Introduction
The World Health Organization (WHO) continues to make significant efforts to attain interprofessional collaboration in the health care system in different parts of the world (World Health Organization, 2017). In the UK, the Center for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education (CAIPE) has heightened efforts towards promoting collaborative practices across healthcare-related services (Green, 2014). The collaborative practice involves multiple health workers belonging to different professional backgrounds working together with all stakeholders including families, patients, and communities to enhance patient safety. Patients within the hospital interact with different professionals and exchange critical information. Collaboration of these professionals is critical in ensuring accurate communication of information and, consequently, the promotion of patient safety. Berzins et al. (2018) states that service user safety is a discipline involved with the prevention and reduction of risks and errors to patients during the provision of health care services. Human factors such as communication and teamwork are significant in addressing interprofessional collaboration and service user safety in the health care system in the UK.
Human Factors
Communication is an essential human factor in the healthcare system because of the diverse range of people who need to exchange critical information. The National Health Service (NHS) England which is the UK publicly funded healthcare system has the policy to support effective communication (NHS England, 2016). The country’s health care system understands that lack of communication is a barrier to achieving a patient-centered NHS. Lack of communication hinders access to services, hurts social inclusion, and leads to a lack of informed choices about patient care (Leotsakos, et al., 2014). Healthcare systems require effective communication to promote the effective and efficient use of resources. It is through the provision of accessible information and communication that health facilities in the UK can reduce the inequalities and barriers to quality health in the country.
In healthcare, there is a broad range of professionals who work together to create a working environment. These professionals’ interactions align to attain a common goal through teamwork. The evolution of the healthcare system from a one-all-knowing doctor to the current multi-professional has led to a great improvement in healthcare practice (Steven, et al., 2017). Lack of teamwork compromises underserved populations and communities in a country, leading to poor service delivery. Today, clinical care has become more complex and specialized with medical staff trying complicated health services and quickly learning new methods (Smith, et al., 2018, b). As a result, the demand for teamwork in the clinical setting has been on the rise to manage the patient’s needs.
Impact of Lack of Communication and Team Work on Interprofessional Collaboration and Patient Safety
Impact of Lack of Communication on Interprofessional Collaboration
Research shows that a communication breakdown has been a huge concern in the promotion of interprofessional collaboration in the care setting. CAIPE is at the frontline to introduce interprofessional interventions, including improved communication to promote collaboration among different health stakeholders (Green, 2014). According to Lindqvist (2015), the importance of effective communication has been underemphasized by health and social care professionals in the UK. Dealing with rank dynamics between professionals requires a clear understanding of how the actions of one professional would impact others (NHS England, 2016). Communication breakdown in healthcare settings creates power struggles and consequently undermines collaboration between professionals from different areas of specialization.
Lack of communication makes it difficult for professionals from different disciplines to work and support each other. The establishment of communication promotes dynamic collaboration among professionals and ensures that each person utilizes their skills effectively (Greenhalgh, et al., 2016). Both verbal and non-verbal communication methods are relevant to healthcare professionals. Poor verbal communication limits the formation of professional relationships through team meetings and hinders interprofessional collaboration (Adeniji, et al., 2015). Clear and concise communication during meetings with professionals from different departments, including nurses, social workers, and doctors, among others aid the process of information transmission, enhances understanding and promotes collaboration.
Healthcare providers rely on skillful communication to earn patients’ trust and to engage in interactions that promote service delivery. With a poor communication system, some health professionals cannot acknowledge other professionals’ stories, knowledge, and experiences to establish a collaborative team (Patel, et al., 2013). Compromised communication fails to support the full engagement of patients, families, and different professionals in a meaningful care process.
Impact of Lack of Communication on Service User Safety
Communication has a significant impact on the quality and safety of services provided to patients in healthcare settings. Patient care and recovery depend on effective communication between healthcare providers and patients (NHS England, 2016). Research shows a significant correlation between communication and diagnostic accuracy, clinical outcomes, and patient-centered treatment decisions (Steven, et al., 2017). On the other hand, lack of communication increases the risk of malpractice claims and results in low patient safety. A survey conducted among 2471 patients from three NHS Trusts in England showed that communication was a major concern (21.7%) about their care (O’Hara, et al., 2018). The communication issues were linked to either staff to patient, patient to staff, or staff to staff. Lack of communication caused confusion about when they were due for surgery which affected their feeding because they unnecessarily missed meals. The identified patients’ safety reports from the survey showed that most of the patient safety issues by the medical professionals were probably avoidable if there was improved communication between the staff, patients, and their families.
Impact of Lack of Team Work on Interprofessional collaboration
Modern healthcare systems have a specialized range of different healthcare professionals working together to address health problems. Most of these health threats, including heart diseases, invasive cancers, and others, demand close coordination of different healthcare specialists (Haugen, et al., 2019). The lack of teams affects the coordination of healthcare professionals and results in tremendous problems, including poor interprofessional collaboration. The capability of healthcare professionals to effectively embrace complementary roles within a team has a significant impact on interprofessional collaboration (Green, 2014). Trust, collaboration, and respect are some of the inherent factors of any effective team. Teamwork among health professionals involves the pooling of specialized services that contribute to lasting and effective integrated interventions, resulting in improved interprofessional collaboration.
