In this presentation, I will:
- Present my personal interdisciplinary collaboration experience noting ways in which it was successful and unsuccessful in achieving desired outcomes;
- Identify how collaboration may affect results, and how poor collaboration can lead to inefficient management of financial and human resources;
- Identify the most appropriate leadership strategies for the improvement of an interdisciplinary team’s goal achievement ability;
- Identify the most appropriate interdisciplinary collaboration strategies that help teams work more effectively and achieve common goals;
- I will mention the pieces of scientific literature used for this video.
First of all, I would like to provide an example from my practice related to interdisciplinary collaboration. The story happened when I was placed in the hospital’s perioperative team. In general, the perioperative team is responsible for many processes before, after, and during surgery, including anesthesia, scrub, equipment integrity, assistance for a surgeon, and patients’ recovery (Gwinnutt & Gwinnutt, 2017). It consists of specialists from various fields who are united for high-quality treatment and health care delivery.
I served as a perioperative team’s liaison between medical specialists and patients who keep all involved people informed. To be precise, I was responsible for meeting patients, accompanying them to the anesthetic room, emotional support, ensuring consent with all procedures, and standard electronic recording. In addition, I informed the team that a patient had arrived to make specialists concentrated and ensure safe health care delivery. During my practice, I witnessed a considerable number of patients who were afraid of surgery, however, I was able to reduce their fear with my sincere emotional support.
One day, the patient, a young man named Bill, arrived at the hospital for a planned surgery. When I approached him, I noticed the symptoms of surgical anxiety, a particular health condition associated with a fear of surgery. I believed that Bill’s state was not serious and I would be able to help him in the same way as for other patients. However, I had failed in my efforts to change the patient’s mood, and he became more nervous and closed. Thus, I decided to address the hospital’s clinical psychologist who told me that Bill was his patient as well and he knew how to help him. After a quick conversation with a medical specialist, Bill felt much better and was ready for surgery. The psychologist provided me with several recommendations concerning Bill’s therapy in case of emergency, and I shared them with a perioperative team and a surgeon as well.
In general, I may evaluate my performance in the interprofessional team as acceptable, especially in the following areas:
- Shared responsibilities and efficient communication for the best outcomes;
- Commitment to common goal achievement;
- Quick decision-making within the framework of collaboration.
In other words, I acted as a part of the team that aimed to provide the treatment of the highest quality, and patient’s emotional support was my responsibility. In addition, I kept all members informed concerning the patient’s state to ensure efficient collaborative work. At the same time, I acted unprofessionally when I relied on myself noticing that the patient’s condition was probably beyond my competency. I should always remember that there is no “I” in a team and every member contributes with his or her knowledge and skills to the achievement of the best results. Thus, in that situation, addressing the psychologist immediately in order to save time and ensure the patient’s health improvement from the beginning could be a more suitable variant.
At the same time, an inefficient and poor collaboration that seriously affects the management of financial and human resources may be frequently observed. The implementation of Healthix at Clarion Court Skilled Nursing Facility is an example of change management failure, inappropriate leadership, and an absence of interprofessional collaboration. First of all, in medical facilities, all people involved in health care should work together having a common goal – to ensure patient safety and high-quality care (Schot, et al., 2020). At the same time, in Vila Health’s facility, an IT team was actually excluded from the facility’s interprofessional collaboration. In addition, their responsibilities were regarded by clinicians as an afterthought, and efficient communication was absent.
Moreover, the management was completely disconnected from specialists, restricted the team’s autonomy and decision-making, and did not consider employees’ needs. That is why due to the Corporate’s pressure to run a profit and keep costs low, a too complicated and uncomfortable Healthix was integrated, however, this EHR was more suitable for a hospital rather than a skilled nursing facility. In addition, an implementation coach did not belong to the facility’s team and did not know its members – he was unresponsive to their demands, comments, and requests. Thus, poor collaboration in the facility has led to the dissatisfaction of team members, expenditures on inefficient equipment, and uncomfortable working conditions that may substantially patient’s wellbeing and safety in a highly negative way.
From a personal perspective, for the improvement of an interdisciplinary team’s ability to achieve its goals, the implementation of transformational leadership is essential. In general, this relation-oriented type of nursing leadership focuses on team members’ motivation through the establishment of efficient communication strategies (Poels et al., 2020). Associated with increased staff-wellbeing, higher job satisfaction, workers’ retention, and decreased burn-out rates, transformational management may be regarded as highly efficient in organizations with a well-developed structure. A leader should listen to his subordinates’ demands and comments on a first-priority basis, inspire and motivate them as a role model, and consider all employees involved in health care as equal members of one interdisciplinary team responsible for patients’ outcomes.
In turn, there are particular interprofessional collaboration strategies that should be implemented for working together and successful goal achievement. First of all, as the key to effective interaction, a specific platform for open communication should be established (Busari et al., 2017). For instance, members may have scheduled meetings to discuss critical issues, analyze team performance, share resources and knowledge, and appreciate each other’s efforts and contributions – the competencies of all specialists should be equally considered. In addition, team-building activities should be welcomed to create a healthy atmosphere for integrated collaboration on a daily basis. Moreover, technologies may be used to strengthen communication between team members, especially when opportunities to meet all together are considerably limited. Finally, team members should advocate for leadership accountability and shared governance to ensure that their opinions are respected.
References
Busari, J. O., Moll, F. M., & Duits, A. J. (2017). Understanding the impact of interprofessional collaboration on the quality of care: A case report from a small-scale resource limited health care environment. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, 10, 227-234. Web.
Gwinnutt, M., & Gwinnutt, C. (2017). Clinical anaesthesia lecture notes (4th ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Poels, J., Verschueren, M., Milisen, K., & Vlaeyen, E. (2020). Leadership styles and leadership outcomes in nursing homes: A cross-sectional analysis. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1009), 1-10. Web.
Schot, E., Tummers, L., & Noordegraaf, M. (2020). Working on working together. A systematic review on how healthcare professionals contribute to interprofessional collaboration. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 34(3), 332-342. Web.
