Interprofessional Teams- Collaborations and Communications
The healthcare system is a multidiscipline system that draws various professionals and tailors them towards the attainment of a common goal. The major objective is often to offer quality and safe healthcare services to those who need them. However, attainment of this goal requires that these professionals work in concert and harmoniously towards this course. A wide range of professionals finds utility within the healthcare systems. These professionals include but are not limited to nurses, doctors, pharmacists, social workers, and nutritionists, among others. This paper seeks to establish the impact interprofessional teams have on the healthcare system by examining the collaborations and communication processes within these teams.
The healthcare setting under scrutiny is the oncology clinic. Oncology clinic serves to diagnose, manage, and treat patients presenting with various types of cancers. The oncology clinic draws various professionals into its routine healthcare provision process. These professionals include medical oncologists, surgical oncologists, oncology nurses, oncology pharmacists, and oncology social workers. Their major role is to provide care to cancer patients. The specificity in their roles does not, however, give them independence in the patient management process. Effective, safe, and quality care depends on these disciplines’ ability to collaborate and work in concert toward the enhancement of clinical outcomes for the patients.
The diversification of roles within the oncology clinic sometimes presents considerable difficulties to the overall care process. These difficulties are even pronounced when there are inadequate collaborations and communications between the professionals present within this clinic. Several issues have been evident within the oncology clinic and include poor recognition of roles and responsibilities among health care professionals, poor implementation of interprofessional team meetings, inadequate or poor communication between the cancer specialists or oncologists and the primary care providers, as well as poor resource management (Walsh et al., 2016). These issues have been implicated in poor clinical outcomes.
Whereas all the professionals present at the oncology clinic possess a common goal of achieving favorable patient outcomes, their input is required towards the attainment of this goal. Therefore, this requires that each professional understands their role adequately and works towards their designation’s requirement (Webb, 2018). Communication between these professionals is also important. Communication enables consultations between professionals on the best clinical decision that will yield the expected outcome.
Communication also enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of care by ensuring that patient information important in their management process is transmitted appropriately between these providers. Proper communication is evident in better patient outcomes reduction of errors attributable to healthcare providers (Webb, 2018). Interprofessional meetings are also important as they enable discussions on the interventions utilizable in the management of the patients. This enables the selection of evidence-based current therapeutic modalities in the management of the patients and, consequently, better clinical outcomes.
The attainment of the desired patient outcomes is dependent on how effective and efficient the interprofessional team is. This, however, requires that individual team members adopt a culture of collaboration that enables them to work in concert with each other. A healthy team culture is dependent on several attributes. These include the presence of a shared goal, role designation and specification, sharing of knowledge as well as required skills within the field, effectiveness in the communication process, and mutual respect, among others.
The overall goal of the oncology clinic is to improve patient outcomes. This goal should be clear to each professional present in the clinic and be adopted by them. The individual roles of each professional should also be clearly outlined to ensure smooth transitions within the care processes. The significance of clearly defined roles is also evident in the assumption of greater responsibility towards ensuring that the required work is done. Knowledge sharing is also important. Health knowledge is vast and dynamic. Group responsibility is therefore required to ensure the integration of current evidence-based practices within the conventional care provision system. This is also augmented by adequate communication between the healthcare providers. A combination of all these attributes will ensure a healthy culture that fosters teamwork.
Effective communication remains the cornerstone in the promotion of a healthy culture within interprofessional teams. The qualities of effective communication include clarity, correctness, conciseness, and coherence, amongst others (Turturean, 2016); further, clarity defines the quality of easy identification and understanding of ideas. Correctness defines the ability to pass a message that is accurate, while conciseness defines the quality of utilizing fewer words to pass accurate information. Coherence is the ability to pass information in a logical sequence. It is necessary for fostering a better understanding of the subject matter. Various communication styles are utilizable in workplace communications. These include passive, aggressive, passive-aggressive, and assertive. Assertive communication is the most effective style of communication at work (Turturean, 2016). This style enables an individual to pass their ideas or thoughts without overbearing the other parties. Utilization of this style is thus paramount in healthcare systems as it enables one to maintain respect to their colleagues while still giving their thoughts on a subject matter.
