Slide 1
Hello, my name is —-, and today I will gladly introduce detailed strategies to improve the interdepartmental communication issue at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Slide 2
The problem is the lack of communication between interdisciplinary teams in Johns Hopkins Hospital leading to patient harm and burdening of the nursing personnel. Although past work has been done to improve communication, there are still substantial obstacles that hinder effective teamwork and, subsequently, patient outcomes. The lack of communication leads to a lack of coordination in care delivery, enhanced risks of medical errors, prolonged hospitalization, and high readmission rates. These issues increase the burden on the nurses leading to factors that bring about fatigue and dissatisfaction in the workplace. Therefore, the lack of effective communication thus hinders patient safety and satisfaction at the same time as it increases the operational costs and degrades the quality of health care provision in the institution.
The audience should care about solving this issue because there are always potential risks and dangers arising in the healthcare setting that require clear and effective communication among all professionals. Lack of effective communication can result in adverse health outcomes including medical mistakes, longer length of stay, and increased readmissions, which are costly to both patients and hospitals. Further, eradicating this problem can improve the level of satisfaction among the nurses and thus, there will be less burnout, hence better staff retention and organizational performance (Tiwary et al., 2019).
Potential Consequences
Certain consequences will be observed if the problem of the communication gap is not resolved at Johns Hopkins Hospital. For instance, patient health will deteriorate further as more people experience adverse health events, including medical mistakes, longer hospital stays, and higher readmission rates. The pressure on the nursing staff will therefore increase and this will
result in an increased rate of burnout and turnover, thus worsening the shortage of staff and organizational inefficiencies. The hospital may face a major blow to its reputation, which would translate to a loss of trust among patients and their dissatisfaction. Also, the cost of treating these inefficiencies, such as legal actions arising from medical malpractices, will be expensive, thus raising operational costs. Lastly, the quality of care, patient safety, and overall healthcare will be affected, which will lead to the hospital’s failure to deliver high-quality care and maintain its position as a premier healthcare provider (Alder, 2023).
Slide 3
The implementation of an interdisciplinary team is especially relevant in dealing with the communication challenges in the Johns Hopkins Hospital because it employs the input of various stakeholders in the healthcare field. This means that through consultation with a team of specialists from different disciplines, a comprehensive care plan can be prepared. Furthermore, interdisciplinary teams enhance unity of purpose and respect in handling tasks since they eradicate the existing hitherto communication barriers (Febriansyah et al., 2020).
The interdisciplinary approach will help achieve improved outcomes by enhancing efficient teamwork and therefore improving the quality of care that the patient receives. Implementation of team huddle meetings and the use of collaborative technology will help to ensure all members of the team are aware of the situation and prevent any medical mistakes that may harm our patients. Consequently, the condition of patients will increase, their stay in the hospital will be shorter, and the rate of readmission will be reduced. Besides, such an approach will decrease workload which will increase job satisfaction and retention among employees (Lin et al., 2022).
Slide 4
The objective of the plan is to implement a structured interdisciplinary communication protocol using regular team huddles and digital collaboration tools with the goal of enhancing patient outcomes and reducing nurse workload. If achieved, this objective will improve organizational outcomes by ensuring more coordinated and effective patient care, thereby reducing medical errors, enhancing patient safety, and increasing overall patient satisfaction.
The plan is extremely likely to succeed because there is already a good working relationship between professionals. By having its own resources and leadership support, the structured approach will work to alleviate the current communication issues. Also, this plan is fully in line with the hospital’s strategic directions toward improving patient safety and organizational efficiency. The hiring of a project manager and other communication specialists will also help to ensure the systematic plan implementation. The history of the hospital adopting innovative healthcare also increases the chances of success (Bhati et al., 2023).
