Importance of an effective interdisciplinary team
In hospitals, health care professionals from various departments collaborate to promote the patients’ physical and psychological wellness. An effective interdisciplinary team is essential for establishing a trusting relationship between the patients and health care staff to avoid any potential complications in the patients’ care. Although the interdisciplinary team’s main purpose is patient-centred care, barriers like communication hinder the progress.
As the team size increases and becomes complex, interpersonal communication among team members become more challenging (Sayah et al., 2014). As a nursing student, I experienced the primary nurse’s stress and pressure when unpredictable issues occurred in particular circumstances. A patient’s discharge was delayed because of not processing a home care service referral on the day of discharge. The physiotherapist failed to document a patient teaching that was already given. Lack of clarity in the communication process created confusion about the availability of home care service and made the patient and her family frustrated.
Experiences from the clinical setting taught me how effective communication would avoid confusion between health care professionals and speed up discharge process which lead to an effective interdisciplinary team. Health care professionals should understand their roles, responsibilities and importance of communication. This research paper stresses on how interdisciplinary team’s lack of communication affects to patients, the importance of effective communication in a clinical setting and how having an effective interdisciplinary team enhances a quality of care and patients’ wellbeing.
Literature review
Literature Review-1
A study conducted in five provinces of Canada uncovers the frequency of medical errors that causes adverse events in hospitals. Approximately 185,000 cases were associated with adverse events among 2.5 million hospital admissions in 2000. Approximately 70,000 cases out of the total adverse events were potentially preventable. The mortality rate was 20.8% in 70.000 cases. Researchers estimated that patients in the study who experienced adverse events stayed an additional 1,521 days in hospital (Butt, 2010). (I.C. RS 1300)