Collaboration in an Outpatient Clinic Setting: Strengthening Care for Patients
Interprofessional collaboration is critical to improve the health of patients. According to Tomasik & Fleming (2015), "physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, and other clinical and administrative professionals" must all work together to ensure that patient care is optimized (p.7). Such collaboration does not take place organically and without considerable effort by the persons involved and the institution itself. Often, there may be friction between different specialists because they speak different professional languages or there may simply be an absence of effective communication channels to foster dialogue. How to improve interprofessional communication in outpatient settings?
Practice-Focused Question(s)
Will an intervention designed to teach communication skills to different types of healthcare providers enhance satisfaction with the level of professional communication at an outpatient clinic?
Context for the Doctoral Project
As a nurse at an outpatient clinic, I have personally seen professional tension between different healthcare providers, particularly between physicians and nurses. Nurses with different areas of specialty can also be in conflict. There is often a lack of clarity about what professional responsibilities are and even though a provider may be technically astute, this does not necessarily mean he or she has strong communication skills. There may also be a gender gap in communication styles and preferences given that the nursing profession has historically been female-dominated, versus medicine, and been more patient focused, which can create a very different perception of the optimal way to proceed and how to prioritize issues in treatment (Bankston & Glazer 2013).
Possible Sources of Evidence
A literature review of reports conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and professional nursing journals of interventions to improve healthcare will be used to structure the intervention designed to improve communication skills. Providers will be interviewed before and after the intervention using semistructured questions as well as answer a questionnaire about their perceptions of interprofessional communication and level of satisfaction.
References
Bankston, K. & Glazer, G. (2013) Legislative: Interprofessional collaboration: What's taking so long? OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 19 (1). Retrieved from:
http://www.nursingworld.org/Mainmenucategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/Columns/Legislative/Interprofessional-Collaboration.html
Tomasik, J., & Fleming, C. (2015). Lessons from the field: Promising interprofessional collaboration practices. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation http://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/reports/2015/rwjf418568
