Interdisciplinary collaboration is an important concept to implement in the healthcare setting. It requires mutual trust from all members of the interprofessional team in order to achieve common goals, which should always be patient-centered.
According to Yoder-Wise (2014), the interprofessional team can include nurses, physicians, dietitians, social workers, case managers, pharmacists, and physical therapists that must work together to achieve cost-effective care while achieving the highest quality of care in the healthcare setting. Successful collaboration can be achieved with continuous and open communication. The team at St. Rose Siena consists of nurses, physicians, case managers, physical therapists, and sometimes social workers. Last week, these healthcare professionals held a meeting on how to improve and optimize patient safety and satisfaction, discussing what methods have been effective in the past, and what can be improved for the future. These meetings occur once every month, but there is a team huddle that occurs daily.
Week after week, I see effective and successful collaboration amongst the members of the interprofessional team. If there is a problem, such as miscommunication, it is addressed immediately. Any misconceptions are clarified and patient goals are reiterated. This demonstrates a mutual understanding to minimize any risk to deliver safe patient care.
Although effective interdisciplinary collaboration seems simple to accomplish, trust and respect must first be reciprocated with one another. When issues arise, it must be managed with a group effort through clear and effective communication. Once these concerns are handled and mutual interaction and cooperation is shared by all members, the common goal to focus on the delivery of optimum care to the patient is achieved and collaboration becomes successful.

References