Slide 5
The interdisciplinary team will arrange daily huddles to discuss patients and exchange plan updates or concerns. They will employ means of communication by using applications like secure messaging as well as electronic health record systems as a means of enhancing effective communication. It ensures that any information concerning the patient is available to all those involved in the care of the patient thus avoiding delays or communication gaps. The team will also undergo training to improve communication between the members of the team (Shaikh, 2020). These actions which will be undertaken by the team will instill a culture of systematically
identifying processes that need improvement as well as establishing accountability among all staff in enhancing the hospital’s goal of providing quality health care.
Slide 6
The plan can be implemented to guarantee the appropriate deployment of human resources where the duties and responsibilities of each of the team members. One can schedule regular interdisciplinary team huddles and training sessions during off-peak hours (Qin et al., 2023).
Evaluation and monitoring of team performance should also be integrated into the plan to avoid misuse of human resources. Feedback sessions will be held frequently to note any problems that may exist at an early stage to enable corrective measures to be taken.
The plan also rationalizes the utilization of human resources by emphasizing the anticipated enhancement of patients’ outcomes as well as employees’ productivity. The plan will enhance the quality of care by minimizing medical mistakes and enhancing the flow of care.
At Johns Hopkins Hospital, the plan can be implemented by hiring a project manager who will be charged with the responsibility of managing the communication process that involves the interdisciplinary team. This manager will supervise the implementation of daily team huddles. Moreover, a training program on communication skills and the application of technology tools will be conducted for all staff. Regular check and balance meetings will enable any problems to be detected, discussed, and corrected instantly so that human resources are optimally utilized.
Slide 7
The plan can be implemented to ensure the proper utilization of financial resources by only focusing on the areas that are crucial in enhancing communication, for instance, by purchasing collaboration technology or providing communication training to employees. There should be a clear budget that should show the various expenses and ensure that resources are directed to the right areas that need them.
There is always the possibility of making proper use of financial resources by conducting periodic audits and reviews of spending. This comprises monitoring the expenses against the set plan and analyzing the value that comes with the implementation of the various aspects of the plan (Radinmanesh et al., 2021).
The financial cost is justified by the fact that it will be offset by the gains in the long run that the plan is expected to deliver. Better communication and collaboration will minimize expensive mistakes, decrease the number of patients’ readmittance, and shorten the time of their stay in the hospital, thus saving much money.
In the case of Johns Hopkins Hospital, the plan with financial resources could mean purchasing sophisticated digital collaboration tools like secure messaging and the integrated EHR system. Further, it will be necessary to allocate money for training programs to guarantee that all employees know how to work with these tools efficiently. The expenses will be monitored, and financial reviews and audits will be conducted to determine the cost and benefits accrued from the investment.
Slide 8
The following evidence-based criteria align with the goal of improved interdisciplinary communication plan:
Optimized Communication Flow
• Successful Outcome
The successful implementation of the project could lead to a dramatic decrease in the time spent on interdepartmental communication. When applying the measures to reduce communication barriers, the hospital will have less interruption to its workflow, more effective care coordination, and patient satisfaction will be higher (Ellis et al., 2023).
• Measurement Criteria
This goal can be achieved by conducting a comparative analysis of the average time spent on communication between departments before and after the introduction of the multi-disciplinary collaboration plan.
Improved Coordination and Collaboration
• Successful Outcome
The successful implementation process will involve the integration of professionals from other sectors of the organization, and this will culminate in a more enhanced medical delivery system. This will result in better
patient care, reduced misdiagnosis, and less time wastage.
• Measurement Criteria
Understaffing and interpatient integration and coordination could be evaluated using questionnaires and feedback forms (Cifra et al., 2021). The replies showing their opinion will be evidence that the project was a success.
Improved Patient Care Quality
• Successful Outcome
The goal of the project is to contribute to enhancing the quality of patient care by tackling the issues related to communication. The project will contribute to the enhancement of the free flow of information from one department to the other. If it were to succeed, it would lead to the enhancement of patient safety, satisfaction, and quality of healthcare services offered.
