Collaboration and Leadership Reflection Video
Hello. Thank you for the opportunity to reflect on interdisciplinary collaboration and the various aspects for improvement. Nurses’ frontline roles enhance the need to collaborate with physicians, pharmacists, therapists, and others to optimize care outcomes. The Healthix at Clarion Court Skilled Nursing Facility scenario provides insights into the best practices for designing and implementing evidence-based and patient-centered solutions. Notably, leaders should inspire a shared vision that encourages everyone to share unique perspectives on pathways for delivering services that match clients’ expectations. Similarly, different healthcare professionals should portray values, beliefs, and attitudes that make them responsive to changes adopted to enhance the quality and safety of patient care.
I will share an experience where I was part of an interdisciplinary team in the long-term care unit. The task was to investigate reasons for increasing cases of patient falls with injuries and sustainable measures necessary to address the situation. Notably, the unit recorded three falls within one month, which prompted health leaders to initiate a multidisciplinary approach for enhancing quality and safety of patient care. Thus, I was part of the team of physicians, nurses, therapists, clinical assistants, and nurse interns tasked with the roles of identifying risks and solutions. Handling patients with complex health and personal needs is challenging. The processes require vigilance across the care continuum.
The interdisciplinary process enabled members to share insights based on observations and experiences within the clinical environment. In this case, we managed to identify issues such as weak muscles, visual impairment, dizziness, memory loss, and inaccessible items as the leading causes of falls and injuries within the long-term setting. Thus, a key success factor was the commitment to embrace a shared goal and give everyone a chance to express their views on patient falls. Intent listening and a collaborative environment enhanced confidence in discussing issues within the clinical environment.
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However, there were challenges including concerns over victimization, which prevented some nurses from sharing insights into their experiences with patient falls and injuries. The group was uncertain about the intention of health leaders when initiating the interdisciplinary approach, hence preferred withholding information associated with staff-related falls. Nonetheless, support from the leaders assured everyone about the organization’s commitment to using the feedback for the right purposes without shifting blames on nurses. In the end, everyone collaborated in providing accurate accounts of the situation in the clinical environment and the various changes necessary to enhance patient safety.
Clarion Court’s scenario is an opportunity to learn and understand the mechanisms of interdisciplinary collaboration. While the facility had the chance to increase competitive advantage and respond adequately to patients’ demands, limited collaboration among leaders and the workforce jeopardized the process. The scenario portrays the need for transformational leadership to inspire collective commitment to addressing issues within the clinical setting. The leader emphasizes interpersonal relationships to create the right climate for managing change.
Shared goals, participative behaviors, and support for innovation become priorities in an environment guided by transformational leadership (Asif et al., 2019). As such, the leader influences followers’ beliefs and attitudes and align everyone towards organizational success. The transformational leader also increases job commitment through motivation, charisma, and intellectual stimulation (Asif et al., 2019). Clarion Court lacked the right leadership to introduce the change and inspire collective commitment to achieving the intended outcomes. The leaders had limited knowledge of Healthix and the need for effective employee engagement to address patient safety concerns.
Stephen Silva, the administrator, agreed that the organization had serious issues upstream that denied the workforce the right to shared decision-making when adopting a new technology. In this case, leaders should collaborate with nurses, the IT team, physicians, and relevant teams to discuss the intended changes and their implications on the workforce, patients, and the organization (Victoria et al., 2017). Thus, hierarchical barriers trigger negative attitudes and behaviors that jeopardize the implementation process (Hussain et al., 2018). Clarion Court Skilled Nursing Facility can benefit from leadership reforms designed to enhance collaborative practices between leaders, nurses, IT professionals, the quality assurance team, and others. The transformational leader initiates networks appropriate for discussing changes, reasons, and steps for ensuring successful implementation (Hussain et al., 2018). The leader also motivates and inspires everyone to dedicate time and energy toward helping the organization to overcome challenges and ensure the process goes smoothly.
More autonomy at the facility level is crucial to empower the workforce to share insights into the best approach for implementing Healthix. Autonomy allows the care team to make an informed conclusion on viability of the technology in terms of the cost, quality, and alignment with organizational strategic priorities. Considering buy-in is an important thing that allows everyone to share their suggestions on the best ways to make the implementation smoother for the staff and the management (Reeves et al., 2017).
A comprehensive training program is also necessary to make everyone prepared. The process allows everyone to understand Healthix and alternatives available to enhance safety of patient care. Additionally, effective change management requires leaders to mobilize and allocate adequate resources to the most affected units. An understaffed and underfunded IT department limits the firm from making meaningful progress in acquiring new EHRs. Adequate staffing is necessary to get things right. As such, leaders should listen to calls for increased human and technical resources to motivate the clinical team to help in designing the best solution for safety issues.
In conclusion, the massive failure of change management is a lesson for the facility to adopt functional teamwork and collaboration. A primary consideration is appropriate leadership where leaders do not ignore what people say to them. Effective leadership would allow key stakeholders such as the IT team to raise concerns and cooperate throughout the implementation process.
References
Asif, M., Jameel, A., Hussain, A., Hwang, J., & Sahito, N. (2019). Linking transformational leadership with nurse-assessed adverse patient outcomes and the quality of care: Assessing the role of job satisfaction and structural empowerment. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(13), 1-13. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6651060/pdf/ijerph-16-02381.pdf
Hussain, S. T., Lei, S., Akram, T., Haider, M. J., Hussain, S. H., & Ali, M. (2018). Kurt Lewin’s change model: A critical review of the role of leadership and employee involvement in organizational change. Journal of Innovation and Knowledge, 3(3), 123-127. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2444569X16300087
Reeves, S., Pelone, F., Harrison, R., Goldman, J., & Zwarenstein, M. (2017). Interprofessional collaboration to improve professional practice and healthcare outcomes. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 6(6), 1-47. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28639262/
Victoria, G. M., Analia, B., Fernando, P., Pablo, M., & Fernan, G. B. (2017). Change management strategies: Transforming a difficult implementation into a successful one. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 245, 813-817. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29295211/