Interdisciplinary collaboration in healthcare_ Essay writing
Collaboration and Leadership
Introduction
Interdisciplinary collaboration involves teamwork occurring when medical professionals from different fields come together to achieve a common goal (Sullivan et al., 2015). The interdisciplinary partnership aims to create opportunities that help achieve the main healthcare goal by discovering what could not have been identified if providers individually did the work. Medical professionals from different fields come together and exercise their skills for the benefit of the patient. The video explains my interdisciplinary collaboration experience, how poor collaboration can result in inefficient management of resources and the benefits of leadership strategies in improving the multidisciplinary team’s ability to achieve its goals.
An interdisciplinary collaboration experience
During my period as a nurse practice, I experienced an interdisciplinary collaboration when a patient came to the healthcare facility with a wound on his right leg. The patient’s name was Adam, and his family members came with him to the hospital seeking medical attention for his condition. Adam is a 39-year old African American male who lives with his family consisting of a wife and two children. The case of Adam was complicated because the patient had a wound on his right leg along with the symptoms of mental health problems.
When the patient arrived at the hospital, the family members explained that he confronted his sister and attempted to hit her but unfortunately injure his leg. When addressing Adam’s problem, an interdisciplinary team came together to work and ensure that they solved the problem by healing his wound and helping prevent future injuries on the patient. Some of the members present in the interdisciplinary collaboration involved nurses, a medical social worker and psychiatrists.
What went well is that the patient was able to get discharged from the hospital after undergoing treatment on his leg and was provided with several medications to use while at home. Likewise, the psychiatrists detected the symptoms of the mental problem the patient was experiencing and prescribed the proper medication to control the patient’s signs.
However, what did not go well is that the interdisciplinary team only worked alone and did not involve the family members in communication that helps understand more about the patient. The multidisciplinary team could have affected the family members in the collaboration because this helps identify more mental health problem symptoms for the patient, achieving better results.
How poor collaboration can result in inefficient management of human and financial resources
Poor collaboration is a situation where the interdisciplinary team members do not understand one another. Lack of communication is one of the characteristics of poor collaboration among team members. Poor collaboration contributes to poor knowledge sharing within the team. Many members do not interact with one another, thus leading to poor communication (Saunders et al., 2016).
In turn, this leads to unfair sharing of human and financial resources among the areas available which need improvement. For instance, inefficient management of human and financial resources occurs when the team concentrates on using extra help in some areas while leaving other sites with scarce resources. The additional resources in those areas favoured will get wasted because residents did not utilize them in the right places at the right time.
The best-practice leadership strategies from the literature that would improve an interdisciplinary team’s ability to achieve its goals
One of the leadership strategies that can help improve the interdisciplinary team’s capability and achieve its targets involves open communication. Modern workplaces focus on open communication because it brings down the metaphorical walls that affect employee interactions, thus contributing to a collaborative environment. The other leadership strategy that can help improve the interdisciplinary team’s ability to achieve its goals involves effectively sharing knowledge, resources, and insights (Salazar et al., 2019).
Leaders are essential during collaborations because they increase the relationship among the members available in an interdisciplinary team. Leaders can develop a strategy of creating a physical space for the team members to collaborate. A brainstorming session is one of the examples of the methods the leader can use to bring interdisciplinary team members together for collaboration.
The best-practice interdisciplinary collaboration strategies to help a team achieve its goals and work together
Interdisciplinary teamwork requires the strategies essential for bringing the members together and enhancing them to corporate to achieve a common goal. Several best-practice interdisciplinary collaboration strategies can help the team members to achieve their targets. One of the interdisciplinary strategies involves rewarding and recognizing. Incorporating team-oriented rewards allows the members to collaborate and put more effort into achieving the goals (Sullivan et al., 2015).
The tips and recognitions make individual members understand the benefits and need for interdisciplinary collaboration. Encouraging open communication is another strategy that can help the team achieves better results. For example, during meetings, members should get the freedom to contribute their views openly and consider when applicable. Question and answer sessions are essential strategies the team can use to enhance communication among the members.
Conclusion
The interdisciplinary collaboration I experienced involved a patient who was brought to the healthcare facility with a wound on the leg and was also experiencing a mental condition. The well-defined roles among the team members made the team progress. When there are proper leadership strategies, the interdisciplinary collaboration teams thrive.