The dynamic strategy of interdisciplinary collaboration in healthcare unites experts from many medical and allied health fields to improve patient outcomes and service delivery quality. Comprehensive and coordinated care is promoted by this collaborative model, which makes use of the distinct knowledge and viewpoints of doctors, nurses, chemists, social workers, and other healthcare practitioners. It is more effective than conventional, compartmentalized techniques at meeting the complex demands of patients. Higher patient satisfaction, better clinical outcomes, and more effective resource usage are the final effects of this integration, which also fosters enhanced communication, lowers errors, and guarantees that all facets of a patient’s health are considered. This assessment will provide a summary of a healthcare professional’s interview and highlight current or previous issues within her organization. The goal is to pinpoint a problem that needs to be solved by using an interdisciplinary approach to investigate optimal methods.
In a recent interview, a thorough grasp of the hospital’s past and present issues was investigated with Ms. Sarah, a senior nurse at Johns Hopkins. In order to provide seamless healthcare delivery, Ms. Sarah’s job involves providing primary care to patients and interacting with other departments. One of the main problems that Johns Hopkins Hospital is dealing with is that interdisciplinary teams are not communicating well enough, which has a negative impact on patient outcomes and adds to the strain on the nurses. Advances in communication channels have been achieved, however, there are still significant gaps that need to be filled with multidisciplinary work.
For the patient care to be optimal, all the specialized departments that are found in the Johns Hopkins Hospital must collaborate. However, with the growing recognition of the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, there remain numerous barriers to effective
communication within the teams. Ms. Sarah has knowledge about the challenges and can give advice on how to improve the hospital’s outcomes with the help of her experience in working in teams. During the interview, some of the questions were framed in a general sense in a bid to obtain further details about her.
Currently, the interview highlighted issues of concern regarding Johns Hopkins Hospital, the existing teamwork, and leadership strategies aimed at bringing change. Ms. Sarah informed that previous efforts of the hospital administration to improve communication have been somewhat effective but have had mixed results, which means that it has always been a work in progress. While Johns Hopkins’ organizational culture encourages collaboration, deep-seated communication barriers often counteract efforts to do so effectively. From Ms. Sarah’s exposure to working in interdisciplinary teams, she has understood the potential benefits of effective collaboration and the ever-existing hurdles that need to be addressed to enhance healthcare delivery.
One major problem identified when interviewing Ms. Sarah at the Johns Hopkins Hospital is that the interdisciplinary teams failed to communicate with one another. As an interdisciplinary evidence-based approach is intended to improve the patient status and reduce the load on the nursing staff, this approach is relevant to this problem. In a complex healthcare setting, such an approach is even more important as it also engages the expertise of many disciplines and hence improves diagnostic capabilities, treatment options, and patient outcomes. In addition, the cross-integration of disciplines strengthens the professionalism and working relationships of the team and may well reduce misunderstandings which are detrimental to patient outcomes and improve the overall level of patient satisfaction. Thus, the synergy between
the different fields enhances the care that is given to the patients besides the manner in which the illnesses are identified and the kind of interventions that are recommended. It thus reduces medical errors and increases patient safety through better teamwork and communication among the medical staff. This kind of collaboration reduces the burden on an individual employee and at the same time creates a better team atmosphere. Finally, it results in improved overall condition of health and higher satisfaction among the patients (Bendowska & Baum, 2023).
Change Theory
The theory that can be applied in order to eliminate the interdisciplinary communication gap is Lewin’s Change Management Model (Barrow et al., 2020). This model is a three-phase model that gives a clear outline of how change is to be managed in an organization. The first of them is known as “unfreezing” – creating a need for change and making people and organizations ready for it. If addressing communication challenges among the interdisciplinary teams in Johns Hopkins Hospital was the goal in this phase, then it would involve identifying the existing barriers to communication and sensitizing the staff to the potential enhancement in gains resulting from interdisciplinary collaboration. This notion leads to the next steps as it prepares the people for change and makes them expect change hence creating an impression that change is the order of the day.
An interdisciplinary solution is made possible by Lewin’s Change Management Model, which guides the “Changing” stage when real changes are put into practice. To improve communication skills across various healthcare specializations, this stage focuses on establishing new communication protocols, encouraging collaborative practices, and offering training sessions. However, in the third stage of “Refreezing”, the implemented changes are solidified
Among other things, instituting technology for shared documentation and organizing formal interdisciplinary team meetings can aid in dismantling information silos and enhancing communication among medical specialists. Through the methodical application of these modifications, the model facilitates the growth of a unified multidisciplinary approach to patient care (Harrison et al., 2021).
This model is rather relevant for explaining the causes of communication difficulties in interdisciplinary teams. This approach also states that cooperation and information sharing are the two main values of organizational change. This theory offers a framework for engaging systematically with communication issues in HC organizations such as Johns Hopkins Hospital where interdisciplinary collaboration improves patients’ outcomes. Because of this, it is almost certain that the views of different stakeholders are taken into consideration during the change process and thus, it is more likely that more sustainable changes to the communication processes are made.
It is worth noting that the concept of the Change Management Model by Lewin has been accredited by research on organizational psychology and management which indicates its validity. The usefulness of this approach in managing and implementing change in organizations has been supported by numerous studies and by practical applications of the framework in multiple organizations and sectors, including the healthcare field. This strong theoretical framework improves the reliability of the model as a framework for dealing with complicated phenomena like interdisciplinary communication in organizations like Johns Hopkins.
