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.