Hello Professor Barten and Class,

How does your facility promote interprofessional collaboration during times of patient transitions?

According to Theriot, Heaston, Inman & Briggs (2016), the development of the interdisciplinary team benefits patients as well as practitioners because each profession can offer a focused level of specialty and each team member may bring their own approach to patient care. This specialized collaboration allows for a broad range of care to be provided, and for this care to be tailored to each patient’s needs. At the hospital where I work the interdisciplinary team is highly promoted and is essentially the core of the care we provide. At the start of each shift, an assignment list is sent out hospital wide. This way, each unit will have the list of interdisciplinary team members assigned to their area, along with the contact number for that practitioner, for that shift. RNs coordinate patient care and treatments between Respiratory Therapists, Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Speech Pathologists, Wound RNs, Case Managers, Social Workers, Nursing Assistants, Lab Techs, and Transport Staff. This interdisciplinary team works with MDs, to carry out orders and provide patient centered care.

What is the role of the nurse in patient transitions?

Nurses have the responsibility of planning and carrying out patient transitions. Each day through our EMR we can view the patient’s care schedule and communicate with the team to make changes if necessary. The role of the RN in the team is to coordinate between the team members and the MD. The nurse facilitates smooth transitions for the patient and family, answers questions and makes sure the patient is aware of the plan for the day. When transitions are smooth the patient will have less stress or anxiety and can relax knowing what the plan for the day is.

What gaps can you identify in this process related to quality of care?

Quality of care is something that we are constantly working to improve. As discussed in our week five lesson, reforms in healthcare have caused ongoing challenges to keep up with expectations across many healthcare settings (Chamberlin University, 2019). When there are multiple team members coming together to achieve a goal, communication is key. Even over the course of a short hospital stay, patients can become overwhelmed with the sheer number of treatment team members that they may meet. For continuity of care, team members should communicate clearly with each other, provide hand off information before or after treatments. Poor communication is known to be a direct cause of medical errors and sentinel events. I feel that this is an area of concern because when members of the interdisciplinary team come across informational gaps, errors are more likely to happen. Improved communication between team members will translate to improved quality of care, and improved patient satisfaction.

References

Chamberlain University College of Nursing. (2019). RN Capstone Course NR451-62005. Week Five Lesson. Retrieved from https://chamberlain.instructure.com/courses/45610/pages/week-5-lesson-foundational-concepts?module_item_id=5900871

Theriot R., Heaston, A., Inman, W.H., Briggs, R. (2016). Training future health care professionals to work in teams: The need for interdisciplinary professional education. Journal of the National Society of Allied Health, 13(1), 48. https://web-a-ebscohost-com.chamberlainuniversity.idm.oclc.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=7&sid=b402c9d4-da89-4ab8-96fa-668a68ceb30d%40sessionmgr4007