What Is A Multidisciplinary Team

As healthcare advances and becomes more convoluted there is an increase need for interprofessional collaboration to provide quality and patient-centered care. According to the Institute of Medicine (2015), not one profession can lead and expand interprofessional collaboration independently. It requires collaboration of all team members working to their highest level of functioning to provide patient centered care. Interprofessional collaboration involves healthcare professionals from multi-disciplinary teams with one common goal of providing excellent care to patients. To provide the best patient-centered and team based care all of the team members have to be in sync and willing

There are many members of the healthcare profession that can be present in the multidisciplinary team. It most commonly includes the nurse, a social worker, a dietician, discharge planner, and a physician. At Uniontown Hospital, multidisciplinary team meetings occur Monday to Friday in the mornings. Present on 3 West for the meetings are the primary nurse, charge nurse, social workers, a discharge planner, and case manager. The purpose of the multidisciplinary team meetings allow for all members to discuss what is happening with the patient and what can be done during and after hospitalization to make sure the patient gets all the support they need.

Teamwork and collaboration with other healthcare providers is very important. To function effectively there needs to be mutual respect, open communication, and shared decision making in the best interest of the patient. As a member of a team it is vital to know ones own strengths and limitations, this way patients receive the best care.

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,

Teamwork and communication are very important in providing good quality care, especially in the healthcare field. A team is described as a group of people that works together and cooperatively, between each member of the group to reach a common goal (Sullivan, 2013). For a team to function, communication is essential. A report by McKay and Crippen (2008), as stated by Alfaro-LeFevre, (2013) showed that when collaboration is in place, hospitals can decrease their mortality rate by 41%. When mortality rate is lower, hospitals does not only decreased cost, but it also means that patients are receiving good quality care.

　　　　An effective care for patients can be achieved through the collaboration and team work within the certain health care teams to provide a focused and shared learning in health professional education, which can help enhance the outcome of the patient’s needs.1 Working with different professionals and care givers can lead to issues. This can be looked upon so that the patient is given good service and enhanced care.

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.

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).

Multidisciplinary rounds approach calls for various members of the medical profession to synchronize individual skills, knowledge, and expertise in order to provide quality care for patients (IHI, 2015). The team members consist of nurses, physicians, “ancillary clinicians, and staff” (IHI, 2015, p.4). Each member contributes to the care of the patient individually, but in a cohesive manner (IHI, 2015). The multidisciplinary rounds care model strongly encourages and utilizes parental involvement during rounds (IHI, 2015). Multidisciplinary rounds also solicit parents and family members to communicate with the care team care as well as care team communications concerning the patient to the family (IHI, p.4). For each patient, the rounds are conducted daily (IHI, 2015). For each patient, goals are set daily (IHI, 2015). This ensures daily communication among care team and with patient and the families of the patient (IHI, 2015). The idea is to establish good coordination of care; thus, making safe and efficient care more consistent (IHI, 2015). As the protocols or the guidelines are clearly communicated among care teams, risks are identified, and staff are educated, the quality of health care improves (IHI, 2015).

Health care has evolved and is continuously evolving. The management of care now involves different clinicians to better assess, diagnose and cure a patient. The clinicians evolved from a general practitioner to a team now comprised of Physician’s Assistant, Nurse, License Practical Nurse and Specialists. These health care professionals now compose a team of health care providers that are essential in a patient’s over all health care. The team-based approach is a delivery system that provides a patient an all-encompassing health care delivery system. “ By practicing in a team-based care model, physicians and other

Kaakinen et al (2015) discusses the two types of health care teams that will be involved in the patient’s care: multiprofessional and interprofessional. The multiprofessional model is an older model that does not focus on holistic care. Care is fragmented with an autocratic leader, vertical communication, separate goals of the professionals involved, and families are peripheral to the process (Kaakinen et al., 2015). The preferred model is the interprofessional model emphasizing a team approach, holistic care of the patient, horizontal communication, and involvement of the family (Kaakinen et al., 2015). The nurse should keep this collaborative approach in mind when dealing with any patient case, involving all teams associated with the patient for the best outcome.

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).

Effective communication among professionals from different disciples is key area to care coordination (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, 2007) however; Communication involves a variety of strategies and purposes (Kripalani et al, 2007). In an interprofessional collaboration, different professional groups work mutually as a team to develop a positive impact on health care. As said by Zwarenstein, Goldman & Reeves (2009) collaborative working is improved because of an agreement between different professionals through communication. Good communication is vital as It enables health care professionals to build relationships

The capacity to work with other clinicians from various disciplines, in delivery of quality care through joint effort, is an essential feature needed in health care profession. Additionally, it is through effective and skilled professional communication of health care professionals that the patients and family members are able to receive quality care and outcomes. The interprofessional collaboration is affected by the environmental conditions, as well as health care conditions. The impact of these factors, significance, and the management have greatly influenced the health care delivery. In order to enhance the knowledge of the future generation of nurses, designed models are needed, to demonstrate how collaboration works in clinical settings.

Teams working in a hospital or other healthcare setting may consist of several physicians, nurses, medical assistants, referral coordinators, pharmacists, therapists, and students among others. Such large teams can provide comprehensive care for complex and chronic illnesses, but when they fail to work well together, they