Collaboration among different professional working in the health industry is an important approach that has improved patient care outcomes. Patient safety is one factor that many health institutions and their professional consider with utmost care. Every nurse and any other health professional require that their patient receive right care that promote better health quality. Thus, teamwork across disciplines such as nurses, doctors, pharmacists, physicians, radiologist, and oncologists among other is one factor that will lead to effective patient safety. However, despite the existing evidence of the benefit of inter-professional collaboration on patient safety, Moonaghi, Heidary, and Mahdizadeh (2015) report that interdisciplinary collaboration among clinical professional is still poor. Similarly, Epplen (2013) also report that inter-professional collaboration between burses, patients, families, doctors, and other professional is important in improving patient safety and over health outcomes. Therefore, using a collaborative approach can help improve patient safety within the health institutions. An interdisciplinary team composed of medicine and nursing professionals aimed to find out how the relationships between the nurse, doctor, and pharmacist can improve patient safety in the healthcare organizations and presented their findings in an article. The information from the quality improvement article was presented to colleagues who provided their opinions and ideas that illustrated its relevance in clinical application as shown below.
Article
The authors of the chosen article stated that collaboration is one of the most important approaches to use in enhancing the quality of patient safety within healthcare organizations. Cashell and Morley (2017) reported that success within any healthcare organization requires effective collaboration between the patient, family, and professionals from different departments with the same hospitals. They reported that such high levels of teamwork that involves different professionals with diverse skills such as nursing, medicine, and pharmacy among others are necessary to help the hospital ensure utmost patient safety.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Studies have shown that the need to maintain adequate healthcare quality is one that some hospitals and health organizations still suffer. This is largely because many hospitals and their professional have decided to make patient care an agenda that is tackled by different professionals at different point. For example, the nurses work alone, pharmacist fail to communicate with the doctor, who fail to communicate with the nurse who does not collaborate with family members and other health professionals to ensure adequate healthcare outcomes (Moonaghi, Heidary, and Mahdizadeh, 2015). This level of lack of collaboration between professionals in health institutions is one factor that has promoted poor patient safety in many hospitals. On the contrary, Cashell and Morley reports that evidence exist which show the effectiveness of inter-professional collaboration on patient safety. For that reason, the article aimed to investigate how inter-professional collaboration improved patient safety in health organizations.
Cashell and Morley (2017) reported that inter-professional collaboration between doctors, nurses, and pharmacist had a positive outcome on patient safety in many ways. This collaborative activity ensured that the professionals from these three department communicated effectively with one another to improve patient care. The authors noted that improved communication between the doctor, the nurse, the doctor and the pharmacy improved quality of care. The nurse was aware of the conditions that patient was dealing with, the doctor prescribed the right medications and the necessary procedures that the nurse was to take to ensure effective patient care. On the same note, the pharmacist also prescribed the right medication to the patient hence reducing the risks of wrong medication and improving patient safety by dispensing the right medication.
The research done by ca shell and Morley (2017) provides evidence that show that professional collaboration improves quality of care which further enhances patient safety. This finding is supported by the research done by Friedberg (2011) who also supported the fact that professional collaboration is an important factor in promoting and achieving patient safety in any organizations. These author also believe that it is important for nurse practitioners, medical professionals, and pharmacist to work collaboratively with each other to help promote patient safety and hence improve patient care.
Furthermore, the research by Cashel and Morley (2017) reported that inter-disciplinary collaboration promotes patient safety by promoting patient engagement. Thus, this allows the patients wo be involved in decisions making, seeking information, behavioural changes, patient education, self-care, and taking the provided information for better health outcomes. Similarly, Hardin (2017) also supports the fact that collaboration between the patient and health professionals is an important factor that promotes patient care and patient safety at large. The authors state that other factors such as learning, culture, and teamwork which largely influence patient safety is another requirement that comes from all departments.
