The Importance of Interprofessional Collaboration in Healthcare

Numerous studies show that collaboration within healthcare teams is very important. In Zwarenstein et al (2009) article reviewing the importance of collaboration within the healthcare team, the extent to which healthcare professionals collaborate affects the quality of services they give to their clients. They explain that if the healthcare professionals do not work well together and do not communicate and interact well with each other, then there may arise problems in giving care services to their service users. Therefore, hospitals have come up with Interprofessional Collaboration strategies to be able to improve the work interactions among healthcare professionals. Studies show that the interprofessional collaboration interventions lead to improved healthcare such as effective drug use, reduced hospital charges to clients, shorter stay in the hospital, among other positive outcomes.

            Working as a nurse in a multidisciplinary care team has helped me grow in my profession. I have been able to learn how to collaborate with other healthcare professionals to give better healthcare results and satisfaction to clients. I have also achieved a great sense of job satisfaction. This is because I feel my skill is appreciated by my teammates. In addition, I am able to learn new skills from the multidisciplinary team. I get motivated and fulfilled when our clients are satisfied with our services. The clients get better health care services because the team has a range of healthcare professionals who offer a comprehensive care to the patient. This helps reduce the time and cost that the clients would incur moving from one facility to another seeking specific healthcare services that are otherwise found in a single place where a multidisciplinary team is present. Also, the patient gets involved in decision making thus improving the clients' outcome and giving general satisfaction.

Reference

Zwarenstein, M., Goldman, J., & Reeves, S. (2009). Interprofessional collaboration: Effects of        practice‐based interventions on professional practice and healthcare outcomes. The            Cochrane Library.