A collaborative culture is necessary for the maintenance of healthy cultures and teamwork enhancement. In the enhancement of a collaborative culture, various boundary-spanning activities can be integrated into the interprofessional team. Coordination and synergism is such a tool that can significantly enhance interprofessional collaboration and communication. Coordination and synergism detail how health professionals come together in matters pertinent to patients entails consultation on therapeutic choices as well as in passing knowledge during medical education processes. The net effect is enhanced efficiency and effectiveness of care. As an oncology nurse, my interactions will be with medical oncologists, surgical oncologists, and oncology pharmacists, among others. Coordinating with them in the care process will enhance the efficiency of the care process and enable saving of time and improvement of patient outcomes.
Employee satisfaction impacts patient care processes immensely. The employees maintain a central role in the care provision processes, and their satisfaction enhances their work input considerably and, consequently, better clinical outcomes. Employee satisfaction has been implicated in boosting morale and greater work efforts towards bettering the situation of the patient. Acceptable interactions between healthcare providers and their patients, as well as the patient’s families, can be enhanced by better professional communication. These communications are characterized by active listening, expression of empathy, confidence, open-mindedness, and utilization of non-verbal cues, among others (Mickan & Rodger, 2016). Active listening will enable a provider to understand their patients properly. Expression of empathy will enable them to connect with their patient properly and enhance their understanding of their needs. All these qualities are significant in attaining a better relationship between the providers and their patients.
As a healthcare leader, my role is to embrace the attributes that are utilizable in the attainment of better collaborations with other healthcare professionals. Such attributes include active communication with other providers on patient-oriented goals, participation in interprofessional educational programs, and ensuring that my duties are adequately undertaken. Integration of these attributes in the routine care delivery process will ensure that I work in concert with other healthcare providers and will also enhance collaborative approaches targeted at enhancing the patient’s welfare. Additionally, by integrating the qualities of effective communication described above, my communication with other providers and my patients will also be enhanced.
The clinical oncology setting handles cancer patients. This setting draws several healthcare designations, and all these professionals are oriented towards bettering the patient’s outcome. Attainment of better clinical outcomes is, however, dependent on their collaboration towards this course. Attributes like effective communication confer the benefit of ensuring this; however, assertive communication, in particular, is helpful in healthcare team communication. The significance of professional communication in enhancing patient outcomes underpins its significance in the interprofessional team.
References
Mickan, S., & Rodger, S. (2016). Effective Health Care Teams: A model of six characteristics developed from shared perceptions. Journal Of Interprofessional Care, 19(4), 358-370. https://doi.org/10.1080/13561820500165142
Turturean, M. (2016). Assertive Communication at Work. Communication Styles in the Classroom. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2829874
Walsh, J., Harrison, J., Young, J., Butow, P., Solomon, M., & Masya, L. (2016). What are the current barriers to effective cancer care coordination? A qualitative study. BMC Health Services Research, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-10-132
Webb, L. (2018). Exploring the characteristics of effective communicators in healthcare. Nursing Standard, 33(9), 47-51. https://doi.org/10.7748/ns.2018.e11157
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Question 
Consider an area in health care in which you work or are interested in working. Examine the dynamics of the interprofessional team (physicians, nurses, physical therapists, social workers, health care administrators, etc.) in that setting. In a 1,000-1,250-word paper, explain how communication and collaborative strategies can be applied to ensure respectful interactions and to prevent or address potential issues among the team in that healthcare setting. Include the following:
Interprofessional Teams- Collaborations and Communications
Describe the health care setting and summarize the various individuals or teams typically working together in that setting.
Discuss what types of issues may occur and how these affect dynamics within the setting for healthcare workers and for patients and their families.
Discuss attributes of a healthy culture that help individuals or groups perform as a team.
Describe the qualities of effective communication. Discuss how communication styles can be applied to facilitate productive communication.
Chapter 8 of your textbook discusses the dynamics of successful interprofessional healthcare teams. What is a boundary-spanning activity you could incorporate as a leader that would support a collaborative culture and enhance communication? Consider the interprofessional team you would be working with.
Explain how employee satisfaction impacts patient care. Describe qualities of professional communication that contribute to acceptable interactions with patients, their families, and other healthcare professionals.
Explain what your role is as a healthcare leader in helping to facilitate collaboration and clear communication among an interprofessional team, as well as with patients and their families.
A minimum of three academic references from credible sources are required for this assignment.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. Refer to the LopesWrite Technical Support articles for assistance.
Benchmark Information
This benchmark assignment assesses the following programmatic competency:
BS Health Sciences
2.4: Describe qualities of professional communication that contribute to appropriate interactions with family, patients, and other health care professionals.
RUBRIC
Attempt Start Date: 25-Oct-2021 at 12:00:00 AM
Due Date: 31-Oct-2021 at 11:59:59 PM