Interprofessional teams are becoming the standard in healthcare due to their ability to address a variety of issues. The qualifications of individual members allow them to employ expertise from numerous fields, and they can use their strengths to improve treatment quality and correct potential mistakes. Long-term care units can benefit from the use of interprofessional teams that consist of physicians and nurses with different specializations. The groups would offer comprehensive care to the patients, who may be affected by numerous issues, and produce improved outcomes using the iCARE concept.
Compassion
Small teams that consist of people with similar experiences and opinions may be affected by similar trends of burnout and dehumanization of the patient. An interprofessional team should consist of workers who have different outlooks and usually work in dissimilar contexts. Moll, Frolic, and Key (2015) identify empathy and communications as significant contributors to efficiency and positive outcomes. Orchard, Bursey, Ptereson, and Verrilli (2016) also note that experiences in an interprofessional team enhance understanding and cooperation. Interprofessional teams are a valuable step to the achievement of compassionate values.
Advocacy
Interprofessional teams can encompass the entirety of a patient’s interactions with the healthcare system, providing a comprehensive overview of the process. As such, members can moderate others’ proposals using patient advocacy guidelines to achieve the best outcomes for both parties. Nurses are an especially important member group in this regard due to their extensive practice in the area. It is easier to protect the patient’s interests during communications between two or more individuals than during interactions with corporate entities such as hospitals. As such, interprofessional teams contribute to patient advocacy without dismissing the interests of the facility.
Resilience
Care can be a complicated and stressful process, and medical workers may occasionally be prone to fatigue due to continued engagement and the sensitive nature of the job. As such, the development of the ability to withstand prolonged pressure and adapt to changes in the environment is essential to a healthcare provider. According to Noureddine, Hagge, Brady, and Ofstad (2016), interprofessional teams can provide students and workers with diverse and challenging situations that enable the growth of resilience. In addition, various members can be good at handling different types of stress and assume a leadership position when necessary.
Evidence-Based Practice
The slow propagation of results obtained in evidence-based practice between professions and institutions is a significant barrier to its popularity. Interprofessional teams can help alleviate the issue by ensuring that people with different professional connection networks participate in studies and spread the results. A higher number of channels that transmit information about a particular improvement improves the likelihood that workers elsewhere will become interested in the findings. As such, evidence-based practice would advance at a faster pace and become more decentralized while also allowing for more opportunities to test the results.
Summary
Interprofessional teams can contribute to outcomes in long-term care institutions considerably. By combining with iCARE components, they can improve their productivity and achieve better results for both patients and institutions. Ultimately, the adoption of the approach may even help promote aspects such as evidence-based practice on a global level. While some long-term care facilities do not employ interdisciplinary teams, they should be presented with convincing evidence of the efficiency and success of the method. Real proof that their procedures can be improved without significant difficulties should convince most organizations to consider the idea and potentially accept it.
References
Moll, S., Frolic, A., & Key, B. (2015). Investing in compassion: Exploring mindfulness as a strategy to enhance interpersonal relationships in healthcare practice. Journal of Hospital Administration, 4(6), 36-45.
Noureddine, N., Hagge, D. K., Brady, D., & Ofstad, W. (2016). Interprofessional education: Building student resilience and grit through teamwork. International Journal of Nursing and Clinical Practices, 3(199), 2.
Orchard, C., Bursey, S., Virelli, S., & Pederson, L. (2016). Can workshops provide a way to enhance patient/client centered collaborative teams: Evidence of outcomes from TEAMc online facilitator training and team workshops. International Journal of Practice-based Learning in Health and Social Care, 4(2), 73-87.