Coordination of individuals in interprofessional healthcare teams involves learning to work together cooperatively, communicating with each other meaningfully, and making quality healthcare decisions together. Health centers that lack teamwork face problems making collaborative decisions that reflect their specialized information and insights (Williams, et al., 2017). The primary care reform in the UK is working towards addressing the workforce insufficiency caused by a lack of teams and interprofessional collaboration in healthcare centers across the country (World Health Organization, 2017). The UK government’s effort to introduce new governance and reform the organizational and financial structures of the NHS was aimed at encouraging teamwork and collaboration among professionals (Smith, et al., 2018, a). The government wanted to deal with the customary form of healthcare delivery where professionals treated patients independently without involving other team members. This customary operation among healthcare professionals made it difficult for collective planning and decision-making.
Impact of Lack of Team Work on Service User Safety
Effective teamwork is one of the essential tools for the construction of a service user-centered healthcare delivery system. Lack of team-based care negatively affects healthcare practices and consequently lowers the quality of service delivery to patients (Chandrashekar & Mohan, 2019). The accomplishment of shared goals within and across healthcare settings can hardly be achieved in the absence of high-quality teamwork (Greene et al., 2014). According to Millar et al. (2013), the increase in risks for patients is a common problem that results in a lack of shared responsibilities and accountability between team members. Inadequate teamwork cripples the coordination of care delivery, contributing to rising medical errors.
Teamwork within health care provides quality and safe delivery of care to patients. Lack of teamwork has been one of the main causes of preventable patient harm in most countries including the UK (Smith, et al., 2018, b). Effective management of the healthcare system in the UK requires sharing tasks and delegating components of work to different healthcare professionals (Chandrashekar & Mohan, 2019). However, a lack of teamwork ignores the need for coordination and integration and exposes patients to potential harm.
Conclusion
A key aspect of improving patient safety and interprofessional collaboration in healthcare settings is to promote teamwork and communication. The establishment of effective communication between health care teams reduces potential harm and medical errors, resulting in improved patient safety (Millar et al., 2013). Lack of interprofessional teamwork and communication places patients at risk due to poor coordination and collaboration. Incidences of ineffective interprofessional collaboration and medical malpractice in healthcare systems have been linked to poor communication and lack of teamwork (Lindqvist, 2015). When all individuals at the different departments in health care work towards enhancing communication and promoting teamwork, they promote patient safety standards and enhance collaboration among the interprofessional teams. A culture of safety within the health care system and achievement of interprofessional collaboration is attained by dealing with a lack of communication and teamwork (NHS England, 2016). Governments and healthcare ministries can improve healthcare outcomes and patient safety by replacing the hierarchical model of care delivery with a more collaborative and team-based model.
Reflection on the Impact of Your Learning on Your Future Practice
The learning in this course reveals that a collaborative care delivery model is one of the interventions required to effectively address the ever-changing needs of modern healthcare systems. Single-care delivery models have a big challenge in dealing with the current patients’ needs, resulting in poor service delivery and medical errors (WHO, 2017). As a medical professional trainee, this module provides insight into the need for medical teams in the delivery of care to patients. The module shows the need to build healthy relationships with different professionals and stakeholders within the healthcare setting. It is clear that sharing responsibilities as a team and communicating effectively will help teams to achieve high-quality patient care.
According to WHO (2017), the UK healthcare system is evolving and medical professionals both those in training and those currently working, must understand the current patient needs and the best ways to address them. Having learned of the huge impact that poor communication has on interprofessional collaboration, I will commit myself to improved communication in the future. It is through effective communication that I will work with other professionals, including medical technicians, doctors, and others to ensure the smooth delivery of healthcare services through interprofessional collaboration.
The module shows the dangers of a lack of teamwork within the healthcare system. Healthcare professionals who choose to work alone and ignore teamwork fail to acknowledge and appreciate the need for collaboration across professionals (Devlin, et al., 2016). I have learned that collaboration in my future practice as a medical professional will help me to function optimally to deliver quality care to patients. Collaboration helps professionals to foster meaningful engagements with families, patients, and colleagues to achieve improved patient care.
This module has provided me with the opportunity to learn that teams have a shared vision toward prioritizing patients’ needs. It is evident that patient safety is not only a significant concern in the UK but in the world at large (Berzins, et al., 2018). The learning in this module is clear on the importance of patient safety in the medical profession. Human factors such as communication and teamwork can be enhanced to improve patient safety (Brewer & Jones, 2013). In my future practice, investment in the two human factors will be fundamental to ensure that patient safety is maximized and unavoidable medical errors are prevented.
The module provides ideas on bridging the theory-practice gap in the medical profession as explained in the NHS England (2016). After learning about the best human practices to deliver quality patient care, my future plan is to be the best practicing medical practitioner who appreciates the team’s interprofessional performance. I will be an advocate of teamwork to promote collaboration and patient welfare. Working as an example to portray effective communication and teamwork in my future health organization will have a significant impact on my colleagues. My practice will motivate and encourage those that I will work with to promote patient safety and interprofessional collaboration through enhanced teamwork and communication.
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