Introduction
In the healthcare setting collaboration and teamwork entails collective planning, decision-making, problem-solving, coordinating efforts, and establishing effective communication. The main goal of the collaboration is to enhance the holistic and safe delivery of care to patients. Studies in disciplines such as aviation and military have demonstrated that teamwork is essential in enhancing safety; similarly, Ajeigbe et al. (2014) noted that collaborative problem-solving results in the efficient delivery of services. The following paper discusses the components of teamwork and collaboration in the health care setting.
Shared Governance as a Key Component of Collaboration
Shared governance includes forming inter-professional committees that act as a means of facilitating open discussion, identifying and setting priorities, and collective goal-reaching in relation to the wellbeing of the patients. For example, the use of the electronic system in a healthcare setting makes it easy for caregivers to identify issues affecting patients, and hence they can have a common discussion on how to address the issues as a team.
The modern health care system emphasizes the importance of providing quality healthcare to patients. The patient is placed at the center of the system while the caregivers work as the surrounding environment. In order to ensure the safety of the patient, a good work environment is very important. This is achieved by bringing all the stakeholders on board in decision making processes on matters that relate to the healthcare system. As such, one key component of teamwork and collaboration is shared governance. This entails empowering nurses and other practitioners to take part in decision-making, especially the decisions that have a direct influence on care delivery.
Constructive Skills of Conflict Solving as a Balancer of Collaboration
Interdisciplinary teamwork and collaboration is a critical model for the delivery of health care to patients. Teamwork employs the practice of enhanced communication in order to ensure that decisions made depict a cohesive group that has common goals. In order to ensure that collaboration is realized in the health care setting centered approach for the various health, providers are essential. The approach involves bringing people with diverse skills and strengths together in a manner to leverage on each so as to overcome the inherent weaknesses. This reduces possible negativities in an organization and promotes the perception of positivity. For instance, Ajeigbe et al. (2014) found that active teamwork practice increases the perception of job satisfaction. This is very important in care delivery for patients.
Collaboration can be enhanced by team building and training processes that bring the healthcare providers together. The initiatives enhance the skills of learning to detect, estimate, and accept cognitive diversity as a means of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the professionals. This forms the basis of learning to negotiate and reach a compromise to solve interpersonal conflicts within a group (Hood, 2014). Team building processes can lead to the development of informal hierarchy based on a shared power system, which serves as a means of solving conflict; reliance on the power of data, goodwill, and expertise to enhance care for patients. For example, nursing has shifted from knowledge-based practice to evidence-based practice (Hood, 2014). The evidence-based practice requires inter-professional collaboration in order to ensure the delivery of quality care.
Conclusion
Teamwork and collaboration play a great role in enhancing quality care delivery. In order to build teams that work as a unit, a multitude of interpersonal skills and considerable investment in coaching and training the human capital is required. Also, a good work environment is required to enhance teamwork such as the use of electronic health records that enhance on time-sharing of patients’ data. Thus, collaboration and teamwork promote a hospital healing environment where all the staff work towards the wellness of the patients.
References
Ajeigbe, D. O., McNeese-Smith, D., Phillips, L. R., & Leach, L. S. (2014). Effect of Nurse-Physician Teamwork in the Emergency Department Nurse and Physician Perception of Job Satisfaction. Journal of Nursing & Care, 3(1), 141-148.
Hood, L. J. (2014). Leddy & Pepper’s conceptual bases of professional nursing (8th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.