Interprofessional Collaboration in Health Care Essay Example

Health care is delivered in complex and dynamic circumstances. Patients are often transferred from different wards and health care settings and often require daily treatment from a number of health professionals so that they can receive the appropriate care for their illness/illnesses. This means the involvement of all care group individuals with patients and each other.

An interdisciplinary approach involves team members from different disciplines working collaboratively, with a common purpose, to set goals, make decisions and share resources and responsibilities to reduce mistakes and thus improve patient health care outcomes. ( Lake, Baerg, & Paslawski, 2015). Specialized and complementary knowledge and skill to function under high workload conditions are some characteristics needed among healthcare professionals. Some organization such as the AIHC work to improve outcomes by redesigning how the health care workforce is prepared ( American Inter-professional Health Collaborative, 2018). 

While working in an interprofessional team, there is an increased chance of conflict between the team members regarding the superiority in the team. The truth is everyone is equal while working in a team to help achieve patient outcomes.Patient safety can be endangered by the absence of effective teamwork collaboration because there is lack of shared information related to patient conditions, important information is overlooked and misinterpreted which leads to failure to observe changes in the status of patients. (O’connor et al,2015. This is why understanding how group dynamics works is fundamental in healthcare. It is important for health care professional to collaborate, communicate and express with each other to help build relationships and at the same time achieve the patient’s goal.(Weiss, et al, 2018). According to the World Health Organization (2010), effective interprofessional collaborative practice (ICP) can lead toa comprehensive, coordinated and safe health system that is responsive to the needs of the population;and increased job satisfaction, with reduced stress and burnout of health professionals.

In conclusion, Interprofessional collaboration is essential in health care. The ultimate objective of an effective team is to work together to improve patient outcomes. Effective collaboration and communication strategies ensure nurses get a better understanding of what the patient needs, creating a safety net between the team involved with the patient, which ensures that nothing is missed.

References:

American Inter-professional Health Collaborative. (2018). What is AIHC? Retrieved from https://aihc-us.org/what-is-aihc (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. 

Lake, D., Baerg, K., & Paslawski, T. (2015). Teamwork, leadership, and communication: Collaboration basics for health professionals (1st ed.). Canada: Brush Education, Inc. 

Weiss, D., Tilin, F.J., & Morgan, M.J. (2018). The inter-professional health care team: Leadership and development (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. 

World Health Organization. (2010). Framework for action of inter-professional education and collaborative practice. Retrieved from https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/70185/WHO_HRH_HPN_10.3_eng.pdf;jsession id=E00E9F372544788E0D2A6F6 

O’Connor P, Keogh I, Azuara-Blanco A. Teamwork and communication. In: Flin R, YoungsonG, Yule S, (eds). Enhancing Surgical Skills: A Primer in non-Technical Skills. London: CRC Press, 2015,105–22. (n.d.).