Question

Post an explanation of your understanding of interprofessional practice.

Explain the position on interprofessional practice for a professional nursing organization that you are a member of or of which you plan to become a member.

Then, explain what you think is the best collaborative approach to manage Ms. Tuckerno’s care.Case Study:

Ms. Tuckerno has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). The patient receives care at an internal medicine clinic. Her internist is not in the office today and she is being treated by the nurse practitioner. The patient is on two medications for her MS, three different blood pressure medications, one medication for thyroid disease, one diabetic pill daily, insulin injections twice a day, she uses medical cannabis, and uses eye drops for glaucoma. Upon assessing the patient, the nurse practitioner (NP) decides her treatment plan should be adjusted. The NP discontinues some of the patient’s meds and discontinues medical cannabis. She orders the patient to follow up in two weeks.

The patient returns and is seen by her internist. The internist speaks with the patient and reviews her medical chart. The internist states to the patient, "I am dissatisfied with the care you received from the nurse practitioner." The internist places the patient back on originally prescribed medications and medical cannabis.

Identify a professional nursing organization and review their position on interprofessional practice

Answer 1

Interprofessional Practice (IPP) is a collaborative practice which occurs when healthcare providers work with people from within their own profession, with people outside their profession and with patients and their families. Interprofessional collaborative practice has been defined as a process which includes communication and decision-making, enabling a synergistic influence of grouped knowledge and skills. Elements of collaborative practice include responsibility, accountability, coordination, communication, cooperation, assertiveness, autonomy, and mutual trust and respect. It is this partnership that creates an interprofessional team designed to work on common goals to improve patient outcomes. Collaborative interactions exhibit a blending of professional cultures and are achieved though sharing skills and knowledge to improve the quality of patient care. There are important characteristics that determine team effectiveness, including members seeing their roles as important to the team, open communication, the existence of autonomy, and equality of resources. It is important to note that poor interprofessional collaboration can have a negative impact on the quality of patient care.

The Healthy Work Environment Best Practice Guideline (BPG) is an evidence-based document that describes intracollaborative practice among nurses. It offers much valuable information that is intended to be read and applied over time, in incremental steps for best results. We recommend you review and reflect on the document and implement the recommendations appropriate for your organization at a particular time. This approach may be helpful:

1. Study the organizing framework - Intra-professional Collaborative Practice among Nurses helps to understand relationships among key factors in the workplace and the framework.
2. Identify a focus - identifying an area in your organization where you see a need to create a supportive environment for collaborative health care.
3. Read the recommendations and the summary of research for the area you’re focusing on - Each element of the model offers a number of evidence-based recommendations. The recommendations are statements of what nursesG, organizations, and systems do, or how they behave, to provide a supportive, collaborative work environment. The literature supporting each recommendation is summarized briefly. Reading the summaries will help you understand the “why” of the recommendations.
4. Focus on recommendations or behaviour most appropriate for your situation - There is a lot of information to consider in this guideline. Our recommendations are not rules. They are tools to assist individuals, organizations and systems to develop and sustain intra-collaborative health care. Take time to explore the ideas, and then identify behaviour that needs to be analyzed and perhaps strengthened for your situation.
5. Start planning - When you have selected a small number of recommendations and particular behaviours to work on, consider strategies for making them happen. Make a tentative plan of what to do to address the issues you are focusing on. If you need more information, you might wish to consult some of the material in the references.
6. Discuss the plan with others - Take time to get input on your plan from people it will affect, those whose engagement is critical to success, and from trusted advisors who will give you helpful feedback. Consulting others is important for developing and sustaining collaborative health care.
7. Get started, then keep revising - Keep gathering feedback as you implement recommendations from this guideline and be responsive, adjusting your plan to reflect what you learn as you go. Developing and sustaining collaborative health care is a lifelong quest; enjoy the journey.

Nurses must develop an understanding of the roles, values and behaviours that support intra-professional collaborative ractice by learning about the attributes of supportive teams; and demonstrating willingness to work effectively with others.

Nurses must acquire and demonstrate the attributes of team work through learning about the impact of interpersonal factors on the team building activities; demonstrating their commitment to the team; and communicating effectively and openly, based on a clear understanding of their own roles scope of practice, and those of other team members.

Nurses initiate collaborative processes to improve patient/client outcomes, in particular when the acuity of the patient/client is increasing in circumstances when a diagnosis has not been established, the patient should be assigned to an RN to ensure the continuity of care

Nurse managers model effective team behaviour and demonstrate power-sharing.

Nurses enhance the quality of work environments and improve outcomes for patients/clients by establishing processes and structures to promote intra-professional collaboration. Nurses should do this by ollaboratively establishing processes for shared decisionmaking in a variety of circumstances; and introducing non-hierarchical, democratic working practices.

Nurses promote open, honest and transparent communication by promoting a culture of effective communication; and establishing processes for verbal, written and electronic communication.

Nurses promote intra-professional collaborative practice by creating supportive learning environments and participating as mentors to students.