Effective communication and interprofessional collaboration are two critical ingredients not only in the practice of healthcare settings but also in other business realms. Effective communication is a determinant of a thriving working environment. To create and maintain a positive working environment, an organization ought to develop platforms for effective communication. In most organizations setting grounds for effective communication is a difficult task. Statistics report that 57% of employees complain of not being issued with clear directions, while 69% of managers were not comfortable communicating to subordinate employees in the workplace (Burris, Rockmann & Kimmons, 2017). Failure to promote effective communication in the workplace, for example, in a healthcare setting, would likely create situations where medical errors can occur. Such errors can potentially inflict severe injuries or unexpected patient fatalities. Collaboration relates to a high level of joint working where people and resources operating in different spheres are pooled together towards realizing a common shared end goal. In healthcare settings, communication and collaboration are imperative in building functional relationships between providers, which helps doctors and nurses to work together towards administering high-quality care.
Interpersonal communication is affected by a variety of factors. Ideally, there are five major components of interpersonal communication. These components include non-verbal communication, verbal communication, assertiveness, problem-solving, and negotiation.
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Verbal communication entails the exchange of spoken words. About seven percent of communication is verbal. It enables individuals to express their emotions through a well-developed and recognized vocabulary. Individuals describe their opinions, ideas, thoughts, and feelings in the form of words ( Schmitz, 2012 ). Several rules guide verbal communication, i.e., arbitrary rules of grammar.
Non-verbal communication is a component of interpersonal communication that does not use spoken words. It comprises the tone of voice, facial expressions, and gestures. Researchers claim that fifty-five percent of interpersonal communication is non-verbal. Non-verbal communication speaks volumes; even silence itself often communicates a profound message (Hargie, 2016). People might knowingly or unknowingly use non-verbal cues that offer additional information to verbal communication.
Perhaps one of the most undervalued competent in interpersonal communication is assertiveness. It is the process through which individuals confidently express their opinions and needs in a calm, honest, and fair way while considering the reactions and needs of others (DeVito, 2019). People that are aggressive or passive in their communication are much disliked and pose a barrier to effective interpersonal communication.
Problem-solving skills are an essential component of interpersonal communication both in personal situations and in the workplace. Problems are bound to occur in the work environment. The manner with which individuals respond to the problem can either make or break them (Bethany, 2016) . The ability to handle challenges effectively and promptly is crucial in interpersonal communication. Poor problem-solving skills are a major reason for the failure of interpersonal relationships.
Negotiation entails the ability to settle/solve differences. It is a crucial component of interpersonal communication since it enables individuals to prevent or resolve disputes and arguments (Hargie, 2016). It is a necessary skill among people working together since it allows them to find mutually agreeable outcomes.
The importance of interprofessional collaboration
Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) is a trending topic in the health care industry. It involves the collaboration between professionals from different health care specialties for the provision of quality care. Interprofessional collaboration is vital since it minimizes patient errors and health expenses (Vega & Bernard, 2016) . It encourages the coordination of patient care in the health care sector. Knowledge is shared between the different clinicians to create a common objective. The various health care professionals can learn about the responsibilities and roles of each other. Enhanced communication minimizes the probability of patient error, even in matters involving the movement of a patient from acute care to long-term management or from surgery to the ICU.
IPC is vital since it promotes sharing, partnerships, and collaboration in patient management. It mainly emphasizes on the provision of safe and quality health care. IPC makes up for the limitation of previous health care systems that had health care professionals operate in silos. It also offers a solution to the shortage of clinicians by encouraging the exiting health care professionals to try out interprofessional practice as a means of simplifying overwhelming work (Vega & Bernard, 2016) . Similar to how basketball/soccer teams rely on collaboration between trainers, coaches, and teammates, the interprofessional collaboration lead to provision of enhanced and highly effective health care.
IPC is crucial since it has replaced the former physician-centered care with a team-based approach. The team-based system ensures that the concerned clinicians concentrate more on what is best for the patient wants instead of their contribution (Cooke, 2016). The new approach is more responsive to the values and needs of the patient when making critical clinical decisions.
Application of components of interpersonal communication to interprofessional collaboration.
Effective utilization of non-verbal cues enhances interprofessional collaboration. Health professionals should be well trained on the use of various non-verbal cues as a means of communication. One of the non-verbal cues is proxemics. Scholars argue that certain proxemic behaviors enhance collaboration, that is, standing around in a circle is an effective way of including and excluding individuals based on their relevance to the discussion topic. Head movement is a crucial non-verbal cue during interactions. It involves patterns of movement, gaze tracking, and eye direction, each having its distinct meaning (Nester, 2016). Therefore, application of the non-verbal cues that are easily distinguishable such as standing in a circle, facing each other, and nodding to show agreement enhances interpersonal collaboration.
