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The importance of effective communication in healthcare
The importance of effective communication in healthcare
The importance of effective communication in healthcare
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Inter-professional or multidisciplinary healthcare teams are groups of health rofessionals from different disciplines collaborating to provide care to patients. Effectively coordinated and collaborative inter-professional teams are essential to the care and treatment of patients (Rowlands & Callen, 2013; Doyle, 2008; Ruhstaller, Roe, Thürlimann & Nicoll, 2006; Simpson & Patton, 2012, p. 300). Communication is a process of conferring information between individuals through use of speech, writing or various other means, and is critical to the success of a multidisciplinary team (MDT) (Higgs, McAllister & Sefton, 2012, p. 5; Rowlands & Callen, 2013; Sargeant, Loney & Murphy, 2008). An MDT must use multiple strategies to enhance communication and ensure their success (Doyle, 2008). An effective MDT generates opportunities that benefit healthcare, which is the reason for the recent dominance of inter-professional care in health practice (Simpson & Patton, 2012, p. 300; Rowlands & Callen, 2013). Many barriers prevent effective communication within inter-professional teams. Lack of communication within MDTs presents challenges to their success, leading to numerous consequences, including the failure of the MDT (London Deanery, 2012; Sargeant et al, 2008). Communication between professionals is the key factor underpinning the potential success or failure of inter-professional teams, the outcome of the functioning of MDTs will either benefit or impair care of patients.
Inter-professional teams require work and effort from all individuals to achieve successful communication (Sargeant et al, 2008; London Deanery, 2012). The collaboration and degree of communication within an MDT directly influences the level of care given to patients (Ru...
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...A Qualitative Analysis of Communication
Between Members of a Hospital-based Multidisciplinary Lung Cancer Team. European Journal of Cancer Care, 22(1), 20-31. doi: 10.1111/ecc.12004
Ruhstaller, T., Roe, H., Thürlimann, B., & Nicoll, J. (2006). The multidisciplinary meeting: An indispensable aid to communication between different specialities. European Journal Of Cancer, 42(15), 2459-2462. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2006.03.034
Sargeant, J., Loney, E., & Murphy, G. (2008). Effective interprofessional teams:
"Contact is Not Enough" to Build a Team. Journal Of Continuing Education In The Health Professions, 28(4), 228-234, doi: 10.1002/chp.189
Simpson, M., & Patton, N. (2012). Leadership in Health Practice. In J. Higgs, R. Ajjawi, L.
McAllister, F. Trede & S. Loftus (Eds.) Communicating in the Health Sciences (3rd ed.). (pp. 299-306). Melbourne: Oxford University Press
Communication is cited as a contributing factor in 70% of healthcare mistakes, leading to many initiatives across the healthcare settings to improve the way healthcare professionals communicate. (Kohn, 2000.)
The term interdisciplinary refers to situations in which various disciplines are involved in reaching a common goal with each contributing his or her specific expertise. Teamwork is essential to reach any set goals or objectives. Every team member should have specific characteristics and functions in order for the team to function properly. Collaboration is important to ensure quality in completion of the task. In health care an interdisciplinary team is a group of health care professionals from diverse fields who work in a coordinated fashion toward a common goal for the patient/client and the patient’s families. During the coordination of care we may come across barriers making the goals tougher to achieve. As health care professionals we
Anderson J. "Evaluating clinical leadership: A case study." Leadersh in Health Serv 22, no. 3 (2012): 210-224.
Communication encompasses a wide range of processes such as the exchange of information, listening, posing of questions (Fleischer et al., 2009) or use of body language. In a healthcare environment where there are constant interactions among nurses, doctors, patients and other health professionals, professional and effective communication is important in ensuring high quality healthcare standards and meeting the individual needs of patients.
The more health care professionals collaborate, the more knowledge is used, and patient safety can be maintained. Communication is related to interprofessional collaboration, because health care professionals collaborate with each other about the patient through communicating with each other. “Collaboration among nurses, physicians, and other members of the care team can improve the outcomes of care for patients” (Engel & Prentice, 2013; IOM, 2010).
