Interdisciplinary Vs Intradisciplinary Team Work In Nursing

Healthcare Teams and Collaboration

In contemporary nursing practice, collaborative teams deliver healthcare. It is difficult for a healthcare facility to implement collaborative healthcare delivery due to the fact that collaboration has different healthcare providers and work processes. For collaborative healthcare delivery to be effective, healthcare providers must have a clear understanding of their roles, responsibilities and competencies in relation to other healthcare professions. This would help in managing uncertainty and ambiguity. It would also enable them to work more effectively with other providers in accessing, planning, providing care to the patient. Lack of proper coordination or communication across collaborative teams would lead to inefficient use of healthcare resources. It would also result in interruptions and disruptions in communication. It may lead to serious adverse effects and medical errors (Kuziemsky & Varpio, 2010).

Intradisciplinary Teams and Interdisciplinary Teams

There may be collaboration between interdisciplinary teams and intradisciplinary teams. An interdisciplinary team comprises of members in different healthcare professions. Therefore, an interdisciplinary team may comprise of nurses, physicians, pharmacists, and specialists. Members of the interdisciplinary team have knowledge on different healthcare fields. They use their combined knowledge to improve patient outcomes. The members of an interdisciplinary team have a common goal. For example, an interdisciplinary team may be formed to deal with a case on a mentally ill patient. On the other hand, an intradisciplinary team comprises of people in a single professions. Therefore, an intradisciplinary team may be made up of solely nurses, dentists, or surgeons. An intradisciplinary team helps in provide adequate care to the patient. The patient is the major focus of both interdisciplinary and intradisciplinary teams. The teams strive to improve patient outcomes (Kuziemsky & Varpio, 2010).

The major differences between interdisciplinary and intradisciplinary teams is the fact that in an intradisciplinary team all professionals belong to the same area of expertise and work towards the achievement of a common goal. On the other hand, an interdisciplinary team comprises of professionals from different areas of expertise who work towards the achievement of a common goal. In an intradisciplinary team, the professions can help each other and cover the mistakes of other members. This improves the quality of their performance. However, in an interdisciplinary team, the professionals work in a different manner. Effective communication is the major factor that helps in improving the quality of patient care. An intradisciplinary team encourages innovation in a certain field since it brings together professionals in the same field. On the other hand, interdisciplinary teams lead to the formation of innovative approaches as the experts are from different fields. Finally, an intradisciplinary team provides a linkage between healthcare workers in the same profession. On the other hand, an interdisciplinary team provides a linkage between professions in different fields (Kuziemsky & Varpio, 2010).

Communication Skills

Communication is vital in the success of any team. Intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary teams must work in a collaborative environment in order to achieve their goals. For the teams to be success, they must possess various communication skills. There must be collaboration among the healthcare professionals. There must also be coordination in planning, determination of the goals, problem solving, and power to make decisions. Collaboration among the healthcare professionals help in reducing the ideological differences that may exist. This is vital in ensuring the success of interdisciplinary teams. In an interdisciplinary team, nurses have extensive knowledge and decision making ability on the diagnosis on a patient. They may formulate various interventions to improve patient’s outcomes. An interdisciplinary team enables patients to have direct contact with the nurse or physician. Therefore, collaboration among the nurses or other medical professionals is vital in improving the health outcomes of nurses (Poulton & West, 1999).

Nurses and other medical professionals must work together to ensure they have a common goal, plan and problem solving responsibility. This requires nurses and other medical practitioners to coordinate their activities. This enables them to channel their efforts towards activities that would ultimately improve the patient’s health.

Technology Use in Interdisciplinary Communication

The growth and change of technology has highly influenced communication in various institutions. Today various institutions have adopted modern communication methods such as internet due to its high level of reliability and efficiency. The new technology has been greatly used to communicate in medical field. It has enhanced communication not just between nurses and their patients, but also interdisciplinary communication. Some of the technology that can be used to enhance interdisciplinary communication include email which is very secure and can be used to convey private information only to the required individuals. It ease the communication since a single message can be broadcast to many people at once through the CC or BCC features (Fisher & Clayton, 2012).

Mobile phones can also be used for interdisciplinary communication. This can be used through messaging using the SMS feature or through making calls. These calls can enhance call conference where more and more people are added in a conversation or it can be done to one person. SMS feature can also be used to broadcast a message through group messaging feature found in modern phones. Twitter can also be used to make interdisciplinary communication. However, all the required individuals must be following the communicator in the twitter platform (Fisher & Clayton, 2012).

Skype is another technology that can be used to enhance interdisciplinary communication and discussions. This can be done through chats or video conferencing. Others include group Google chats, company’s blog or through any other social media messaging or chat platform. All these techniques can be employed. However, the chosen technology depends on the nature of the message and the targeted receivers. If the message is private and confidential email, mobile phone and Skype, and Google chat would be the best form of communication. Others can only be used if the message is general and would not cause any harm if seen by untargeted audiences (Fisher & Clayton, 2012).

Role of Teams in nursing Empowerment and Patient Empowerment

Teams play a vital role in the empowerment of patients and nurses. Empowerment of nurses and patients leads to positive results in healthcare. It improves the performance of nurses. It also encourages patients to get better. Managers of healthcare facilities should acknowledge the role empowerment to promote and retain nurses. Empowerment increases job satisfaction and the work environment of the nurses. Work empowerment and work engages constitute the above forms of empowerment. Work engagement refers to the attitude of an employee towards job-related activities. It is related to the personal mental status of an employee towards work. Healthcare givers should empower patients using activities that encourage them to improve their attitudes towards their health status. This ultimately goes a long way towards the full recovery of the patients. Workplace empowerment has several options. The major strategies of workplace empowerment include structural empowerment and professional development. Structural development refers to improvement in the working conditions, compensation packages, and working time and/or schedule of the employees. Empowerment leads to a significant reduction of errors and increases the retention of employees (Piper, 2009).

Role of Teams in Professional Nursing Development

Teams play a critical role in the professional development of nurses. They emphasize the concept of shared governance. Shared governance enables nurses to have autonomy and accountability on their practice. This empowers nurses to participate in decision-making within an organization, especially decisions that affect nursing practice. Shared governance facilitates the professional development of nurses. Nurses participate in various committees that have shared governance. Some examples of the committees include falls committee and patient satisfaction committee. The committees make decisions that affect nursing practice and patient care. Committee members who actively participate in the committees have a sense of ownership over their practice. The above committees enable nurses to know areas where they have knowledge deficiency. This makes the nurses strive to improve their knowledge through education or other means. The committees also enable nurses to know their strengths. Nurses may pursue professional development in areas that align with their strengths. In so doing, teams help nurses in professional development (Poulton & West, 1999).

Read also Multicultural Project Teams

Conclusion

Teams perform most roles in any contemporary organization. Therefore, formulation of initiatives that would increase the chances of teams to achieve their goals is critical to the success of any organization. In a healthcare setting, various teams collaborate to improve patient outcomes. Nurses, physicians, and specialists may collaborate to development therapies that would improve the outcome of a patient suffering from a certain illness. For teams to be successful in a healthcare setting, they must possess certain communication skills. Teams help in empowering healthcare professionals. Therefore, it is vital for all healthcare organization to ensure that they harness the power of various teams.

You can order a unique paper on the same topic or any other topic at an affordable price.

Get Your Custom Paper From Professional Writers. 100% Plagiarism Free, No AI Generated Content and Good Grade Guarantee. We Have Experts In All Subjects.

Place Your Order Now