Collaboration and Teamwork in Healthcare.

Every human being needs access to quality healthcare, which can be achieved when all the stakeholders play their role. When there is a failure by one of the partners, the services offered will be reduced, and the patients will always suffer. Collaboration and teamwork in the healthcare sector make all the parties benefit, and the effectiveness of the service offered will be appreciated by the patients. Human factors play a critical role in ensuring the effectiveness of the healthcare system.

Benefits of effective interdisciplinary collaboration in healthcare.

Patients benefit as they will get health care services effectively and efficiently. Teamwork reduces the risks of injuries and deaths in hospitals; hence, patients will not be afraid to seek medical services. Collaboration improves the quality of healthcare, and when the population of a region is healthy, their productivity increases, which will make them contribute to the growth of the economy.

The organizations benefit by achieving their set missions and goals. Through collaboration, more patients will get treated, which means that there will be reduced cases of death or injuries, which creates a better brand for the organization. Being able to manage multiple patients effectively, the profit margins for the team will increase. 

To the team member, the effort in doing tasks will reduce. Working together helps them reduce the complexity of jobs, which causes stress to individuals, reducing their productivity. Teamwork also encourages innovation, and the team will look for better ways of providing healthcare to the patients and meeting the organization’s needs. 

Characteristics of effective collaboration in healthcare.

Effective communication.

When team members communicate, they reduce their errors and work together. The healthcare professionals will help the patients better when they communicate about what they are facing and give feedback when required. When the organization communicates what they want from the team members, they will be able to collaborate and do a better job that will meet the needs of the patients.

Leadership and management.

Leaders are responsible for setting policies that define how the organizations will work. Good leaders manage their team members better and address all the problems they may be facing when doing their job. When team members have a conducive environment for doing their jobs, they will provide a better service to the patients, and they will be more collaborative hence making all the stakeholders benefit. 

Training, setting a vision and appropriate use of resources. 

Frequent training by the management helps ensure the team members are aware of the problems that patients face and how they can solve them. Having a vision helps to remind everybody what they are supposed to do and the strategies they can use to achieve it. There will be adequate communication through collaboration, and resources will be utilized better in the organization. Properly utilizing resources will help minimize wastage ensure the availability of funds at all times, and this will reduce the cost of healthcare for both the organization and patients.

Defining and respect for roles. 

When all the stakeholders are aware of their roles, that will be helpful. The management should provide a conducive environment for employees to operate who will appreciate by delivering better services to the patients. Every employee’s role is essential to guarantee success; hence respect should be accorded if quality health care is to be provided. Through collaboration, everybody benefits, and the work becomes more comfortable.

Barriers to collaboration.

Personal differences. 

The presence of personal differences prevents communication between the team members. When there is inadequate communication, the services offered will be affected, making the patients not appreciate hence not collaborate.

Lack of communication and training.

Training helps to make the healthcare professionals understand the needs of the patients and make strategies on how they will do that. When there is poor communication between the organization, patients, and team members, productivity is affected as they will not understand the needs of each stakeholder. 

Poor leadership structure. 

Policies guide the organization and team members on how services should be delivered. Poor leadership will prevent collaboration from occurring since there is no vision created. All the stakeholders will be affected, and patients will not appreciate their healthcare facilities’ services.

Lack of accountability and inclusivity in decision making. 

Accountability boils down to each stakeholder’s roles in the collaboration, and they are playing their roles effectively. Decision making should also include all the people, and when they are not included, some needs of the people will not be achieved, resulting in a conflict that will affect productivity and the whole system.

Evidence-based strategies to overcome barriers to healthcare interdisciplinary collaboration.

Training programs.

It is one of the EB strategies that has effectively made the healthcare professionals enhance their critical thinking and awareness of the practice. It will help them identify some of the mistakes and loopholes in the system and identify ways to correct them.

Mentorship programs.

It is another EB strategy that enlightens all the parties on their roles. Experienced personnel will be used to offer guidance to the young team members and ensure that they are doing the right thing. Also, from the team’s contribution, new methods can be suggested that will help overcome the barriers to effective collaboration and teamwork in the sector. Through mentorship, a proper channel has been created to address conflicts facing the team members. Working in collaboration with all the team members will benefit all the stakeholders and ensure the quality of healthcare worldwide improves.