Inter-professional Collaboration Makes a Difference in Patient Outcomes

Cochrane’s inter-professional collaboration There are various forms of inter-professional collaboration in healthcare. The daily inter-professional team collaboration in healthcare has been proved to demonstrate less of an impact for the community whereas it has significant positive effects for the acutely ill patients who are admitted in the hospitals. The monthly collaborations are more effective for the management of psychotic patients through medication prescription.

Video conferencing are more effective for the management of the patients as compared to the audio one where the patients are not in visual contact with the medical teams (Zwarenstein et al., 2009). Patients who attended care through conferencing demonstrated shorter stay in the hospital and the duration of treatment was brief as well. The effect of multidisciplinary management is greatly achieved with the help of external facilitators (Zwarenstein et al., 2009). Many of the patients under the program demonstrated improvement and any other results were due to them being healthier and stable thus the effects were not very significant.

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Inter-professional collaboration and improved patient outcomes.

The increased demand for healthcare services and the rise in the number of patients living with multiple co-morbid chronic medical conditions has continued to increase over the past years in the US which has necessitated the collaboration and effective communication between various medical departments. The life expectancy for the US people is currently at 78.5 years and most of them are living with chronic conditions such as cancer and stroke (Bressler & Persico, 2016).

Through the healthcare reforms there is an improvement in the multifaceted levels of care with much emphasis on proper collaboration among all disciplines. Due to the increased rate and prevalence of multiple conditions among the US populations the best management approach is the multidisciplinary collaboration and teamwork to ensure improved patient outcomes. The main objective of healthcare management is improvement of patient outcomes. Through collaboration of various health teams, personnel of different skills and experiences are brought together with a common goal of ensuring patient recovery (Bosch & Mansell, 2015).

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To ensure quality care, nurses have collaborated with all medical professionals during service delivery, leading to improvements in medical services through mutual support. When team members come together, they enhance care delivery by leveraging diverse expertise, achieving better quality and cost efficiency. Medical collaboration allows caregivers to share opinions and ideas on patient treatment and diagnosis, which is beneficial and has helped reduce hospital readmissions.

One significant improvement from health team collaborations is the reduction in errors during care provision, a common issue currently affecting the healthcare system in the U.S. (Zineldin et al., 2014). Inter-professional collaboration is crucial in reducing mortality rates through improvements like decreased preventable illnesses, reduced morbidity, and enhanced drug adherence. Medical errors (MEs) are a leading cause of death and injury in healthcare facilities, even among highly skilled professionals (Bosch & Mansell, 2015). These errors are difficult to avoid, as “to err is human,” and their impact can be more significant than that of AIDS or cancer. According to the U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM), approximately 44,000-98,000 people died due to MEs in 2000 (Zineldin et al., 2014). One primary cause of MEs in facilities is poor communication and teamwork, particularly evident in areas like medical administration, leading to severe adverse effects.

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Teamwork and Patient Care Outcomes

Effective teamwork in healthcare positively affects quality and patient outcomes. Proper teamwork enhances cooperation and communication among caregivers, significantly reflected in the services provided. Poor communication has been linked to an increase in preventable deaths (Rosen et al., 2018). Through quality teamwork, patients report greater satisfaction, fostering mutual trust, clarity, and two-way communication in hospitals. Comprehensive and thorough care is achievable only when team members unite to manage patients. An international meta-analysis of inter-professional collaboration studies has shown favorable results, including decreased clinical errors and improved patient education (Bressler & Persico, 2016).

Conclusion

Inter-professional collaboration in healthcare is a vital development that has helped reduce mortality related to chronic conditions in the U.S. With proper teamwork, care quality improves, and patient outcomes enhance. This collaboration involves bringing together individuals from different departments to establish coordinated care. Based on recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO), it is essential for healthcare providers (learners or staff) to commit to the principles of inter-professional collaborative practice to develop efficient collaboration, provide patient-centered care, and improve healthcare outcomes (Moradi et al., 2016).

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References

Here are the references arranged in alphabetical order and in hanging text format:

Bosch, B., & Mansell, H. (2015). Interprofessional collaboration in health care: Lessons to be learned from competitive sports. *Canadian Pharmacists Journal, 148*(4), 176-179. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1177/1715163515588106

Bressler, T., & Persico, L. (2016). Interprofessional education: Partnerships in the educational process. *Nurse Education in Practice, 16*(1), 144-147. doi: 10.1016/j.nepr.2015.07.004

Moradi, K., Najarkolai, A. R., & Keshmiri, F. (2016). Interprofessional teamwork education: Moving toward the patient-centered approach. *The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 47*(10), 449-460. doi: 10.3928/00220124-20160920-06

Rosen, M. A., DiazGranados, D., Dietz, A. S., Benishek, L. E., Thompson, D., Pronovost, P. J., & Weaver, S. J. (2018). Teamwork in healthcare: Key discoveries enabling safer, high-quality care. *American Psychologist, 73*(4), 433-450. doi: 10.1037/amp0000298

Zineldin, M., Zineldin, J., & Vasicheva, V. (2014). Approaches for reducing medical errors and increasing patient safety: TRM, quality and 5 qs method. *TQM Journal, 26*(1), 63-74. doi: 10.1108/TQM-03-2012-0029

Zwarenstein, M., Goldman, J., & Reeves, S. (2009). Interprofessional collaboration: Effects of practice-based interventions on professional practice and healthcare outcomes. *Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (3)*.