Running head: INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION 1

A Key Issue in Nursing: Interprofessional Collaboration

Nicky Reed

Ferris State University

INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION 2

Abstract

Nursing is a profession with high intellectual clinicians that have the greatest impact on

healthcare delivery. A key issue within healthcare is interprofessional collaboration amongst

healthcare professionals. Many clinicians touch the lives of patient’s everyday but lack the

communication between professions. It takes a motivated team to provide efficient and excellent

care to patients. No one person could conquer issues within healthcare alone. Implementing a

positive and effective change process is monumental to bonding relationships amongst

healthcare professionals. Transformational nursing leaders provide qualities to enrich the

nursing profession with creative approaches to aid in change. Changing the way care is

delivered is the answer to success. Implementing a patient-centered team-based approach

amongst all healthcare clinicians is proven to be the solution to driving down cost of healthcare,

providing quality efficient and consistent care within the healthcare system.
INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION 3

Interprofessional Collaboration Concerns within Nursing

Nursing historically has been a profession that existed to care for patients at the bedside

that consisted of handing out medications and making sure they are meeting goals to become

well enough to go home. For the past seven years, nurses have been encouraged to be a voice in

the patient’s plan of care and work collaboratively with other disciplines to provide the best

quality of care. Within this paper, the issue of interprofessional collaboration will be identified

and the nurse’s involvement in a partnership style of care.

For the last couple of decades it has been identified that to provide excellent and quality

care to patients, all care team members must join forces to deliver care that is consistent and

unrestrained. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recognized the need for interprofessional

collaboration stating that it provides a positive impact to the care delivery system within

organizations (Bankston & Glazer, 2013). Benefits of interprofessional collaboration are

significant to patient outcomes and organizational performance. Alliance amongst disciplines

has been a key issue for quite some time. Nurses struggle to catch on to advantages of

communicating effectively which has been an on-going challenge for nursing leadership.

The suspected concerns of why interprofessional collaboration has been so difficult to

overcome are the gaps between genders, superior complex personalities, and segregated

educational programs (Bankston & Glazer, 2013). The nursing profession is predominately

female and the medicine profession is 67.6% male-dominate (AMA, 2012). Potential gender

bias creates an environment that is not the most conducive to collaborative communication. The

prospective obstacle of physicians or providers having personalities that dominate over nurses

affects a collaborative relationship. A partnership between nurse and provider is built on trust
INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION 4

and structured communication (Clark & Greenawald, 2013). Newer nurses tend to lack the

confidence that is required to have interactive relationships amongst disciplines. Many nurses

become habitual in completing tasks and lack the ability to critically think. It is up to leadership

to mentor nurses on gaining the qualities needed to communicate effectively with providers. As

a healthcare system, executive leadership has a responsibility to encourage and promote a team

focus. Fostering power relationships between nurses and providers to achieve excellence in care

delivery and a patient centered focus will create sustainability.

Facilitating Change in Practice

In order to integrate interprofessional collaboration within an organization a

transformation must occur. An appropriate change theory that would be effective is Lippitt’s

Phases of Change Theory. Lippitt, Watson, and Westly built on Kurt Lewins change theory by

focusing on the role of the change agent (Mitchell, 2013). For change to be successful, a leader

must inspire, motivate and support the change process in a positive fashion. Becoming a

cheerleader is an important role of a change agent. Lippitt’s change theory addresses identifying

the problem, assessing the level of motivation of nurses and providers to the change, assess the

change agents motivation and ability to obtain resources, select the change objective, choosing

the appropriate role of the change agent (leader), maintain the change and disconnect the role of

the change agent (Mitchell, 2013, p.33). Applying the change theory to nursing and other

professionals within healthcare is often challenged because of personal motivators. A change

agent must seek out the individual “why’s” for personal recognition and motivation. According

to the American Nurses Association (2009) standards of professional performance, nurse

administrators collaborate with nursing and other interdisciplinary teams by being a model (p.
INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION 5

39). Transformational nursing leaders create an environment that fosters collaboration and

motivation.

Implementation of a team-based care model is a way to facilitate interprofessional

collaboration within the organization and community. Team-based healthcare delivery systems

are led by physicians with a distribution of the workload being placed on all members of the

healthcare team. Think of patients being considered as a project and the team members are the

doctors, nurses, primary care staff, community support, and caregivers. The team members plan

and coordinate a short and long term care plan. A patient-centered team-based care delivery

model will be an advantage to the healthcare system by providing a “quadruple aim of care”

(Quinn, 2014). The care delivery model will improve the patient experience, heighten

population health, reduce healthcare cost, and provide a valued and efficient work environment

for healthcare clinicians (Quinn, 2014).

One of the greatest issues within healthcare is the broken system and communication.

Transparency and access to care is appreciated and valued by patients. Incorporating a team-

based approach will create a flawless transition for patients and families. Nurses play a key role

in the process of prevention, screening, entrance of the healthcare system and discharging home.

Comparing the healthcare system to the aviation industry, the take off and landings are the most

critical to patient success. To progress towards a patient-centered team-based care model that

incorporates interprofessional collaboration, management teams must get the ball rolling with

healthcare. High functioning teams are the solution to patient and healthcare success and

sustainability.
INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION 6

References

American Medical Association. (2015). Women physicians’ congress: A profile and history of

women in medicine. Retrieved from https://www.ama-assn.org/sites/default/files/media-

browser/public/wps/profile-history-women-in-medicine_0.pdf

American Nurses Association. (2009). Nursing administration: Scope & standards of practice.

Silver Springs, MD: Nursesbooks.org

Bankston, K. & Glazer, G. (2013). Legislative: Interprofessional collaboration: What’s taking so

long? OJIN, 19(1). doi: 10.3912/OJIN.Vol18No01LegCol01

Clark, R. C. & Greenawald, M. (2013). Nurse-physician leadership: Insights into

interprofessional collaboration. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 43(12): 653-659.

doi: 10.1097/NNA.0000000000000007

Mitchell, G. (2013). Selecting the best theory to implement planned change. Nursing

Management, 20(1): 32-37. doi: 10.7748/nm2013.04.20.1.32.e1013

Quinn, T. (2014, December 9). Bringing a management model to healthcare: Team-based care

[Web Blog Post]. Retrieved from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2014/12/09/bringing-a-management-model-to-

healthcare-team-based-care/#631e2c3333a1