Strong Collaborative Relationships Across Healthcare Disciplines

The difference between interdisciplinary teams and Interprofessional teams is that interdisciplinary team perform their work in a collaborative fashion. Each member of the team, while providing the group with the knowledge and skills of his or her disciplinary perspective, also strives to incorporate that perspective with those of others to create solutions to health care problems that transcend conventional, discipline-specific method, procedures, and techniques. Communication by far is essential to collaboration and interaction. However, Interprofessional teams has to do with learning together as a team. Their collaboration interaction is characterized by the integration as well as modification of different professions. By having basic knowledge and skills related to your own profession you can share your knowledge with others as they will do the

Inter-Professional Team Model (PAARP) is used throughout the life cycle of a team and includes 5 phases describing actions of the interprofessional teams: purpose, assemble and charter, align, resource, perform. The division of labor is based on the scopes of practice of team members and takes into account KSAs of team members. In the PAARP model, actions of leadership give purpose to the group, and consistency of action by the leader is essential. Identifying purpose through goal-setting plays a large part in this theory and team members accept the goals of the team as their own and take responsibility for their part in achieving them. This model is applicable across health professionals through an understanding of each discipline’s roles

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.

Interprofessional practice for the professional nurse can be defined as collaboration and shared decision making with other health care professionals to improve care and provide safe outcomes for patients. Since nurse are central to the care of the patient, they are often viewed as the communicator and the coordinator of the patient’s care (Burzotta & Nobel, 2011). Nurses have a unique opportunity as a interprofessional team member given their scope of knowledge about the patient. However, nurses struggle with role-identify when a part of an interprofessional team. The work of nurses do is often viewed as non-professional and more task driven by

Health care systems are made to improve and provide quality, efficient care, work in a more collective fashion to improve patient care and reduce overall healthcare cost. They must be mindful of wasteful spending and become more accountable to a diverse patient population.

“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

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)

An important sub-concept of nursing is interprofessional collaborative practice. Although, all of the sub-concepts relating to the metaparadigms are crucial to nursing practice, I chose to discuss interprofessional collaborative practice because it has influenced me the most and I did not realize how important it was until this course. Interprofessional collaboration implies being educated about other members of the team in order to facilitate collaborative teamwork, which is essential for patient centered care (Osbiston, 2013). Utilizing other professional 's knowledge significantly benefits the patients care and ultimately their health. A patient requires care from various health care professionals as they all have

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,”

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).

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

A weakness in communication between interdisciplinary team members can impact patient safety and health . A recent study revealed that out of all the claims analyzed , 57 percent of malpractice cases reflected miscommunication between two or more healthcare providers (Riah, 2015). In fact, the same communication failures directly linked to 1,744 deaths over the past five years (Budryk, 2016). During my clinical placement this semester I have witnessed the overwhelming number of health care team members that are involved in each patient’s care. I also take part in morning nursing rounds where all nurses are updated on every patient’s status. Transmission of permanent patient information is also relayed to all members of the health team via the patient chart .Here , interdisciplinary notes all come together to form updated health information on patients. However, although I have read interdisciplinary notes from all team members , I rarely have had the opportunity to personally communicate with members other than doctors and nurses. Personal communication allows for a team member to pass on relevant information in a timely manner without the possibility or misinterpretations. When communication is strictly done non-verbally, it is impossible to ask any questions.. This is why communication between professionals in health care is essential for patient safety and improved quality of care (Koivunen, Niemi., & Hupli,2015). There are 3 main factors that cause miscommunication

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.