Ledlow, G., & Coppola, M. N. (2014). Leadership for Health Professionals. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning .
outcome for what’s best for the patient. The importance of the teamwork and collaboration to
In conclusion, Leonard, M et al (2004) point out that The complexities of patient care, coupled with the inherent limitations of human performance, make it critically important that the multi-disciplinary teams have standardised communication tools. looking back over Mrs X’s journey along this pathway. It was unquestionably the exemplary teamwork and communication, that were so fundamental in providing the holistic care that Mrs X needed. The responsibility and roles of the multi-disciplinary team were varied and often overlapped within the theatre suite. The team members had differing and varying levels of experience and expertise, but combined these when working together to care for Mrs X.
The practice of using inter-professional teams in delivering care is not a new concept but current health policy requires professionals work within a multidisciplinary team Department of Health (2001) and entrenched in the Nursing and Midwifery Council (2008) Code. The principle focus of this essay is to discuss the importance of inter-professional collaboration in delivering effective health care and what challenges and constraints exist. The integration of a case study will give an insight into inter-professional collaboration in practice.
Reflecting upon interprofessional education (IPE), hands on experience is vital for health care students across the Faculty of Health Sciences so that they may continue to develop better communication skills, enhance performance and develop conflict resolution capability in a team situation. Looking back on the online “Stroke and Depression” IPE workshop that was conducted as interprofessional group work has allowed me to gain not only the knowledge about stroke and depression but also the knowledge, skills and attributes required for interprofessional (IP) collaboration practice. My IPE team consisted of one medical scientist, four speech pathologist, two psychology students and three nursing students including myself. This analytical
Communication and collaboration are an integral part of interprofessional health care teams. There could be possible barriers to communication and collaboration that could affect the entire team’s success. Personal values and expectation, personality differences, culture and ethnicity, and gender could affect how some individuals respond according to a patient’s care or needs(O’Daniel, 2008). For example, if someone comes from a background where they refrain from being assertive or challenging opinions openly, it could be difficult for that person to speak up if they think differently from the other team members. The differences in language and jargon can also be an obstacle to teams especially if members are not familiar with a specific type
It has been linked to enhanced patient outcomes and positive working environments among staff (Morgan et al, 2014; Tomblin et al, 2013). Although communication principles are emphasized in many healthcare educational curricula as an important component of professional practice, actual practitioner interaction skills in team health care delivery remain relatively unstudied (Miller, Reeves, Zwarenstein, Beales, Kenaszchuk, & Conn, 2008), as is the readiness of team members to communicate together effectively. Despite an ever-growing interest in using interprofessional approaches to promote effective communication and collaboration among providers, few examples show how working toward effective communication and collaboration will benefit teams and organizations (Zwarentstein et al.,
Hawkins, J. & Fontenot, H. (2010). Mentorship: The heart and soul of health care leadership.
They work together to empower patients to enhance their role in prevention and self-care.” [Stewart, M., 2001] Patients and their families also play a key role and are included in access to information and opportunities to ask questions regarding the collaborative care team. As well as including them in discussions regarding their role as a team member – both in terms of making informed decisions about their care and the important role they play in improving their personal conditions. For example, one can imagine the care of a loved one with dementia, who has broken a bone, whereby the family is involved in all aspects of their care and rehabilitation; and the collaborative team of workers everyone from ER doctors to rehabilitation workers, work together to treat the patient including both the patient and family in this process. An IP approach to treatment enables individuals from various disciplines to share unique perspectives to achieve a common goal – the augmentation of the current health status of a patient or
Leadership in the medical field is vastly overlooked. Many people view leadership in medicine as a rise in ranks, in positions of power within a hospital or organization. They look at it as personal gain, a title, and less like a chance to actually lead anything, to actually impact anything. Since taking these leadership course, I’ve come to view leadership in the medical field more like the model I recently learned about, Komives’ and Wagner’s Social Change Model of Leadership. In their book Leadership for a Better World: Understanding the Social Change Model of Leadership Development, ...