Capella 4010 Assessment 2 : Interview and Interdisciplinary Issue Identification

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Capella University

Capella 4010 Assessment 2

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Interview and Interdisciplinary Issue Identification  – Interview Summary

My coworker Ms. Sheila, a nurse who works in pediatrics at the Miami Valley hospital where I practice as a baccalaureate-prepared nurse, indicated that medical errors are a big problem at the medical facility during an in-person interview. The paediatric clinic of the Miami Valley Hospital is part of a larger healthcare network that provides care to the community. Sheila’s duties as a paediatric nurse include taking blood samples, changing medication regimens in light of test results, monitoring patients’ blood pressures and heart rates, giving drugs in accordance with doctors’ orders, and helping patients recover.

Sheila claims that the hospital’s operations have been significantly impacted by medical blunders. Hospitals are experiencing an increase in medical errors, particularly pharmaceutical errors, which have an impact on the quality of care provided by the hospital, patient healthcare outcomes, and safety. During the course of our conversation, it became clear that medication errors frequently happen at medical facilities for a number of reasons, including:

• Interprofessional miscommunication during transfers and shifts of care (Khan & Tidman, 2022).
• incorrect medicine labelling or packing (Khan & Tidman, 2022).
• Lack of staffing resulting in hurried or subpar care (Secrest, 2022).
• Healthcare providers lack the necessary education or experience
• Using technological devices or electronic health records (EHR) insufficiently
• Infection or injury due to improper use of medical equipment or procedures (Morton et al., 2022).
• Delayed or incorrect diagnosis of a medical condition, leading to improper treatment or worsening of the condition (Morton et al., 2022).

Sheila emphasised the harm that medical mistakes do to the hospital’s credibility throughout the interview and said that even while most mistakes don’t result in injury, they may nevertheless have an influence on the health of individuals and cause financial burden both on patients and the healthcare facility. Patients are put at risk since there isn’t an additional review procedure or a formal framework for identifying errors, she continued.

Sheila also emphasised the significance of placing a high priority on safeguarding patients in their facility and talked about recent changes made in facilities to enhance the processes for administering medications. She added that they had exchanges about getting technology to help reduce and anticipate potential errors with senior management. She also said that they usually work together with other organisational disciplines to embrace fresh ideas and safety precautions.

Identification Of The Issue And Evidence-Based Interdisciplinary Approach

According to the interview conducted with Sheila, medication errors caused by poor communication during care transitions and amongst medical professionals are a serious problem in the Miami Valley Hospital. In order to solve this problem, a multidisciplinary strategy based on evidence-based practise is required.

An interdisciplinary team has to initially decide the best communication methods for exchanging information regarding patients throughout care transitions before incorporating evidence-based practise into the collective effort. This can be accomplished by undertaking a thorough analysis of the body of knowledge regarding efficient communication techniques for healthcare environments. The group can then create and put into practise a standardised procedure for exchanging patient data between healthcare facilities (bacon & Hoffman, 2020).

Additionally, technology can be used to reduce pharmaceutical and medical errors. To lower the likelihood of medication administration errors caused by improper labelling or packaging of pharmaceuticals, hospitals could be investing in EHR and barcoding devices (Gauthier-Wetzel, 2020). Taking into account the patient’s drug regimen at the time of admission and discharge might reduce medication errors brought on by various doctors and shifts in care level.

Capella 4010 Assessment 2

One of the main benefits of electronic medical records (EMR) is that they provide healthcare providers with access to comprehensive and up-to-date patient information in a timely manner, which can help them make more accurate diagnoses. Another way that EMRs can help reduce delayed or incorrect diagnoses is by providing decision-support tools that can alert providers to potential issues or suggest alternative diagnoses based on patient data (Siyal et al., 2019). 

Through such strategies, it is important to facilitate communication and collaboration among healthcare providers, which can also help in reducing the incidence of reported errors. Providers can easily and effectively share patient information and collaborate on diagnosis and treatment plans using, which can help ensure that all providers involved in a patient’s care are on the same page and have access to the same information.

Change Theory and Leadership Strategy 

Change management theories and leadership strategies are crucial to enable interdisciplinary teams to achieve specific organizational goals. Effective change management theories provide a framework for understanding how organizations can successfully implement changes, while leadership strategies play a crucial role in guiding teams through the change process.

One change theory that could be used to develop an interdisciplinary solution to the organizational issue of medical errors is the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle is another change theory that could be used to develop an interdisciplinary solution to the organizational issue of medical errors. The PDSA cycle is an iterative model that consists of four stages: Plan, Do, Study, and Act. In the Plan stage, the interdisciplinary team would identify the problem, set goals, and develop a plan for change.

In the Do stage, the team would implement the plan on a small scale to test its effectiveness. In the Study stage, the team would evaluate the results of the test, identify areas for improvement, and refine the plan accordingly. Finally, in the Act stage, the team would implement the revised plan on a larger scale and continue to monitor and refine the process as needed (Gaboury et al., 2021).

Information gathered from PubMed and Nursing Reference Center journals were targeted through PRISMA the data collection tool. Papers from trustworthy resources that were written by authorities in the nursing field and managing change in the healthcare sector. This was a helpful tool for developing an interdisciplinary approach to the challenges brought on by potential medical errors.

