Interprofessional Care: A Case Study

Nurses play an important role in achieving the competencies of interprofessional collaboration, quality improvement, and human flourishing. Successful interprofessional collaboration requires the willingness to step outside of one’s comfort zone and initiate interactions with other professionals. Nurses must also possess a well-rounded understanding of patient needs in order to know which types of professionals with which to collaborate. Communication skills are

Interprofessional team collaboration for professional nurses is viewed as a method to improve the care and safety for patients. However, interprofessional team collaboration presents both advantages and challenges for nurses and other team members. One of the advantages is the coordination of care for the patient and the sharing of knowledge to improve the outcomes for the patient. Challenges for interprofessional team collaboration is: poor role-definition, miscommunication, conflict, lack of accountability for assignment of responsibilities and tasks (Reeves, 2012). This paper will discussion the role of a nurse on an interprofessional team and the challenges, why interprofessional teams promote patient safety, and strategies to promote success interprofessional teams.

Interprofessional Practice (IPP) occurs when different professional groups work together and rely on one another to accomplish common goals and improve healthcare outcomes. The way in which healthcare professionals interact and communicate with one another affects the quality of healthcare they provide and can effect patient care and safety (Australasian Interprofessional Practice and Education Network). Barriers to effective interprofessional practice between doctors and nurses have been well documented and include problem power dynamics, poor communication, lack of understanding of one another’s roles and responsibilities and from conflict arising due to different approaches to patient care (Zwarenstein, Goldman & Reeves, 2009)

Growing evidence suggests that collaborative practice improves health care outcomes (Brown, Lindell, Dolansky, & Garber, 2015). Development of highly collaborative inter-professional teams is a key concern to the success of patient-centered holistic care. The relationship between nurses and physician can be the most crucial to the collaboration process. However throughout the whole health care team, building a relationship based off mutual respect and a patient-oriented mindset is essential. The support and dedication of the whole interdisciplinary team are really what makes the difference for patients’ health and well-being. It’s important that everybody is truly invested in the health of each patient, and makes that investment known. As a student nurse, I

Interprofessional competency education is essential to patient quality outcomes because as stated in the Institute of medicine’s report patients have complex medical issues that can best be addressed by interprofessional teams. By training current and future health care workers to work in such teams we facilitate the model and the results is improved healthcare outcomes for patients. The model help professionals to understand the important role each person adds to the team.

challenge, then, is to make the most of all interactions in order to utilize the best knowledge and

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.

A. i) Interprofessional education is a collaborative learning strategy involving multiple health-related professions, working together to provide patient-centered care and better health outcomes. Interprofessional care can be engaged academically, in a hospital environment or other professional setting. There are many different methods used to facilitate interaction between different healthcare fields including small-group based discussions, problem-based learning and continuous assessment. In modern times, due to a shift in health practice from acute care to chronic management and more patient-centered health strategies, healthcare professions find a greater need for collaboration (Reeves, Perrier, Goldman, Freeth & Zwarenstein,

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).

As Australia’s population ages, healthcare promotion and access are a public target. A study by Kent, F & Keating, J. (2013) targets patients over 70 recently discharged from hospital in a student-run clinic where differing disciplines participated in a collaborative workplace to assess physical, functional and social health. This collaboration, referred to as interprofessional care, ensures a holistic view of patients and access to appropriate services. Evident in this study, interprofessional care ensures patients understand their condition and the required management and medical attention, ensuring the prevention of further health issues. This report aims to investigate Keating and Kent’s methodology, evidence and conclusions

Great post Jen! I like how you define inter professional collaboration. It made it easy to understand the discussion question better. As the definition from the World Health Organization implies, Health care workers come together to ensure the best possible outcome for patients and family members. The changing process requires an all-hands on deck approach as we learned some weeks ago. This is part of the reason why one of the important quality of the future nurse is teamwork and collaboration: Nurse of the Future competency (QSEN,

Interprofessional collaboration is defined as students from multiple health professions learning together and from one another with the end result of improving professional collaboration and patient outcomes1.The goal of IPE is to engage students across disciplines to work together and learn about collaborative practice, health literacy and to cultivate cultural awareness. Interprofessional collaboration in the health setting is a critical ingredient to achieving the Triple Aim of increased patient outcomes, increased patient experience and decreased costs

“Interprofessional working involves complex interactions between two or more members of different professional disciplines. It is a collaborative venture in which those involved share the common purpose of developing mutually negotiated goals achieved through agreed plans which are monitored and evaluated according to agreed procedures. This requires the pooling of knowledge and expertise to facilitate joint decision making based upon shared professional viewpoints” (Barrett, Sellman & Thomas, 2005, p18). How individuals collaborate and work towards a common goal for the benefit of the patient is essential for a swift recovery.

In the past decade, nurses have been portion of an association that reflects possibly more transformation than any two decades combined. This recommendation that nurses lead interprofessional groups in enlightening delivery systems and care carries to the fore the requirement for new competencies, further than evidence-based practice, that are required as nurses renovate healthcare. Guidelines in nursing education in the 1960s recognized nursing as an applied science. There are requisites as nurses change healthcare. These skills focus on utilizing knowledge in clinical choice making and producing research evidence on interferences that promote uptake and usage by individual suppliers and groups of providers. This article highlights some of the answers and initiatives that those in the occupation of nursing have taken to make the most of the valuable contributions that nurses have completed, could make, and would make, to deliver on the promise of evidence-based practice.

After taking in consideration many peer review articles, I have realized how important is the interprofessional care in the health care environment. It benefits both, patients and health professionals. It can be defined as the collaboration of more than two disciplines in the health profession working together to provide better patient care (Engel & Prentice, 2013). For example, there are many complex