impact the bottom line. The recent focus on new CMS guidelines and third-party reimbursement initiatives associated with patient outcomes has captured the attention of leaders across healthcare organizations. Additionally, our organization's system-wide employee safety culture survey showed that communication and teamwork are areas where improvement is needed. Years of research on communication and teamwork in high-trust organizations support a correlation with security. (XX) One of the Joint Commission's most important and touted national patient safety goals is to improve communication across the health care continuum. (JC .com) Additionally, incidents involving the organization's patients have been investigated through root cause analysis and the source is often linked to a lack of effective communication and role confusion. Well-defined roles within the team model can help improve communication, including mitigating variables such as distractions, individual focus on bad information, and communication breakdowns. (XXX) Implementing a formal teamwork program is one way to systematically approach risk reduction within an organization. (Botwinick, L., Bisognano, M. and Harden, C., 2006) (Leonard, M., Frankel, A., Federico, F., Frush, K. and Haraden, C., 2013)IntroductionHealthcare are focused on safety and quality results, with a new emphasis on financial sanctions if positive results are not achieved. Consumers have information on results and satisfaction. This motivated...... middle of article...... Kohn LT, Corrigan & JM, Donaldson MS. To err is human: building a safer health system. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999. Leonard, M., Frankel, A., Federico, F., Frush, K. and Haraden, C., (2013) The Essential Guide for Patient Safety Officers (2 ed. )Oakdale Terrace, IL: The Joint Commission Recourses Inc. Manser, T. (2008), Teamwork and Patient Safety in Dynamic Healthcare Areas: A Literature Review, Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica, February , 53(2), 143-151. National Patient Safety Goals. TheJointCommission.http://www.jointcommission.org/standards_information/npsgs.aspx. Accessed December 6, 2013. Mazzocco, K, Petitti, D, Fong, KT, Bonacum, D. Brookery, J., Graham, S., Laskey, RE, Sexton, JB and Thomas, E., (2009) Surgical team Behaviors and Patient Outcomes, The American Journal of Surgery197(5),678-685.