Leadership Strategy

Transformational leadership is a leadership style that can be particularly effective in guiding interdisciplinary teams through the change process. Transformational leaders inspire and motivate their teams to work towards a common goal by providing a clear vision of the future, fostering collaboration and teamwork, and empowering team members to take ownership of the change process. They also model the behaviors and values that they want to see in their teams and create a positive and supportive work environment.

Transformational leaders are often effective in promoting change in healthcare organizations because they are able to inspire and motivate healthcare professionals to work collaboratively towards a shared goal of improving patient outcomes. By creating a culture of collaboration and teamwork, transformational leaders can help interdisciplinary teams to work together more effectively and share their expertise and knowledge to solve complex problems (Pearson, 2020).

In the context of implementing evidence-based practices to reduce medical errors, a transformational leader could be instrumental in bringing together interdisciplinary teams to work towards this goal. They could inspire team members to prioritize patient safety and to work collaboratively to identify and implement the most effective evidence-based practices. They could also create a supportive work environment that encourages team members to share their knowledge and expertise, and that provides the necessary resources and training to implement new practices effectively (Pearson, 2020). 

Collaboration Approaches

Cooperation is necessary for teams with multiple specialties to collaborate. Every worker’s sense of value as an integral part of the team supports motivating others. Embracing working together and communicating will only improve the practitioners’ ability to collaborate. Cooperation demands effective communication. The application of this cooperative technique may reduce medical errors. These errors can result from communication issues. Interdisciplinary communication is a crucial tactic for enhancing interaction and understanding amongst healthcare providers throughout clinical procedures. Interprofessional education (IPE) and TeamSTEPPS are two concepts that are related to improving collaboration and communication within interdisciplinary teams in healthcare settings.

Interprofessional education (IPE) is a learning approach that involves teaching healthcare professionals from different disciplines how to work collaboratively to improve patient outcomes. IPE is designed to help healthcare professionals develop the skills and knowledge they need to work effectively in teams. This approach recognizes that healthcare is delivered by teams of professionals with different skills and backgrounds, and that collaboration and effective communication among team members is critical to improving patient outcomes. IPE can take many forms, such as classroom-based education, simulation-based learning, and clinical experiences (van Diggele et al., 2020).

TeamSTEPPS is a teamwork system that is designed to improve collaboration and communication among healthcare professionals. It is an evidence-based training program that was developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in the United States. TeamSTEPPS provides healthcare professionals with tools and strategies to improve communication, teamwork, leadership, and situational awareness.

The program is based on five key principles: team structure, communication, leadership, situation monitoring, and mutual support. TeamSTEPPS training includes classroom-based education, simulations, and other learning experiences. The goal of TeamSTEPPS is to improve patient safety and quality of care by promoting effective teamwork among healthcare professionals (Hall-Lord et al., 2021).

These strategies can be applied to boost interdisciplinary teams’ collaboration and communication in healthcare settings. These strategies can aid in lowering medical errors, enhancing patient outcomes, and raising professional satisfaction by encouraging teamwork and good communication. The particular organisational problem being addressed as well as the environment in which they are being used will determine the veracity and applicability of these approaches.

References 

Bacon, O., & Hoffman, L. (2020). System-level patient safety practices that AIM to reduce medication errors associated with infusion pumps: an evidence review. Journal of Patient Safety, 16(3 1 Suppl), S42. https://doi.org/10.1097/pts.0000000000000722 

Gaboury, I., Breton, M., Perreault, K., Bordeleau, F., Descôteaux, S., Maillet, L., & Vasiliadis, H. M. (2021). Interprofessional advanced access–a quality improvement protocol for expanding access to primary care services. BMC Health Services Research, 21, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-06839-w 

Gauthier-Wetzel, H. E. (2020). Barcode medication administration in the emergency department to mitigate medication errors (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University). https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=9986&context=dissertations 

Hall-Lord, M. L., Bååth, C., Ballangrud, R., & Nordin, A. (2021). The Swedish version of the TeamSTEPPS® teamwork attitudes questionnaire (T-TAQ): A validation study. BMC Health Services Research, 21, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-06111-1 

Khan, A., & Tidman, M. M. (2022). Causes of medication error in nursing. Journal of Medical Research and Health Sciences, 5(1), 1753-1764. https://doi.org/10.52845/JMRHS/2022-5-1-7 

Morton, J. M., Khoury, H., Brethauer, S. A., Baker, J. W., Sweet, W. A., Mattar, S., & DeMaria, E. J. (2022). First report from the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery closed-claims registry: prevalence, causes, and lessons learned from bariatric surgery medical malpractice claims. Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases, 18(7), 943-947. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soard.2022.04.004 

Pearson, M. M. (2020). Transformational leadership principles and tactics for the nurse executive to shift nursing culture. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 50(3), 142-151. https://doi.org/10.1097/nna.0000000000000858 

Secrest, N. M. (2022). Improving Nursing Shift Handoff Reports: A Quality Improvement Project.

Siyal, A. A., Junejo, A. Z., Zawish, M., Ahmed, K., Khalil, A., & Soursou, G. (2019). Applications of blockchain technology in medicine and healthcare: Challenges and future perspectives. Cryptography, 3(1), 3. https://doi.org/10.3390/cryptography3010003 

van Diggele, C., Roberts, C., Burgess, A., & Mellis, C. (2020). Interprofessional education: tips for design and implementation. BMC Medical Education, 20(2), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-020-02286-z

Capella 4010 Assessment 2