Two pages
Be sure that your assessment addresses the following criteria. Please study the scoring guide carefully so you will know what is needed for a distinguished score:
Reflect on an interdisciplinary collaboration experience, noting ways in which it was successful and unsuccessful in achieving desired outcomes.
Identify how poor collaboration can result in inefficient management of human and financial resources, citing supporting evidence from the literature.
Identify best-practice leadership strategies from the literature that would improve an interdisciplinary teams ability to achieve its goals, citing at least one author from the literature.
Identify best-practice interdisciplinary collaboration strategies to help a team achieve its goals and work together, citing the work of at least one author.
Communicate in a professional manner, is easily audible, and uses proper grammar. Format reference list in current APA style.
You will need to relate an experience that you have had collaborating on a project. This could be at your current or former place of practice, or another relevant project that will enable you to address the requirements. In addition to describing your experience, you should explain aspects of the collaboration that helped the team make progress toward relevant goals or outcomes, as well as aspects of the collaboration that could have been improved.
A simplified gap-analysis approach may be useful:
What happened?
What went well?
What did not go well?
What should have happened?
After your personal reflection, examine the scenario in the Vila Health activity and discuss the ways in which the interdisciplinary team did not collaborate effectively and the negative implications for the human and financial resources of the interdisciplinary team and the organization as a whole.
Sample paper
Interdisciplinary Collaboration Experience Two years ago Ascension Saint Vincents changed its electronic charting system from Cerner to PowerChart. Management collaborated with staff regarding the change by way of email and scheduled staff meetings. PowerChart was touted as a tool that would eliminate the physical chart, handwritten notes, and handwritten orders. Additionally, it was intended that physicians would enter their orders. The collaboration was successful because we are now using PowerChart as our electronic charting system. Training for the new system was provided by charge nurses on each unit. It was unsuccessful because only the names, limited demographic information, and prior admission dates were passed on to the new system. The paper charts have yet to be uploaded to the new system. Paper charts must be requested from the medical records department. The in-patient psychiatric unit, where I am employed has found the change to PowerChart particularly worrisome because the pre-loaded order sets are geared towards use on medical units, which means that the nurses spend more time manually entering orders into the system. An example of this is reflected in the medication withdrawal protocol, which is used frequently in our unit. The program was written in such a way that it cannot be altered by the user and it does not reflect the behavioral health order-set. That means it has to be entered manually every time it is used. Also, many physicians are not putting their orders into the system and continue to call nurses to input their orders. PowerChart is a system that can be designed based on the users needs and preferences. Ascension Saint Vincents should have collaborated with the psychiatric unit when having the system designed. Reflective nursing practice can help us to look at the past and understand how and why certain mistakes were made and how we can move forward and apply our learning to new situations as they arise. At the same time, it allows us to ponder what went right, why it went right and how to apply what we have learned to future decisions. The switch from Cerner to PowerChart was a learning experience that we can take lessons from and hopefully apply what we have learned to new situations in a meaningful way(Jacobs, 2016). Managing Human and Financial Resources The scenario at Vila Health depicts how poor collaboration results in inefficient management of human and financial resources. No collaboration took place between corporate management, facility management, and other staff members. This led to frustrated and unhappy staff. Collaboration has been proven to decrease work tasks and boost occupational satisfaction(Bosch & Mansell, 2015). Staff was not sufficiently trained and the system did not always function as intended. This inevitably led to overtime which puts a strain on the budget. Furthermore, additional training would be an added expense. Healthcare managers experience challenges and conflict in their role because they strive to support their staff by providing more professional development, but this creates conflict in meeting financial requirements(Cogin, Ng, & Lee, 2016, para. 44). Best Practices to Achieve Goals In my research, I have identified two best practice leadership strategies that improve an interdisciplinary teams ability to reach its goals. They are role clarity and the ability to overcome personal differences(Bosch & Mansell, 2015, para. 3). Role clarity means that each member is relied on to execute his or her special role. Individual contributions should be recognized, yet the center of attention needs to be on group success. Overcoming personal differences allows the group to function as one unit. It is a synergistic approach in which the goal supersedes personal differences(Bosch & Mansell, 2015). In the Vila Health scenario, the managers should have been more aware of their roles as leaders and acted as such to serve as examples for the staff. Also, it would be helpful for staff and management to put aside their differences and realize that they are one unit and that they are all dependent on one another. Best Practices to Achieve Goals and Work Together More Effectively Best practice interdisciplinary collaboration strategies to help a team achieve its goals and work together more effectively are collective leadership and trust and confidence. Collective leadership is the process by which responsibility is dispersed equally among each member as they work toward a common goal. Trust and confidence involve team members being confident in their abilities and are trusted by their cohorts to use their skills and abilities toward a common goal. A collective leadership approach would have given the managers at Vila health a sense of being part of a team. Planned team building activities with other managers at Vila Health would be helpful to develop trust and confidence among the managers at Vila Health by allowing them to showcase their specialized skills and abilities and thereby fostering a sense of trust(Bosch & Mansell, 2015).
