Importanceof teamwork and collaboration in healthcare delivery and its effecton patient care and patient safety
Importanceof teamwork and collaboration in healthcare delivery and its effecton patient care and patient safety
Effectiveteamwork is an essential component in the delivery of healthcare.Consequently, collaboration also plays a critical role as a resourcein the decision-making processes. The rise in practices that involveteams and collaborative care have been indicated to improve theprimary health care and public health. Specific areas that havebenefited from this practice include the reduction of staff shortage,work related stress and burnouts among the healthcare providers.Additionally, the significant decrease of workloads and jobsatisfaction are also part of this progress [ CITATION Jan12 l 1033 ].
Collaborationencompasses the interaction among the healthcare staff and otherfacilities as well as stakeholders’ validation and consolidation.The utilization of both internal and external involvements areessential to ensure that varied viewpoints are considered andevaluated based on the issues that arise. This facilitates themovement towards problem solving and service improvement. A goodexample can be observed in the case where different healthcareprofessionals come together and share perspectives and knowledgebased on their skills and experiences. In this way, new informationcan be acquired that specifically targets patients’ welfare forinstance collaboration between hospitals, research institutes,pharmaceutical companies and other stakeholders fosters more insighton the best ways of treatment and improves the well-being ofpatients.
Teamworkis a critical component in healthcare to achieving high reliability.In this regard, the effects of inter-professional collaborativepractice and collaboration are directly associated with betterprovision of health services and improvement of patient safety.Patient care and security are upheld since productive partnershipminimizes adverse happenings that occur due to miscommunicationsduring patient care or even in the allocation of duties andresponsibilities [ CITATION Jan12 l 1033 ].Forillustration purposes, teamwork among nurses and physiciansfacilitates good communication, commitment to a common goal, mutualtrust and an ambient working environment. All these contribute to anefficient team that provides care to patients at the highest possiblelevel thus minimizing potential risks.
Implementationof cooperation minimizes competition by guaranteeing the flow ofmutual respect accompanied by shared knowledge and practices, anddecision-making. A combination of these two aspects teamwork andcollaboration, ultimately facilitates the development of safe andpositive changes that result in better work environments and increasethe quality of patient care and safety practices.
References
Dijk, J. V. (2012). Patient Safety In Health Care. Retrieved from Queens http://healthsci.queensu.ca/education/oipep/online_modules/issues_in_health_care/patient_safety_in_health_care