Presentation
The finding of the above discussion was presented to colleagues in clinical setting. The [presented started by outlining the importance of collaboration in any clinical setting and in healthcare organizations as a whole. The presentation then identified the fact that interdisciplinary collaboration was an important factor in promoting patient safety. It then covered some of the background research and findings that Cashell and Morley (2017) used to provide the evidence of using clinical collaboration between nurses, doctors, pharmacists, and patient to improve quality f health and patient safety. Then, the focused shifted to the main findings in the article which looked at factors such as patient safety, quality of care, communication, and overall health outcomes of the patient while using collaborative methods. Finally, the team looked at the model of collaboration [presented in the article by Cashell and Morley (2017) to help support practical use of collaboration in the clinical setting.
Ideas, Opinions, and Summary
Even though most of the colleagues agreed with the fact that collaboration is an important factor in improving patient safety within the clinic, one colleague seemed to have a different opinion. The colleague stated that the research used a small setting to come up with the conclusion and thus proposed the need to conduct further research on the topic. On the contrary, another colleague agreed to the immense existence of positive result of collaboration on patient safety. However, she pointed out that existing barriers to collaboration in different organizations is a stumbling block in achieving effective teamwork (Moonaghi, Heidary, and Mahdizadeh, 2015). The other colleagues believe that effective collaboration between the nurse, the doctors, and the pharmacist is important in promoting patient safety within the clinical setting. They also supported the fact that the need to involve and collaborate with the patient is also paramount in effective patient safety and patient care. Therefore, the colleague who voiced concerns about barriers to effective collaboration was right.
Application
The article by Cashell and Morley (2017) present various points that are evident in the clinical setting where the presentation took place. For example, just as Moonaghi, Heidary, and Mahdizadeh (2015) reports that there are different barriers to collaboration, the clinical setting where the presentation took place also have various barriers to collaboration. For example, the nurses in this setting work independent of the doctors. The doctors also do not work closely with the nurses and the pharmacist to ensure that patients get the right medication and other nursing services required for effective patient safety. Thus, the people in these professionals need to ensure that they work together to ensure patient safety.
Similarly, many if not all clinicians make various decisions without involving the patients. They take the general decision making on matters such as how to conduct various test, when to conduct them, the apparatus to use, and the type of medications the patient will take without even requiring about factors such allergy to different types of medications. This is another factor that has also jeopardised the need to improve patient safety in the clinical setting. Therefore, the article published by Cashel and Mo rely (2017) has different points that clinicians can use to improve patient safety and care in the hospital/. For example, the doctors, nurses, and pharmacist can decide to work together for effective patient safety. Similarly, they also need to involve patients in the decision making procedures that concerns their medication. This will ensure patient safety and improved self-care for effective medication and improvement of the qualities of life.
Several studies have reported that interdisciplinary collaboration is an important factor in ensuring patient safety in many if not all health organizations. The authors also report the fact that the there is an increasing need for professionals across various disciplines in clinical setting to collaborate with professionals such as nurses, doctors, and pharmacist. It is also important for the professionals to also involve to collaborate with the patient in matters such as decision making to help them improve their patient their health. This also promote other important factors such as self-care and general health safety.
References
Cashell, A., & Morley, M. (2017). Collaboration in Health Care. Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences 48 , 207-216.
Epplen, K. T. (2014). Patient care delivery and integration: Stimulating advancement of ambulatory care pharmacy practice in an era of healthcare reform. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, Volume 71, Issue 16 , 1357–1365.
Friedberg, M. (2011). Defining and Measuring Integrated Patient Care: Promoting the Next Frontier in Health Care Delivery. Medical Care Research and Review. Vol 68, Issue 1 , 18-23.
Hardin, L. (2017). Competing health care systems and complex patients: An inter-professional collaboration to improve outcomes and reduce health care costs. Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice. Volume 7 , 5-10.
Moonaghi, H. K., Heydari, H., & Mahdizadeh, M. (2015). Clinical Interdisciplinary Collaboration Models and Frameworks From Similarities to Differences: A Systematic Review. Glob J Health Sci. 7(6): , 170–180.
