week 15 reply 1

To provide proper care and improve patient outcomes, today’s nurses must collaborate effectively with members of the healthcare team from other disciplines. That means working together as team members and team leaders. To do that, they must understand each member’s education, scope of practice, and areas of expertise. To sum up these competency domains, embracing the values and ethics of interprofessional practice means working together while respecting the expertise of those in other disciplines. Being aware of the professional roles and responsibilities of other team members; communicating effectively with patients, families, and other healthcare professionals; and building relationships to plan, implement, and evaluate safe care all contribute to the health of patients and communities.

Historically, interprofessional education was not included in the curricula for healthcare professionals. Instead, students preparing for each discipline were educated in isolation from students of other disciplines, and there was little knowledge of the educational requirements or scopes of practice of other health professions. Today, students are being prepared to be members of an interdisciplinary healthcare team and are learning to focus on each patient as an individual, rather than a treatment or diagnosis.

Benefits of interprofessional collaboration—for nurses, other healthcare professionals, and patients—include improved patient outcomes, fewer preventable errors, reduced healthcare costs, and improved relationships with other disciplines. Enhanced communication among disciplines also leads to decreased workloads for all health professionals by minimizing duplicated effort and increasing knowledge. Building relationships with professionals in other disciplines leads to better understanding.

References

Morgan PBC, Fletcher D, Sarkar M. Defining and characterizing team resilience in elite sport. Psychol Sport Exerc 2013;14:549-59.

Vincent-Onabajo GO, Mustapha A, Oyeyemi AY. Medical students’ awareness of the role of physiotherapists in multidisciplinary healthcare. Physiother Theory Pract 2014;30:338-44.