Collaboration, Communication, And Teambuilding

In the beginning of this activity, I did not know much about collaboration between different healthcare professionals. It helped me to clarify the meaning of a healthcare team and also to understand the role of different professionals in the team. Different team members have their specific roles and all of them work together to achieve a common goal –healthier patient. They work independently, but when it comes to decision making they seek advice from other healthcare provider in order to do the best for the patient. Not only doctor, physiotherapists, pharmacists and etc. are considered being part of the team. Patients must also be considered part of the decision making process,

Successful teamwork and collaboration directly affects the efficacy of interdisciplinary communication. When effective communication is achieved within the healthcare team, this increases the amount of positive patient outcomes. Nurses and physicians must cooperate in order to attain a synergetic relationship. Their roles are integral to creating a safe environment for their patients. When all of these elements combine, the quality of care improves and collegial relationships are strengthened.

The benefits of collaboration allow participants to achieve together more than they can individually, serve larger groups of people, and grow on individual and organizational levels. This editorial provides an overview of interprofessional collaboration in the areas of clinical practice, education, and research; discusses barriers to collaboration; and suggests potential means to overcome

“All health care disciplines share a common and primary commitment to serving the patient and working toward the ideal of health for all.” (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2014, p. 1) There are many different professional members in the healthcare system. Each of them, have a specific specialty and responsibility to the patient and play an important role in the patient’s overall plan of care. “The scope of health care mandates that health professionals work collaboratively and with other related disciplines. Collaboration emanates from an understanding and appreciation of the roles and contributions that each discipline brings to the care delivery experience.” (American Association of Colleges of

It is true that collaboration between healthcare leaders and providers is essential for effective and efficient care delivery. However, “the ability to collaborate consistently, and in a way that ensures quality care, continues to elude” (Bankston & Glazer, 2010, p.1). This is as a result of insignificant interdisciplinary challenge for nurses, providers, and leaders in today’s healthcare. The openness and autonomy of bringing healthcare leaders, and healthcare professionals is to achieve positive patient outcomes. Bankston et al. declared that “one approach to bridging this interprofessional-collaboration gap could be the development of partnerships to facilitate the creation of interdisciplinary laboratories, sometimes called “collaboratories,”

This is the way nurses come together with healthcare consumer, family, and others in the conduct of nursing practices. Collaboration is professional healthcare partnership grounded in a reciprocal and respectful recognition and acceptance of: each partner’s unique expertise, power, and sphere of influence and responsibilities; the commonality of goals; the mutual safeguarding of the legitimate interest of each party; and the advantages of such a relationship. (Spring, 2010). Nursing students should be ready to collaborate with their patients and their families at times in every situation in order to come out with a positive outcome while helping the patients. This is attained by sharing the knowledge we have learned in class combined with what the patient says (subjectives) orthe situation you are. When nurses collaborate together and understand one another it will be easier for them to take care of the patients and they will manage to offer a high quality care possible.

Health care organizations and the way care is delivered is rapidly changing. Being able to manage, promote, and, facilitate interprofessional team work is essential for health care organizations to be successful. Team synergy for successful interprofessional teams means there is cooperation, collaboration, and the coordination of patient-centered care (LeBlanc, 2014). Working together toward a common goal is a common theme for successful interprofessional teams (Hart, 2015).

Working in a team is an important responsibility by understanding each other’s role which may include doctor, nurse, occupational therapist, physiotherapist and many more. Team members divide the work based on their scope practice such as acute care, metal health care, homecare etc. Interprofessional collaboration practice is decision making and communicating between individuals for their patient’s health based on their knowledge and skills. It helps to promote habits, maximizing health resources, leading care to be safer with patient’s satisfaction and Canada’s health care (Kenaszchuk, Reeves, Nicholas, & Zwarenstein, 2010).

Communication and conflict resolution are two very important aspects in order for a team to function effectively. This paper will explain different strategies for effective interprofessional teamwork and collaboration in health care delivery. Furthermore, evidence-based nursing interventions for systemic change to resolve conflict resolution will be discussed. Conflict resolution and strategies to resolve communication issues are invaluable tools to know when leading team in collaboration. Leadership, additionally, is an important aspect within a team setting as well. The effects of effective and ineffective leadership on group processes will also be explored. Communication is in large the most important part of being an successful leader

In order to collaborate successfully with the other members of the team, they have to ‘work together’. Collaboration implies “working together to achieve something that neither agency could achieve alone” (cited by Biggs in Day, 2006, p9). It involves effective communication and contribution to a common goal – and the health and wellbeing of the patient and shared responsibility of the outcome. Each team requires a quality leader, regular meetings attended by all members, joint assessment, regular reviews of patient records which should include ‘shared care plans’; joint decisions following consultation and task delegation to individual team members with the outcome being that “care must be structured, organised and systematically provided to each person in a variety of ways” (Creating an Interprofessional Workforce, 2007, p10).

According to American Nurses Association (2010) Scope and Standards of Nursing Practice, collaboration is defined as, “a professional healthcare partnership grounded in a reciprocal and respectful recognition and acceptance of: each partner’s unique expertise, power, and sphere of influence and responsibilities; commonality of goals; the mutual safeguarding of the legitimate interest of each party; and the advantages of such a relationship”.(p. 64). Collaboration amongst health care providers is very crucial in providing quality care to patients. Integration of disciplinary teams, improves communication, coordination, and most importantly, the safety and quality of patient care. It provides interaction between team members allowing

Petri (2010) noted three consistently mentioned critical attributes of interdisciplinary collaboration in her literature search for her concept analysis. First, interdisciplinary collaboration is a problem-focused process. Interdisciplinary collaboration is an interactional process that aims to solve patient care challenges (McCallin, 2001). Second, interdisciplinary collaboration is characterized by sharing. Sharing, as an attribute of interdisciplinary collaboration, denotes that there is an equal participation of all disciplines in establishing common objectives, decision-making, and carrying out proposed interventions to solve patient care problems. Responsibility is also shared in interdisciplinary collaboration,

Teamwork is vital in healthcare.  When all participants are engaged in a program, goals are successfully achieved. Being able to communicate and work collectively as a team requires an appreciation for each other’s area of practice.  Every team member has an important role and being acknowledged provides a sense of responsibility and accountability. Essentially, inter-professional collaboration helps ensure that the patient is getting care that is not only accessible but also comprehensive.  The plan of a patients’ care includes active participation by all health care professionals working interdependently in accordance to the patient’s preferences, values and beliefs. The health care team accomplishes the goal of meeting the patient’s medical needs by delivering evidence-based practice.   To deliver quality care, the patient should always be involved.

From an early age we are instilled the importance of teamwork. The lessons may come from a soccer field, a classroom group project, or even a song on Sesame Street. Regardless of our future careers, we are all likely to experience some sort of teamwork requirement, even if it is as simple as getting along with your co-workers.

Teams are often depicted as a group of people sharing leadership of and working together on a specific project, whereas a group (but not a team) consists of individuals who work independently and are led by a strong, focused individual (Erofeev, Glazer, & Ivanitskaya, 2009). In the health care organization, it is important to have a group of people working together as a well a team. Each person individually need to fully understand what his or her role is in a group or team, if not there will be conflicts.