Interprofessional collaboration is an essential part of healthcare. It provides a platform for healthcare professionals to interact and work cohesively towards the common goal of providing safe, effective, efficient, timely and equitable patient-centred care. According to Hickey & Brosnan (2017), the World Health Organization defined interprofessional collaborative practice as “when multiple health workers from different professional backgrounds work together with the patients, families, carers, and communities to deliver the highest quality of care” (pp. 232-233.). Interprofessional collaboration encompasses four domains including values and ethics which focuses on maintaining a climate of mutual respect and shared values, roles and responsibilities which emphasizes using one’s knowledge and the knowledge of the other professionals to promote the health of the patient, interprofessional communication which stresses the need for effective communication, and team and teamwork which focuses on relationship-building values and team dynamic in providing patient-centered care (Interprofessional Education Collaborative, 2016).

Out nurses work together with multiple healthcare team (HCT) members including surgeons, physical therapists, case managers, discharge planners, just to mention a few. Thus, as a nurse leader, I must apply my leadership skills to support collaborative practices and team effectiveness (Hickey & Brosnan, 2017). To be successful, nurse leaders should constantly evaluate themselves, use their strengths and improve upon areas of growth to better their collaborative skills. My strengths, as identified by the Clifton strength assessment include achiever, learner, responsibility, belief and futuristic (Gallup, 2018). Being an achiever and having a sense of responsibility will help me to do everything in power the ensure that I have an effective team that works well with all the HCT member to the provider patient-centered care. As a learner, I am willing to learn from each member of the HCT, respecting roles and having the understanding that each one has something unique to offer, and apply the knowledge I gain to improve my nursing team. However, one area of growth will be to understand my boundaries and trust others and give people room to operate at their own pace. Being an achiever, I tend to want to take everything upon myself if I perceive others are not operating as fast as I would. Hickey & Brosnan (2017) explained that developing teams require mutual trust and it is also important to share accountability with other members of the HCT as well as the patient.

References

Gallup (2018). CliftonStrengths results. Retrieved from https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/

Hickey, J. V., & Brosnan, C. A. (2017). Evaluation of health care quality in for DNPs (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.

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