Capella University
NURS-FPX4010: Leading People, Processes, and Organizations in Interprofessional Practice
Dr. Eunice Rosas
October 30, 2023
Interview and Interdisciplinary Issue Identification
Summary of the Interview
The organization of choice is a reputable district hospital, well known for its quality healthcare services. The interviewee is a senior nurse. Their primary duties and responsibilities include assessing, observing, communicating with patients, recording detailed medical histories, administering medications, and carrying out diagnostic tests, among other roles. The interviewee reiterated that although the function of a nurse has evolved somehow over the years, its importance in healthcare remains evident. The interview focused on identifying an issue whereby an evidence-based interdisciplinary approach would be appropriate. The interviewee nurse noted that owing to the large team of specialists in the facility, and the hospital needs continuous collaboration and interaction to ensure the best care is provided to patients. Notably, this nurse identifies the lack of a common shared goal as the most significant interdisciplinary issue.
Institutions with one clear purpose tend to have fewer misunderstandings between clients and colleagues. Many hospitals prioritize treating patients at the expense of working conditions. The interviewee notes that lack of collaboration is not an apparent problem; therefore, the hospital does not consider it a critical aspect. As a result, hospital professionals do not have a platform for building interprofessional collaboration. She reiterates that during her ten-year experience as a nurse, she has worked with interdisciplinary teams and therefore understands the vital role of collaboration and identifies the main hiccups in a hospital setting 
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Issue Identification
The lack of a clearly stated and common goal is the identified issue for the interdisciplinary approach. A hospital care team consists of many different professionals. Collaboration implies that these practitioners in various specialties work together. The collaboration comprises various activities, including face-to-face interactions, electronically conveyed communication, and integrated activities. Integration suggests a high level of collaboration amongst the practitioners. Collaboration between healthcare providers and patients allows the practitioners to communicate well and assess, interpret and draw clinical conclusions. Communication aids in delivering good quality medical care. Every patient presents uniquely, and so are their individual needs. The nurse must establish patients’ attitudes, thoughts, and preferences to accommodate their specific needs.
Collaboration between patients and healthcare providers is crucial. Collaboration between healthcare providers is even more critical, especially with patients of advanced age and those with complicated illnesses or chronic conditions (Folkman et al., 2019). Lack of a common goal, even when professionals work together, will have negative consequences due to lack of a stated purpose. Therefore, interdisciplinary collaboration is a suitable research issue because it is directly related to positive treatment outcomes.
Change Theories That Could Lead to an Interdisciplinary Solution
Change is an essential constituent of nursing practice. Actualizing change poses a challenge for leaders owing to the challenges nurses face while providing healthcare. A good understanding of change theories is vital in driving organizational change. Change theories aid the implementation, management, and change evaluation, concerning human interaction. Kurt Lewin theorized a three-stage change model that identifies and examines the factors and forces that influence interaction. The theory of change requires healthcare leaders to evaluate earlier findings and update them with newer findings constantly (Prowd et al., 2017).
Change theory is based on the assumption that if the potency of a force can be identified and determined, then it is equally possible to identify the forces that need to be lessened or amplified to achieve desired change. The change theory can contribute to developing an interdisciplinary solution because it encourages individuals to forget an old behavioral pattern and broadens professionals’ and patients’ understanding of collaboration (Prowd et al., 2017). Therefore, the Change Theory of Nursing is relevant to the specified issue because it can change people’s feelings and behaviors and prove that a common goal is vital for effective treatment.
Leadership Strategies
The leadership approach that can effectively create an interdisciplinary solution to the identified problem is interdisciplinary leadership. Transformational leadership has been the most preferred leadership style in most hospitals and has transformed healthcare teams to higher performance levels. However, a new type of healthcare leadership has emerged from this traditional model of leadership; interdisciplinary leadership. This new model is inspired by the need to establish collaboration in the workplace.
In his august 2021 article themed “How to lead an interdisciplinary team in healthcare,” Siwicki (2021) explored the model of Interdisciplinary leadership in healthcare. Siwicki noted that interdisciplinary leadership relies on older leadership models as guides and learning tools to build collaboration while learning to think differently and practice a growth mindset. Interdisciplinary leadership requires professionals to acquire knowledge and share in dialogue that exposes explorative thinking and the exchange of ideas.
The interdisciplinary leadership model creates and sustains professional teams bearing permeable disciplinary barriers. This model integrates and shares leadership roles and responsibilities among all members. Of paramount importance are the ongoing team processes that define and construct this model of leadership. This strategy can help develop an interdisciplinary resolution since it encourages professionals to share their visions and establish goals for collaborative work.
Collaboration Approaches for Interdisciplinary Teams
Interdisciplinary teams consist of different teams of specialties working towards a common goal. These teams work collaboratively, share responsibilities and resources, and work with a common purpose. Collaboration exceeds formal communication and extends to sharing responsibilities, teamwork participation, and mutual respect among colleagues. Leadership, teamwork, and communication are collaboration approaches that can help manage interdisciplinary teams (Emich, 2018). Leadership is key to creating the vision and direction for interdisciplinary teams. Collaborative teams require work environments that promote trust and value individual contribution. Additionally, positive leadership fosters a spirit of consensus amongst professionals.
Conclusion
Communication cuts across all disciplines; the patient, their family, and the care providers. All these parties must set goals that precisely reflect a patient’s needs. Where healthcare professionals lack communication, errors and adversities will occur. Collaboration in interdisciplinary teams relies on health practitioners working as a team alongside the patient at different levels. Effective teams tend to share responsibilities, promote mutual trust, ensure respect, and promote every member’s experience and autonomy.
References
Emich, C. (2018). Conceptualizing collaboration in nursing. Nursing Forum, 53(4), 567–573. https://doi.org/10.1111/nuf.12287
Folkman, A. K., Tveit, B., & Sverdrup, S. (2019). Leadership in interprofessional collaboration in health care. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, Volume 12(12), 97–107. https://doi.org/10.2147/jmdh.s189199
Prowd, L., Leach, D., Lynn, H., & Tao, M. (2017). An interdisciplinary approach to implementing a best practice guideline in public health. Health Promotion Practice, 19(5), 645–653. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839917739616
Siwicki, B. (2021, August 2). How to lead an interdisciplinary team in healthcare. Healthcare IT News. https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/how-lead-interdisciplinary-team-healthcare