One of healthcare's ongoing battles is fragmented patient care. Many — including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) — are combatting this by insisting on better interprofessional collaboration. In nursing, this translates to teamwork across healthcare professions and specialties to achieve better patient outcomes.
Although this may seem like a simple idea, misunderstandings over definitions and concepts can lead to missed opportunities for evidence-based teamwork. In this article, we'll provide some clarity with an overview and meaningful examples of interprofessional collaboration in nursing.
What Is Interprofessional Collaboration in Nursing?
Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) in nursing is a cooperative approach to providing care. It can help care become less fragmented and more comprehensive, treating the whole patient rather than aspects of a diagnosis. This model of care delivery relies on team members to:
- Model accountability and respect for roles and responsibilities.
- Demonstrate a commitment to shared goals and values.
- Utilize open, professional communication.
- Share decision making, leveraging expertise and knowledge.
- Facilitate improvements to team dynamics and functionality.
You may be wondering how this differs from interdisciplinary teamwork. It's primarily a matter of semantics. Often, the term interdisciplinary is used to describe aligned professionals who are striving toward a goal rooted in education or learning. When describing a cooperative approach to care provision, interprofessional collaboration is the more accurate term.
Examples of Interprofessional Healthcare Teams
Interprofessional collaboration in nursing examples span all care settings. Some include:
- A floor nurse, certified nursing assistant, wound care nurse, physical therapist, hospitalist, endocrinologist, and primary care provider working to address a newly discovered necrotic toe ulceration on a patient with diabetes.
- A care technician, physician assistant, orthopedic surgeon, physical therapist, and primary care provider collaborating to manage the surgical recovery for a ligament reconstruction in a young athlete.
What Are the Benefits of Interprofessional Collaboration in Nursing?
The benefits of interprofessional teamwork often extend beyond the patient, positively impacting the work environment and job satisfaction of participating team members. In fact, the many benefits signify the importance of IPC in nursing. For a more detailed breakdown of the approach's merits, please refer below.
- Better Patient Outcomes: Because IPC leverages the different perspectives and skills of many team members, it yields better-informed decisions. This has shown to reduce morbidity and mortality rates, and optimize medication dosages.
- Increased Efficiency: Interprofessional teamwork in the hospital can reduce medical consultations resulting from effective communication. It also helps focus treatment, lending to changes in primary specialists who can target the key issue more effectively.
- Improved Patient Satisfaction: When communication and care planning is consistent, the patient’s trust deepens. This trust is integral to satisfaction scores, and a meaningful, team-oriented approach has been shown to reflect that connection.
- Reduced Healthcare Costs: Collaboration can help reduce healthcare costs by improving efficiency, decreasing the likelihood of duplicative tests and treatments, and reducing hospital stays.
- Enhanced Teamwork and Morale: The key tenets of good IPC include role clarity and open communication. These are also associated with beneficial teamwork which can lead to improved morale, greater sense of institutional belonging, and decreased turnover.
How to Promote Interprofessional Collaboration in Healthcare: 5 Methods
Nurses have an important role within the interprofessional healthcare team due to their close-up knowledge and whole-person perspective on patient care. Nurses are also well-equipped to serve in leadership capacities within those teams because of the advocacy that defines their professional core values. To harness that potential within your own organization, here are some best practices and tips for optimizing IPC initiatives.
1. Implement Structured Co-Disciplinary Rounding
Interprofessional rounding can reduce hospital stays and save healthcare-related costs. In nursing, collaboration facilitated by this type of rounding can inform more effective care plans. Consider implementing this strategy as a first step toward driving better collaboration — not just among professionals, but also with the patient.
Tips:
- Designate standard times for rounding with provider teams so that interdisciplinary team members can plan their days around making it to collaborative rounds.
- Implement communication tools (like ARCC, for example) to encourage all team members to speak up and lend their expertise.
2. Encourage Team-Based Education and Training
Interprofessional education opportunities improve role clarity and responsibility designation. Having the opportunity to learn together and build skills not only provides the information to better address patient needs, it also broadens knowledge about other disciplines, facilitating mutual respect and inclusivity.
Tips:
- Consider simulation events that involve the whole team.
- Institute quarterly education events that focus on increasing awareness around roles and specific disciplines hosted by leaders or volunteers from that focus discipline.
3. Organize the Environment to Foster Integration
While interprofessional collaboration in healthcare frameworks have been integrated into nursing school curriculums, nurses in the workforce may face challenges implementing the theories. The care environment can become an obstacle to collaboration, and nursing professionals may develop habits that isolate them from other members of the team if these issues are not addressed.
Studies confirm that interprofessional collaboration can be held back by temporospatial obstacles. Limit these by creating an environment that encourages interprofessional mingling and is conducive to building better rapport.
Tips:
- Identify specific computers for different members of the care team (doctors or physical therapists, for example) for use at the nurses' station to facilitate ease of communication.
- Create a common break room and encourage multidisciplinary use of the shared space — through potlucks or coffee stations, for example.
4. Prioritize Data Sharing and Consultation
Data siloes can lead to fragmented and costly care. By encouraging consultation and data sharing, health teams are better equipped to treat the patient as a whole person. This holistic approach ensures that all care plans are respected and conferred upon, avoiding accidental cessation of certain treatment measures due to lack of consultation.
Tips:
- Prioritize interoperable features of electronic health record systems to streamline communication among healthcare professionals while ensuring robust security.
- Consider implementing 'crowdsource' style meetings to encourage whole team discussions that include nursing personnel to address difficult diagnoses and treatment decisions.
5. Maintain Ongoing Support for IPC Initiatives
Authentic leadership — which models ethical, team-oriented priorities — has conclusively proven to enhance IPC. Providing ongoing support also reflects the institutional value of IPC, encouraging team members to continue working together and overcoming challenges rather than being dissuaded by them.
Tips:
- Review and reform institutional policies to ensure they reflect the prioritization of IPC.
- Consider implementing quarterly awards that celebrate nursing and healthcare teams that have effectively engaged in IPC initiatives.
Ready to Roll Out Other Initiatives for Your Healthcare Team?
Best practice recommendations, for anything from interprofessional collaboration in nursing to mentorship programs, provide a framework for success. Let Credenza take the guesswork out of current approaches with facility guides and helpful tips to ensure the effectiveness of your latest initiatives.