How Communication Within An Interprofessional Team Could Affect Collaborative Working

Another important aspect of healthcare is effective interprofessional practice. This allows practitioners from different disciplines to work together to provide the best care for patients. There are four areas of competency in interprofessional collaborative practice. They are values/ethics, roles/responsibilities, interprofessional communication, and teams/teamwork (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2011). Each of these areas contribute to skilled interprofessional

As a way to promote interprofessional collaborative practice the HPHA IPC model recommends the implementation of an Interprofessional practice council, unit action councils, interdisciplinary care plans, documentation, and “bullet” rounds (HPHA Interprofessional Practice Model, 2010). Similarly, Weller, Boyd and Cumin recommend supporting interprofessional collaboration with protocols and procedures, using procedures that encourage information sharing among the whole team, such as checklists, briefings and IT solutions (2014).

Interprofessional team work which is “The levels of cooperation, coordination and collaboration characterizing the relationships between professions in delivering patient-centered care” should be added on the Terminology/Dictionary PPT. Also, Interprofessional competencies in health care which means “Integrated enactment of knowledge, skills, and values/attitudes that define working together across the professions, with other health care workers, and with patients, along with families and communities, as appropriate to improve health outcomes in specific care contexts” should be added to the PPT as

Zwarenstein et al (2007) designed and evaluated an intervention intended to improve interprofessional collaborative communication and patient-centred care. The intervention was aimed at the development of a hospital-based staff communication protocol designed to promote collaborative communication between healthcare professionals and ultimately, enhance patient-centred care within the team (Zwarentstein et al., 2007). The authors found that a substantial amount of interprofessional communication lacks three key core elements such as self-introduction, description of professional role, and solicitation of other professional perspectives (Zwarenstein et al, 2007). With these findings, the new protocol, based on the three identified core elements was designed to improve the overall culture of communication among healthcare providers.

In healthcare today, where patient outcomes are dependent on effective interprofessional education, interprofessional collaboration and interdisciplinary teamwork (Milstead 2015 p 261), there is the need for better preparation of health professionals in teamwork (“Team 4” concept). The purpose of interprofessional education (IPE) and interprofessional collaboration related to “Team 4” concept is to show that healthcare providers and health professionals are just as important to patient outcomes as the physician (Milstead 2015 p 264). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the ideas and concepts of IPE, is health professionals from many disciplines working together as a team towards the end goal of a better health outcome for the patient are pivotal, and must be included in medical education for all health care providers and health professional (Milstead 2015 p 261-264).

From this class I understood that Interprofessional Education (IPE) is when two or more profession learn from, with and about each other. This collaboration is important in order to fulfill the patients’ needs that are becoming more complex, multi-faced and challenging day by day. It is also clear to me that no single profession in healthcare can adequately address all the demands of patients. Therefore, partnership between teams is required to provide a safe, timely, effective and equitable patient care. To have a smooth collaboration, it is necessary to learn from each other’s specializations, strength and experiences. In the real world, healthcare is an interdisciplinary team effort to provide the best possible service to a patient based on evidence based practices. Considering this, I had the

Healthcare professionals need to collaborate effectively to maximise the quality and safety of patient care. Interprofessional learning help foster positive attitudes between the professions which may facilitate effective collaboration and thus enhances patients’ management. It was reported that interprofessional training enhances students understanding of the professional roles, improves communication and

Interprofessional practice is a collaborative practice where multiple health professionals work together in health services to provide comprehensive services to their patients, families and communities to get a more effective result by improving the quality of work. The collaborative practise is basically used by the nursing team or other health care workers who are the member of interprofessional team. “A call for interprofessional team and collaborative practice development has been sounded across Canada because this model is viewed as the way to ensure that all professionals and providers can practice to the full potential of their role and competencies” (Potter, 2014). Interprofessional collaborative practice is a way to ensure that human health resources are used properly which help to decrease the duration time for achieving a quality care.

The transference of pertinent information among the interdisciplinary group within any organization requires skills in order for the information to be transferred effectively. Communication is the process of sending and receiving information between two or more individuals to achieve a particular outcome or action (Stonehouse, 2014). Effective communication is achieved when the transference of information is shared, understood, and put into action by another individual (Coley, 2015). Collaboration is much desired and needed in order to improve patient care and outcome. Without effective communication, patient needs are not met, valuable information is not shared or improperly transferred, processes duplicated or omitted (Coley, 2015).

rofessionals from different disciplines collaborating to provide care to patients. Effectively coordinated and collaborative inter-professional teams are essential to the care and treatment of patients (Rowlands & Callen, 2013; Doyle, 2008; Ruhstaller, Roe, Thürlimann & Nicoll, 2006; Simpson & Patton, 2012, p. 300). Communication is a process of conferring information between individuals through use of speech, writing or various other means, and is critical to the success of a multidisciplinary team (MDT) (Higgs, McAllister & Sefton, 2012, p. 5; Rowlands & Callen, 2013; Sargeant, Loney & Murphy, 2008). An MDT must use multiple strategies to enhance

With increasing pressure on the healthcare environment and its health professionals there is an increased risk for communication breakdowns and errors. (Owen, Shaw, Mitchel, 2013) Thus, inter-professional practice is a necessary avenue to minimise these errors. Interprofessional practice is referred to as a collaborative process among individuals with different backgrounds who share common objectives. (Ndoro, 2014) Increasing the presence of inter-professional collaborative practices in the healthcare system is fundamental for optimal health outcomes as the quality of patient care is significantly improved when members of different health sectors

Interprofessional cooperation is defined as, “Multiple health workers from different professional backgrounds work together with patients, families, caregivers, and communities to deliver the highest quality of care” (WHO,

Collaboration, both inter and intra professionally is part of our current fast paced health care

“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

With an ongoing, aging population and a vast growth of chronic illness due to so many incorrect approaches to basic maintenance of life, these vast growing chronic illnesses are now becoming chronic diseases (UQ Health, 2010). Due to increases, our health care system needs the variety of health professionals on board to tackle such a destructive problem. The power of a large group of professionals is referred to as inter-professional practice (IPP). Research shows that a patient’s outcome reflects greatly by team care and the improvement is significant (UQ Health, 2010). A patient is also part of the healthcare team, and has become an integral part of the healthcare system. Patients are active participants rather than passive recipients (UQ Health, 2010). Therefore a quicker and more effective recovery, by getting back to their regular routines more efficiently. As part of the IPP, there are many roles and responsibilities formed by different health professions, which all play relevant parts in the system. The use of inter-professional communication is highly important, as the best possible outcome is wanted for patients. Communication from each profession is vital (UQ Health, 2010).