As the Healthcare sector advances, more organization and interconnection care between medical doctors, nurses, and other health disciplines is essential. Interprofessional Collaboration is the process where professionals from different teams work together with the patients, caregivers, and their families to deliver high-quality care for their patients across their procedures. Interprofessional Collaboration eliminates biases, promotes innovation, and leads to better decision-making. Interprofessional Collaboration has many benefits compared to the negativity that may come with it.
Interprofessional Collaboration improves the general treatment journey of a patient. These are the overall accomplishments and events that a patient experiences in a distinctive healthcare organization. For example, if a patient is being booked for an appointment to see a physician, they will be moved to a different unit for tests such as the blood test to understand the condition (Arenson & Brandt., 2021). Health professionals need to synchronize struggles due to their experiences in different fields to identify the proper treatment earlier. To achieve this, the health facility needs to construct the right and conducive environment to nurture interprofessional Collaboration.
Medical errors may be avoided when there is collaboration in the health facility. These medical errors may result from deprived communication, time delays, and burnout, among others. When there is a miscommunication during diagnosis, interprofessional Collaboration will guarantee the safety of patients by setting clear goals and ensuring the right people and the use of proper tools are always in place (Ansa et al., 2020).
Interprofessional Collaboration improves staff interactions and job contentment. This act can be achieved as Collaboration equalizes the playing field for all health professionals. It also helps in acknowledging that all the required departments played an essential role in caring for the patient. Collaboration in a facility adds power to all, and everyone’s voice is heard, reducing biases and prioritizing other staff members.
It also helps in the reduction of healthcare costs and disorganizations. Interprofessional Collaboration reduces medical errors and improves the patients’ outcomes and experiences, which of all assist in the reduction of healthcare costs. This system also saves hospitals money by strengthening workflow terminations and operational inadequacies. According to the study in a hospital, it improved the start time of a surgical procedure and prevented delays, henceforth saving more time and life.
This Collaboration enables the treatments to start faster. Health facilities are known for keeping patients waiting in queues. This communication problem wastes much time and may frustrate even their patients. When Collaboration is involved, it bridges the communication gap, guarantees that the team members are associated together, and gives alerts in case of any case. This collaboration team provides the correct information at the right time and in a secure way.
Interprofessional Collaboration in health care also promotes trust and confidence among themselves and the patients. Confidence and trust are built when the crews have the chance to work together on a daily basis. The development of self-assurance within a team is always naturally promoted. For a team to develop trust amongst themselves, all the professionals must be confident in their personal capacities. A recent study indicates that executing interprofessional education in healthcare programs can absolutely influence students’ awareness of teamwork, henceforth needing to be stimulated for future practices (Leo et al.,2019).
Role clarity among healthcare professionals is another crucial role in interprofessional Collaboration. For a team to be successful, every team player must execute his or her uniqueness for a better outcome. Each professional adds a definite value, generating a combined collaboration so that the patients’ essentials can be successfully met. In some instances, the experts might need to step out of the original profession for the paramount concentration of the patients. Some members may take up leadership roles though everyone must be given a chance to contribute (Folkman et al., 2019). Every person’s contributions need to be appreciated and not underemphasized.
Conclusion
The importance of interprofessional Collaboration has many advantages and disadvantages. Interprofessional Collaboration is when health experts from different departments come together in order to achieve a desirable and quality outcome. These advantages include role clarity, reduction in hospital charges, and quality outcome, among many others. Its disadvantages may include competition where there is no trust or confidence among many others. For a successful collaborative chance, individuals of a team need who are capable of embodying all the crucial characteristics need to be selected to ensure the patients are experiencing a quality stay and treatment.
References
Zechariah, S., Ansa, B. E., Johnson, S. W., Gates, A. M., & Leo, G. D. (2019, October). Interprofessional education and Collaboration in healthcare: an exploratory study of the perspectives of medical students in the United States. In Healthcare (Vol. 7, No. 4, p. 117). MDPI.
Arenson, C., & Brandt, B. (2021). The importance of interprofessional practice in family medicine residency education. Family medicine, 53(7), 548-555.
Ansa, B. E., Zechariah, S., Gates, A. M., Johnson, S. W., Heboyan, V., & De Leo, G. (2020, September). Attitudes and behavior towards interprofessional Collaboration among healthcare professionals in a large academic medical center. In Healthcare (Vol. 8, No. 3, p. 323). MDPI.
Folkman, A. K., Tveit, B., & Sverdrup, S. (2019). Leadership in interprofessional Collaboration in health care. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, 12, 97.
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