• Measurement Criteria
This area can be assessed using common measures such as the wait time for the patient, the mistake rate, and the patient satisfaction rating before and after the application of the interdisciplinary approach (Ferreira et al., 2023). It is possible to state that the improvement in these areas during the given period will lead to successful outcomes in terms of improving patient care.
Assessing Degree of Success
To determine the extent of success of the interdisciplinary collaboration plan at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, the following success indicators can be used. First, a clear and understandable decrease in medical error rates will stress the increase in patient safety. The length of stay in the hospitals can be monitored and measured over a period of time and if the duration is reduced it will mean that the operations have increased in efficiency. Fewer cases of readmissions will be an indication of improved first-phase treatment. The improvements can be assessed by comparing the staff survey results before and after the implementation of the change. The raised scores produced by the surveys of the patients will also play a crucial role in improving the experiences of the patients. Last, there will be an analysis of the expenses together with the potential cost savings of implementing the plan due to a decrease in medical errors, length of stay, and readmissions to make the case for funding the plan and determine the total cost savings.
Slide 9
The lack of communication between workers in the interprofessional teams at the Johns Hopkins Hospital is one of the factors that should be addressed to enhance patient outcomes. This makes it important for the hospital to encourage the use of structured communication methods as well as the use of technology in communication between the different teams to reduce the chances of medical errors and enhance patient satisfaction. The value of having the plan will be measured in terms of less delay in communication, reduction in medical mistakes, and satisfaction of employees and patients. Much consideration will have to be made in utilizing human and financial resources to realize the intended objectives.
Slide 10
Alder, S. (2023, December 23). Effects of poor communication in healthcare. The HIPAA Journal. https://www.hipaajournal.com/effects-of-poor-communication-in-healthcare/
Bhati, D., Deogade, M. S., & Kanyal, D. (2023). Improving Patient Outcomes Through Effective Hospital Administration: A Comprehensive Review. Cureus, 15(10). https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.47731
Cifra, C. L., Sittig, D. F., & Singh, H. (2021). Bridging the feedback gap: a sociotechnical approach to informing clinicians of patients’ subsequent clinical course and outcomes. BMJ Quality & Safety, 30(7), 591–597. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2020-012464
Ellis, L. A., Tran, Y., Pomare, C., Long, J. C., Churruca, K., Saba, M., & Braithwaite, J. (2023). Hospital Organizational change: the Importance of Teamwork culture, communication, and Change Readiness. Frontiers in Public Health, 11(11). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1089252
Febriansyah, F., Kusumapradja, R., & Ahmad, H. (2020). The Role Of Teamwork In Improving Patient Safety Culture. Jurnal Medicoeticolegal Dan Manajemen Rumah Sakit, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.18196/jmmr.91115
Ferreira, D. C., Vieira, I., Pedro, M. I., Caldas, P., & Varela, M. (2023). Patient Satisfaction with Healthcare Services and the Techniques Used for Its Assessment: a Systematic Literature Review and a Bibliometric Analysis. Healthcare, 11(5), 639. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11050639
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Qin, X., Huang, Y.-N., Hu, Z., Chen, K., Lin, L., Richard Szewei Wang, & Wang, B.-L. (2023). Human resource management research in healthcare: a big data bibliometric study. Human Resources for Health, 21(1). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10696747/
Radinmanesh, M., Ebadifard Azar, F., aghaei Hashjin, A., Najafi, B., & Majdzadeh, R. (2021). A review of appropriate indicators for need-based financial resource allocation in health systems. BMC Health Services Research, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-06522-0
Shaikh, U. (2020). Improving Patient Safety and Team Communication through Daily Huddles. Psnet.ahrq.gov. https://psnet.ahrq.gov/primer/improving-patient-safety-and-team-communication-through-daily-huddles
Tiwary, A., Rimal, A., Paudyal, B., Sigdel, K. R., & Basnyat, B. (2019). Poor communication by health care professionals may lead to life-threatening complications: Examples from two case reports. Wellcome Open Research, 4(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15042.1