Scenario As part of an initiative to build effective collaboration at your Vila Health site, where you are a nurse, you have been asked to reflect on a project or experience in which you collaborated with interprofessionals and examine what happened during the collaboration, identifying positive aspects and areas for improvement.
Collaboration and Leadership Reflection Video
Hello and welcome to today’s presentation. We will begin by reflecting on a previous experience with interdisciplinary collaboration. We will then identify the impact of poor communication on management. We will then identify leadership strategies that promote interdisciplinary collaboration. Finally, we will identify techniques that promote interdisciplinary collaboration.
Previous Experience in Interdisciplinary Collaboration
I participated in an interdisciplinary collaborative effort to lower the incidence of complications among patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). The team comprised dieticians, physicians, nurses, laboratory technicians, and pharmacists. The initial success of this intervention can be attributed to various factors. Firstly, the interdisciplinary team received periodic training on their unique roles in the management of DM. Secondly, team leaders conducted regular performance evaluations and provided timely feedback. This feedback enabled team members to make necessary adjustments and remain focused on the project’s goal. Thirdly, the healthcare facility’s administration remunerated the best-performing team. By so doing, team members were motivated to collaborate effectively to accomplish the project’s goal. All members of the interdisciplinary team played a key role in patient education. The scope of this education entailed the relevance of medication adherence and lifestyle modification. Physicians, nurses, and laboratory technicians played a key role in patient screening. Dieticians provided pertinent information regarding dietary modification, whereas pharmacists provided pertinent information regarding medication therapy and reiterated the relevance of medication adherence.
Various factors impeded the project’s success. Team leaders discontinued training programs and performance evaluations. This impacted teamwork by creating laxity and diminishing accountability. The team’s motivation declined, as evidenced by reduced patient follow-up activities, a reduction in screening exercises, and patient education activities. Furthermore, the healthcare facility’s administration withdrew remuneration plans for the best-performing teams. Reflective practice will enable nurses to learn from their past experiences. By so doing, they will adopt evidence-based best practices for the quality of healthcare services.
Impact of Poor Collaboration on Management
At this point, I would like to discuss the impact of poor collaboration on human and financial management. Writing in 2021, Belrhiti, Van Belle, and Criel reported that poor collaboration impedes open communication, creates confusion, increases the risk of conflict, and promotes time-wasting. Open communication allows the team to work harmoniously by establishing clear and concise goals and milestones. A lack of open communication due to poor collaboration will create confusion and increase the likelihood of conflict. By so doing, human and financial management is impeded. Writing in 2019, Lapierre, Lefebvre, and Gauvin-Lepage reported that conflict could also arise from unnecessary competition emanating from poor collaboration. Conflict causes poor engagement and impedes human and financial management. In 2019, Lapierre, Lefebvre, and Gauvin-Lepage reported that time-wasting caused by poor collaboration implies that organizational goals are not accomplished as planned. Failure to fulfill goals reflects ineffective human and financial management.
Leadership Strategies to Achieve Goals
I would like to discuss the strategies that enable leaders to accomplish goals via interdisciplinary collaboration. Writing in 2019, Folkman, Tveit, and Sverdrup reported that leaders should embrace appreciative inquiry and self-governance to enable an interdisciplinary team to fulfill its goals. In 2020, Armstrong, Holmes, and Henning reported that appreciative inquiry focuses on the specialties and strengths of team members. To accomplish this, leaders should embrace dialogue and open communication. Appreciative inquiry acknowledges the strengths of each member and allows them to remain focused on achieving organizational vision and mission. Writing in 2019, Folkman, Tveit, and Sverdrup reported that self-governance acknowledges that interdisciplinary team members are autonomous individuals. It advocates for transparency and information sharing. By so doing, members of the interdisciplinary team will collaborate effectively to accomplish the group’s goals and objectives.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration Strategies
Allow me to discuss the strategies of interdisciplinary collaboration. Four strategies can be used to promote interdisciplinary collaboration to allow teams to fulf