Capella 4010 Assessment 2 Interview and Interdisciplinary Issue Identification

Name

Capella university

NURS-FPX 4010 Leading in Intrprof Practice

Prof. Name

Date

Interview and Interdisciplinary Issue Identification

Interdisciplinary collaboration in healthcare involves professionals from diverse fields working together to address complex patient needs (Dinh et al., 2020). This assessment delves into a healthcare issue, highlighted in a focused interview at St. Mary’s Hospital. This issue can be addressed using an interdisciplinary approach. Thus, the assessment further elaborates on the change theories, leadership strategies, and collaboration approaches leading to interprofessional solutions.

Interview Summary

In a recent interview, Dr. Jennifer Rodriguez, a Chief Medical Officer at St. Mary’s Hospital, shed light on several critical issues plaguing the organization. St. Mary is a renowned healthcare facility for its excellence in patient care and innovative healthcare practices. With her extensive experience, Dr. Rodriguez oversees the medical operations, collaborates with healthcare teams, safeguards quality patient care, and addresses emerging medical issues at the organization. The primary issue highlighted in the interview was increased waiting times in the emergency department. She commented on previous attempts by the leadership to address this issue, such as recruiting staff and allocating resources.

However, these strategies were ineffective due to a lack of sustainable planning and the failure to involve frontline medical staff in decision-making. Dr. Rodriguez further delved into the organizational culture, which lacked collaboration and interdisciplinary teamwork due to the hierarchical structure, which hindered effective communication channels, impeding the efforts to address the challenge. Additionally, she shared her experiences with interprofessional teams in her previous workplace, where a collaborative approach and teamwork led to significant improvements in patient outcomes. However, she finds this a pertinent gap in St. Mary’s.

I employed effective strategies to gather sufficient information regarding the healthcare issue at St. Mary’s Hospital. Firstly, I used an open-ended questioning approach to encourage my interviewee, Dr. Rodriguez, to provide detailed responses. This approach allows interviewers to collect comprehensive thoughts without probing answers to the questions, offering a more nuanced understanding of the topic (Neuert et al., 2021). Additionally, I created a comfortable and confidential environment for Dr. Rodriguez to foster trust and encourage her to share honest insights, especially about leadership actions and the collaborative culture within the hospital.

Issue Identification

Prolonged stay (waiting times) in emergency departments is a significant issue in healthcare sectors worldwide. It is associated with an increased rate of mortality and poor patient outcomes. According to the literature, patients who waited more than four hours in an emergency department were nine percentage points higher in a hospital with 100% occupancy than in a facility with 85% bed occupancy. These long ED waiting times are interlinked with an augmented rate of hospital stays due to limited resources within the healthcare facility (Paling et al., 2020).

To address this pertinent issue, an interdisciplinary approach is essential. Nurses, physicians, specialists, and administrative and support staff working collaboratively can optimize patient flow. For instance, interprofessional teams at triage stations can expedite decision-making and prioritize high-acuity cases, eventually reducing waiting times (Corkery et al., 2021). By fostering collaboration and shared responsibility, an interdisciplinary approach enhances the quality of care and streamlines operations (Dinh et al., 2020), ultimately alleviating ED waiting times and improving the overall patient experience.

Change Theories That Could Lead to an Interdisciplinary Solution

The most commonly used change theory in healthcare settings is the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle, which involves planning a change, implementing it on a small scale, studying the results, and then modifying the improvement areas to act on a larger scale (Chen et al., 2021). This change theory can develop an interdisciplinary solution for prolonged ED waiting times by providing a systematic and iterative approach. It is relevant to our issue as it encourages data-driven modifications, addressing comprehensive and multifaceted contributors to prolonged ED waiting times. According to Alqattan et al. (2021), the interdisciplinary team can plan and implement change strategies to manage patient flow, such as introducing interprofessional triaging, augmenting human resources, and establishing standardized communication protocols

The resource’s credibility can be assessed through the CRAAP criteria – currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose. These studies are pertinent to the issue addressed in this analysis. Credible journals authorize them and provide accurate and precise claims to support the PDSA model. This model is frequently endorsed by reputable organizations such as the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and is extensively implemented in various healthcare settings.

Leadership Strategies That Could Lead to an Interdisciplinary Solution

Transformational Leadership is an effective strategy that involves inspiring and motivating team members to achieve shared goals. Since the prolonged ED waiting times require an interdisciplinary solution, this leadership style is best suited to foster a collaborative and innovative culture (Iqbal et al., 2019). Transformational Leaders can help establish an interdisciplinary solution by supporting team members to work around a shared vision, in our case, to improve ED efficiency and enhance patient care. These leaders motivate healthcare professionals to collaborate and show commitment towards the change strategies planned and implemented against prolonged ED waiting times. Thus, this leadership style is highly relevant to addressing our identified St. Mary’s Hospital issue.

The resource used to describe transformational leadership is a credible source as it is published within 3-5 years, it presents the claims accurately, and the purpose of the study aligns with the purpose of our analysis. This leadership theory is well-established, supported by extensive research, and widely presented in the healthcare literature. Notable leadership frameworks, such as Bass’s Transformational Leadership Theory, support the credibility of this strategy as an effective approach for achieving positive change in healthcare organizations.

Collaboration Approaches for Interdisciplinary Teams

Interprofessional Education (IPE) is a collaborative approach that emphasizes coordination of healthcare professionals into cohesive teams. It promotes shared learning experiences, fostering effective communication and collaboration among various disciplines (Zorek et al., 2021). This approach addresses prolonged ER waiting times by fostering interprofessional collaboration where healthcare professionals understand each other’s expertise and work cohesively to streamline patient flow and optimize emergency care processes.

The resource is credible and relevant based on the CRAAP criteria as it was published in 2021 (within the past five years), the framework highlighted in the study is relevant to our pertinent issue, and the researchers and the journal hold credibility. Moreover, the claims are adequately supported by other professional resources. The Interprofessional Education approach is highlighted and recognized in healthcare education and is implemented in academic and clinical settings to promote interdisciplinary collaboration and address several healthcare issues.

References

Alqattan, S., Albraheem, A., Aldahi, A., Zagloul, A., Intes, R., Ghanim, M., Jahan, H., & John, A. (2021). Quality improvement study in emergency department waiting room times in a private hospital in Kuwait. Saudi Journal of Emergency Medicine, 117–124. https://doi.org/10.24911/SJEMed/72-1606058491

Chen, Y., VanderLaan, P. A., & Heher, Y. K. (2021). Using the model for improvement and plan‐do‐study‐act to effect smart change and advance quality. Cancer Cytopathology, 129(1), 9–14. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncy.22319

Corkery, N., Avsar, P., Moore, Z., O’Connor, T., Nugent, L., & Patton, D. (2021). What is the impact of team triage as an intervention on waiting times in an adult emergency department? – A systematic review. International Emergency Nursing, 58, 101043. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ienj.2021.101043

Dinh, J. V., Traylor, A. M., Kilcullen, M. P., Perez, J. A., Schweissing, E. J., Venkatesh, A., & Salas, E. (2020). Cross-disciplinary care: A systematic review on teamwork processes in health care. Small Group Research, 51(1), 125–166. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046496419872002

Iqbal, K., Fatima, T., & Naveed, M. (2019). The impact of transformational leadership on nurses’ organizational commitment: A multiple mediation model. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 10(1), 262–275. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe10010021