Collaboration and Reflection

Capella University

NURS-FPX4010: Leading People, Processes, and Organizations in Interprofessional Practice

Dr. Khaliah Fisher-Grace

January 2024

NURS-FPX4010 Docx : Collaboration and Reflection

Thank you for the opportunity to share my experience on involvement in an interprofessional activity. I was part of an interdisciplinary plan designed to investigate and provide findings on rising rates of prolonged hospitalization. The implications on cost, safety, and quality of care triggered management’s decision to establish a team that would help address risk factors and evidence-based interventions relevant for optimizing care experience.

The multidisciplinary team include two physicians, three nurses, an administrator, clinical assistant, and the nurse manager. The group’s frontline experiences at either bedside or organizational levels enhanced ability to address the barriers and enablers of reduced hospital stays. My role was to synthesize evidence from patients’ complaints related to prolonged hospitalization. The opportunity enabled me to access first-hand information about patients’ experiences with prolonged hospitalization.

Sharing the details with the team helped me visualize the relevance of different perspectives in enabling the organization to maximize client satisfaction. My role focused more on capturing risks and describing practices that allow the care team to predict the likelihood of prolonged hospitalization. A factor that made the process successful was the nurse manager’s support characterized by the efforts to listen to everyone’s contributions and maintain team-based functions, values, and behaviors.

Diversity of knowledge, skills, and experience made the process easier considering the senior colleagues’ willingness to guide the junior members of the team. One takeaway from the collaborative approach is the relevance of excellent communication in achieving the intended results. The process enhances trust, honesty, and openness, which motivate everyone to contribute without fear.

Another takeaway is the role of leaders in uniting team members and encouraging everyone to remain dedicated to the process. The transformational leader creates a valuable and positive approach to addressing issues within the clinical environment (Cakiroglu et al., 2021). The leader strives to bring together a diverse group of individuals to achieve a desired outcome. The people-oriented and thoughtful nature of the transformational leader motivates everyone. Members dedicate time and energy to sharing perspectives on evidence-based and patient-centered practices for optimizing quality, safety, and cost of patient care (Ghorbani et al., 2023).

Further, it is important to establish clarity of roles and responsibilities. The move prevents duplication of efforts throughout the team functions. Similarly, clarity of roles reduces the risk of delays and inefficiencies that may trigger additional costs. For instance, my role was to synthesize patients’ feedback on experiences with the length of hospitalization. With the responsibility, it was easier to share unique perspectives.

Working in a long-term care unit means that the care team is always busy due to calls for maximum attention paid to patients. In this case, there were times when it became challenging to meet as a team or hear from team member during video conferencing sessions. However, the team leader ensured that those who could not attend the sessions received a report and shared their findings before the meeting. Improvement areas include identifying flexible timings for everyone to share views on issues within the clinical environment.

Another improvement is encouraging team members to broaden their approach by considering case studies and other evidence from external sources. The aim is to synthesize evidence and develop a comprehensive framework for reducing hospital stays.

Improving Interdisciplinary Collaboration

I will discuss strategies for improving interprofessional collaboration based on evidence drawn from the Clarion Court Skilled Nursing Facility. The rough change process largely revealed leadership deficiencies. Silva, the administrator, acknowledged problems upstream in the Vila Health network that denied employees autonomy to make independent decisions. Transformational leadership is necessary to visualize short-term and long-term goals and collaborate with subordinates to achieve the intended outcomes. The competent leader knows the workforce, their needs, and various considerations for a successful change process (Ghorbani et al., 2023).

The leader listens to everybody and avoids bulldozing ahead. Another aspect about change is that it is a systematic process that requires leaders and the team to take time in studying the nature of a technology, alignment with strategic priorities, and implications on patients and healthcare professionals. Further, collective buy-in is vital to encourage everyone to participate in training for extensive knowledge and awareness about the implications of adopting a new EHR (Nilsen et al., 2020).

For instance, the leader involves the IT team and understands the relevance of the department in the modern clinical environment. The collaborative efforts trigger positive attitudes towards the proposed change. Everyone dedicates themselves to sharing suggestions on the best practices for achieving the intended outcomes.

As I conclude, successful change management is about developing a cohesive pathways where everyone actively participates in improving care outcomes. The transformational leader is an inevitable part of the modern healthcare system based on their people-centered approach. The leader acknowledges everyone’s contributions and create an open, honest, and transparent clinical environment. The process-oriented nature of the transformational leader is another aspect that encourages collaboration with other departments including the IT team for informed conclusion about alignment of the change plan with strategic priorities.

References

Cakiroglu, O. C., Hobek, G., & Seren, A.K. (2021). Nurses’ views on change management in health care settings: A qualitative study. Journal of Nursing Management, 30(2), 439-446. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jonm.13500

Ghorbani, A., Mohammadi, N., Rooddehghan, Z., Bakhshi, F., & Nasrabadi, A. (2023). Transformational leadership in development of transformative education in nursing: A qualitative study. BMC Nursing, 22(17), 1-8. https://bmcnurs.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12912-022-01154-z

Nilsen, P., Seing, I., Ericsson, C., Birken, S., & Schildmeijer, K. (2020). Characteristics of successful changes in health care organizations: An interview study with physicians, registered nurses and assistant nurses. BMC Health Services Research, 20(147), 1-8. https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-020-4999-8