Verbal communication overwhelmingly is used as a means of communication by clinicians in the multi-disciplinary team. Members of the group are expected to listen and pay attention while another is talking. Despite verbal communication being the most preferred mode of communication in interpersonal collaboration, many health care practitioners underestimate the importance of using concise and clear verbal communication (Hurlock-Chorostecki et al., 2016). They are encouraged to use and refine their oral skills to reduce ambiguity and misrepresentation of facts.
Discuss strategies to promote interprofessional collaboration.
Several strategies are known to enhance interprofessional collaboration. One of the strategies is the promotion of multidisciplinary rounds. Health care managers should encourage their clinicians to take advantage of the rounds to discuss patient outcomes, seek clarification, and probe questions regarding treatment and management of the patient (Hurlock-Chorostecki et al., 2016). The rounds encourage different health care professionals to exchange information, thereby bringing them to the same page of how to handle a patient.
Focusing on patients encourages interprofessional collaboration. The former system laid much emphasis on hierarchy, relegating nurses to the bottom of the hierarchy while placing physicians at the upper tier. As a result, numerous errors often occurred (Nester, 2016). Through interprofessional collaboration, it is possible to overcome the resistance against the paradigm shift that brings doctors and nurses to the same level, by encouraging health care professionals that their chief goal is to create a positive health care experience and enhance patient satisfaction.
Finally, it is possible to promote interpersonal collaboration by advising clinicians to participate in the training sessions of other departments. Often, health care training sessions are customized for a particular department or a specific branch of health care professionals (Cooke, 2016). However, by having different clinicians attend the training sessions of other departments, they get more insight about their responsibilities and roles. Additionally, the practice equips clinicians with multiple perspectives on handling patient situations.
Describe effective strategies to build interprofessional teams
Group coaching is a well-recognized method of successfully building interprofessional teams. Individual members work under the guidance of a coach when solving a health care challenge or conducting a project. The group coach equips the individual members with the necessary skills and advice required for cooperation in providing enhanced patient care (Donner & Wheeler 2008). However, for group coaching to be effective, the different health care practitioners should be willing to participate and function as a collective entity. Usually, the group coach is a practitioner with vast experience and practical people-handling skills. He or she undertakes the necessary efforts to ensure that the team can manage itself, deepen its curiosity, and mature into a highly functional group.
The promotion of interprofessional education is also useful since it leads to professional development. The training equips different health care professionals with the necessary skills, attitudes, and knowledge that allows them to easy navigate and understand the role of each health department. Clinicians should be trained about the relationships that exist between different health care professions (Powell et al., 2016). Since different types of clinicians are taught to perform different roles and responsibilities, it is only through interprofessional education that they can function as a collaborative unit and provide effectively coordinated patient care.
Effective utilization of communication skills among health care professionals creates functional interprofessional teams. Communication forms the basis of interprofessional co ntact (Cooke, 2016). Through communication, clinicians can gather to recommend treatment to patients (Hurlock-Chorostecki et al., 2016). However, when clinicians fail to use effective communication, patient become non-compliant. Training on communication skills plays a huge role in improving the clinicians' interaction with patients and colleagues.
Cultural competence
Cultural competence involves the provision of adequate health care that considers the cultural, ethnic, and social characteristics of patients. It eliminates discrimination, ethnic, and racial profiling among health care providers. Health care practitioners and organizations should work collectively to offer culturally competent health care to patients to ensure that individuals from minority groups are not dissatisfied with care (Jeffreys, 2015). Presently, individuals from different racial or ethnic minority groups report less collaboration with clinicians, less involvement in medical decisions, and decreased satisfaction with the services provided.
Health care providers should be thoroughly trained in the provision of culturally competent care. The approach employed should concentrate on enhancing the clinician's knowledge about different ethnic groups, i.e., their values, conduct, and beliefs. It is essential that they also know about the "dos" and "don'ts" of different cultural groups (Jeffreys, 2015). Besides, specific values such as humility, respect, and empathy promote cultural competence in the health care sector since it is not possible for every detail about every culture.
Conclusion
From the study, success of the health care sector is dependent on two main factors; effective communication and interprofessional collaboration. Effective communication is possible through the proper utilization of five major components. These five components comprise verbal and non-verbal communication, assertiveness, decision-making, and negotiation. Interprofessional collaboration between different health care professionals in modern society is made possible through effective communication. It is essential since it leads to minimal patient errors, promotes partnerships, and replaces the former hierarchical-based system with a patient-based approach. Strategies used to create interprofessional teams are group coaching, interprofessional training, and proper utilization of communication skills. Finally, clinicians should strive always to provide culturally competent care to all patients regardless of race, ethnicity, or social status.
References
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