NURS6231 Week 9 | Nursing in Health Care - Walden university

NURS6231 Healthcare Systems and Quality Outcomes Week 9 Discussion Interdisciplinary Approach By nature, healthcare requires an interdisciplinary approach. Patients may have “one doctor” at their primary care practice, for example, but they also engage with the complete team, including nurses, administrative support personnel, and lab technicians. Perhaps a specialist is called in to assist with a particular condition. All along the way, communication must remain open, direct, and frequent to best support the patient in a seamless and personalized experience. The effectiveness of interdisciplinary teams directly correlates to quality and patient satisfaction. If communication or collaboration falter, quality can suffer. For this Discussion, you will read scenarios where quality has potentially been compromised. Using what you have learned about interdisciplinary collaboration, you will develop a solution to the problem.

To Prepare:

Review the Interdisciplinary Collaboration Scenarios below and choose one to focus on for your initial post.

Scenario A:

At Meridien Medical Center, hospital policy is to document the “reason” for not administering a medication that is ordered but not administered. The documented reason of “patient refusal” for venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis has been high across hospital units. In order to improve patient outcomes, the Quality and Patient Safety Committee decided to explore why so many patients refuse VTE prophylaxis. Their inquiry revealed that less experienced nurses were not very comfortable teaching patients about the risks of VTE and pulmonary embolism if they declined the shot. Using an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach, how would you plan to address the situation?

Scenario B:

A new social work graduate, Monica, just started on your unit at Meridien Medical Center, 14 South. She is young and energetic, and everyone seems to like her. The other day during interdisciplinary rounds she was on her phone repeatedly. At first you gave her the benefit of the doubt . . . maybe she was responding to patient messages. But when the attending physician asked Monica a direct question about a patient, she looked up from her phone, mumbled an excuse, and asked the doctor to repeat his question. The physician has voiced his frustrations, citing unprofessionalism and inattentiveness as concerns. Fran, also a member of the team, is an older nurse who has had a productive career at the hospital. When talking about Monica, Fran has lately been seen rolling her eyes and making sarcastic comments about “Gen Z.” You want to help both Monica and Fran be effective team members. What do you do before this problem gets out of hand?

Scenario C:

Photo Credit: Getty Images/Caiaimage Current practice for interdisciplinary rounds on the post-surgery cardiac unit of Meridien Medical Center is to include the surgeon, attending physician, medical student, and nurse. These team members work well together to assess cases and coordinate care. But you know that the unit has had some adverse drug events lately, particularly in the older patient population. What additional roles/team members would you advocate adding, and how would you get buy-in from existing team members?

Scenario D:

Nurses on the obstetrics ward at Meridien Medical Center typically conduct an independent assessment of the patient and then report that assessment during an interdisciplinary team meeting. All members of the team have agreed that these meetings are important for continuity of care and analysis of complex cases. On this particular day, Mark, a seasoned nurse on the unit, provides information about his patients during the meeting. The physician in attendance interrupts Mark and indicates that Mark should hurry up because she needs to be elsewhere helping patients. As Mark is leaving the meeting, he hears the physician say to a colleague, “I’m just going to do my own assessment anyway.” Mark ends up feeling like his work is not appreciated and that the physician is only going to the team meetings out of contractual obligation. How do you support Mark and restore the spirit of interdisciplinary collaboration? By Day 3 of Week 9 After reading through your chosen scenario: Post an explanation of how you would support the interdisciplinary team. Specifically, recommend and justify a strategy for addressing the central conflict or issue. Explain how a strengthened interdisciplinary approach relates to quality of care and patient outcomes in the scenario. Then explain what diversity (e.g., different generation cohorts, levels of experience, specialties, backgrounds, races, and genders) brings to the team and how you would leverage that in the scenario. Be specific and provide examples.