One leadership approach that is widely known and used for resolving communication barriers between interdisciplinary healthcare teams is transformational leadership. This
leadership approach focuses on developing an appealing vision and setting concrete objectives to engage and compel healthcare practitioners. Healing, as a strategy, makes team members feel that they are part of something bigger than themselves; leaders who use this technique assist the team in achieving organizational goals, for instance, increasing interprofessional collaboration to advance the quality of care for patients. Transformational leaders encourage team members to engage and be committed when it comes to addressing the barriers to communication by acknowledging the importance of everyone getting involved (Bornman & Louw, 2023).
Transformative leadership encourages interdisciplinary cooperation by motivating medical staff to coordinate their efforts toward common objectives. A leader may easily interact, share ideas, and foster innovation among team members from a variety of specializations when they set up a friendly environment with a compelling goal. By encouraging improved interdisciplinary communication and teamwork, this strategy promotes a shared commitment to improving patient outcomes. Leaders following this theory empower the teams to assess barriers to communication and work together to achieve organizational objectives in the delivery of healthcare services (Huang et al., 2022).
The issue of communication breakdown in interprofessional teams in the Johns Hopkins Hospital context is discussed and relevant to the concept of transformational leadership. This is especially helpful in developing a culture of collaboration where the medical staff members are encouraged to express themselves and be creative. Transforming leaders’ meetings and communication sessions are beneficial for the teams as the members can discuss the issues with their teams and get ideas on how to address the problems in their groups.
The validity of this theory can be backed up by the following evidences pointing to the fact that this theory has an influence on the level of empowering employees, encouraging their
innovation and on the degree of organizational success in different fields. With this credible source, it will be less difficult to bridge the communication chasm that is prevalent between the numerous departments of this huge hospital. Transformational leadership may enhance the understanding of a shared vision and promote the development of a culture that helps cross functional teams deal with the communication concerns and patient care outcomes in the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
TeamSTEPPS (Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety) is a teamwork approach, which has been created by AHRQ with the aim to improve communication in healthcare institutions. It enhances the productivity of the team at the same time there is a guarantee of the safety of the patients through the implementation of evidence-based practice approaches and interventions (Kuriyan et al., 2020).
It supports the development of the interdisciplinary solution through training and other systematically developed tools aimed at enhancing leadership, communication, status consciousness, and teamwork of members of the healthcare team. TeamSTEPPS is based on the premise that healthcare workers have different goals that are associated with patient outcomes and safety and then find a mechanism of how to effectively communicate and collaborate (Quinto, 2023).
It is highly relevant to the issue of lack of effective communication among interdisciplinary teams. Unlike other approaches that seek to address communication problems in teams by penalizing them, this strategy addresses the root causes of communication problems by providing the necessary tools to facilitate work and communication effectively. Overall, there is a significant amount of literature on healthcare management that shows how TeamSTEPPS
reduces medical errors, increases patient satisfaction, and enhances teamwork in clinical practices.
In terms of the credibility of TeamSTEPPS, it could be said that it developed as a result of a study and a validation of its effectiveness by the AHRQ. The approach has been implemented in different settings within healthcare organizations and settings and it has been found to be beneficial in the promotion of interprofessional collaboration in the system.
A useful approach from the literature that might help in overcoming the communication gap within an interdisciplinary team is a Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP). Thus, addressing the problems simultaneously should help enhance patient safety, which is the goal of this program. To do this, it applies a number of technological instruments and sources to fulfill the specified goals. The program provides for the promotion of training and educational events for healthcare professionals. This will allow them to meet and communicate with one another, which will lead to the creation of the necessary environment that will be conducive to teamwork in the future. The following are some of the measures outlined by the program to enhance the health of patients and decrease the risks of medical mistakes that should be implemented to lower the rate of adverse events in an institution. This is because, the program minimizes the risks of such occurrences through enhancing teamwork efficiency as well as promoting openness among the team (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2019).
Lean management is one more collaborative initiative that originates from the concepts of waste reduction, improvement of the flow, and creation of value through applying decision-making and problem-solving tools at the workplace with the direct engagement of employees. It does this by ensuring that procedures are well coordinated, some activities are centralized, and there is encouragement of innovative and collaborative work. In this way, the lean management
principles can help to enhance collaboration between interdisciplinary teams by introducing such notions as responsibility, transparency, and teamwork. Lean Management begins by involving the personnel in the process of change, which results in the formation of communication and the involvement of the participants (Prado-Prado et al., 2020).
All the proposed collaborative approaches are highly relevant and credible to increase the interdisciplinary collaboration at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. However, TeamSTEPPS is still more broadly applicable and beneficial because the aims of the process are the most important to worry about teamwork and interaction. Moreover, its endorsement with AHRQ makes it more widely used.
The critical issue of lack of communication between specialists of different departments has been discussed with the help of an interview with Ms. Sara in the context of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and this issue should be addressed with the help of an interdisciplinary approach. TeamSTEPPS is a very effective intervention for the purpose of collaboration and allows healthcare professionals from different departments to work on this problem together. When integrated with change theory, these approaches can help close communication gaps and enhance the open dialogues and teamwork performed in the clinic.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2019). The CUSP Method | Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality. Ahrq.gov. https://www.ahrq.gov/hai/cusp/index.html
Barrow, J. M., Annamaraju, P., & Toney-Butler, T. J. (2020). Change Management. PubMed; StatPearls Publishing. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29083813/
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Quinto, A. (2023). TEAMSTEPPS AND SAFETY CULTURE TeamSTEPPS and Organizational Culture. https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5283&context=doctoral