Overview

Create a 6-8-slide PowerPoint presentation that describes communication barriers within an interdisciplinary team and how those barriers affect patient safety and health care outcomes. Offer a solution in which you recommend evidence-based strategies to improve communication within the team and explain how the strategies benefit the team and patients.

The ability to effectively communicate as part of interdisciplinary collaboration is essential for patient safety and successful health care delivery.

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:

Competency 1: Explain the principles and practices of highly effective interdisciplinary collaboration.

Describe communication barriers that can occur within an interdisciplinary team.

Recommend evidence-based strategies to improve communication within an interdisciplinary team.

Explain how specific communication strategies benefit both team members and patients.

Competency 3: Explain the internal and external factors that can affect the health of individuals, families, communities, and populations.

Explain how communication barriers between members of an interdisciplinary team can affect patient safety and health care outcomes.

Competency 4: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with the expectations of a nursing professional.

Write content clearly and logically with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.

Correctly format citations and references using current APA style.

Context

Effective communication is important in all organizations and is especially important in the area of health care. Communication can come in many forms, but the crucial factor is whether the communication is effective.

Collaboration among teams is important for the delivery of appropriate medical care and for providing the specialized skills necessary to meet the needs of patients and the public. Assessing the needs of a community may involve communication across several public service providers and private entities.

Maintaining open communication and collaboration among teams is essential to assess the needs of a community or those of patients and their families within a health care system. The same communication skills must be evident within the interdisciplinary health care team, or across the public and private sectors in a community, in order to promote collaboration and understanding and to provide the utmost quality service.

Questions to Consider

To deepen your understanding, you are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of your professional community.

How might communication styles and perceptions influence clinical-practice decisions?

What types of patient issues might require interdisciplinary collaboration, both within a health care delivery domain and within a community setting?

Suggested Resources
Library Resources

The following e-books or articles from the Capella University Library are linked directly in this course:

Brown, J., Lewis, L., Ellis, K., Stewart, M., Freeman, T., &Kasperski, M. J. (2011). Conflict on interprofessional primary health care teams - can it be resolved? Journal of Interprofessional Care, 25(1), 4-10.

Gilardi, S., Guglielmetti, C., &Pravettoni, G. (2014). Interprofessional team dynamics and information flow management in emergency departments. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 70(6), 1299-1309.

Garon, M. (2012). Speaking up, being heard: Registered nurses' perceptions of workplace communication. Journal of Nursing Management, 20(3), 361-371.

Wagner, J., Liston, B., & Miller, J. (2011). Developing interprofessional communication skills. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 6, 97-101.
Boykins, A. D. (2014). Core communication competencies in patient-centered care. ABNF Journal, 25(2), 40-45.

Groves, W. (2014). Professional practice skills for nurses. Nursing Standard, 29(1), 51-59.

Frederick, D. (2014). Bullying, mentoring, and patient care. AORN Journal, 99(5), 587-593.

Ndoro, S. (2014). Effective multidisciplinary working: The key to high-quality care. British Journal of Nursing, 23(13), 724-727.

Internet Resources

Access the following resources by clicking the links provided. Please note that URLs change frequently. Permissions for the following links have either been granted or deemed appropriate for educational use at the time of course publication.

Proper Patient Care - Team Communication | Transcript.
Interprofessional Team | Transcript.
Transforming Conflict to Collaboration in Healthcare | Transcript.
Interdisciplinary Team Care: Case 1 | Transcript.

Bookstore Resources

The resources listed below are relevant to the topics and assessments in this course and are not required. When searching the bookstore, be sure to look for the Course ID with the specific -FP (FlexPath) course designation.

Clark, C. C., &Paraska, K. K. (2014). Health promotion for nurses: A practical guide. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett.
Chapter 3.

Assessment Instructions

Imagine you are part of an interdisciplinary health care team in your organization. Although the team has been working together for several months, communication between members is not always efficient or effective, and the situation has become stressful for everyone. The team leader asks you to develop a presentation for the team that addresses the issue.

Preparation

Search the library and the Internet for scholarly and professional peer-reviewed articles on communication. You will need at least three articles to use as support for your work on this assessment.

Directions

Create a 6-8-slide PowerPoint presentation to examine the communication issue and the risk it creates for positive health care outcomes.

Describe the types of communication barriers that occur within an interdisciplinary team.

Explain how the communication barriers can impact patient safety and health care outcomes.

Recommend specific evidence-based strategies to improve communication within the team.

Explain how the strategies will benefit team members and patients.

Use the notes section of each slide to expand your points and cite your supporting evidence. Also, include a title slide and a reference slide that lists the resources you used in this assessment.

Additional Requirements

Use APA format for citations and references.

Be creative. Consider your intended audience.