Inter-Professional Team

Introduction

Inter-professional collaboration is said to be effective when two or more professions cooperate during the delivery of their roles with a similar goal of improving clinical outcomes. This process can, therefore, achieve much if the involvement is voluntary, and when each professional’s contribution is valued (Bookey‐Bassett, Markle‐Reid, Mckey & Akhtar‐Danesh, 2017). There is the need to agree on the common goal that needs to be achieved so that the majority of complex issues that arise during primary care are solved. For instance, the occurrence medication errors is a major problem that occurs due to the lack of interprofessional collaboration. Some of the misunderstandings that lead to the commission of the mistakes could be solved when various professions consult with each other for clarification (Perreault, Pineault, Da Silva, Provost & Feldman, 2017). Specific advantages accompanied with collaboration include the ability of the team members to achieve more than they can individually, serve larger patient populations, and achieve the organization’s vision of improving patient care quality (Reeves et al., 2017).

The community can be served better as far as healthcare is concerned when there is this sort of collaboration. Most illnesses that have become prevalent are activated by lifestyle choices, and can be prevented (Didier et al., 2017). The interprofessional team not only ends at the primary care facility but also conducts surveillance in the community. Cardiovascular infections are highly prevalent in the community and are associated with early readmission rates (Perreault et al., 2017). Effective care for such infections can be achieved when a team including healthcare professionals work in the efficient management and preventive programs (Bookey‐Bassett et al., 2017). The team will consist of physicians, pharmacist, nurses, nutritionists, and economists to ensure efficient care during the hospital stay. With the advent of technology in healthcare, the contribution of technology experts, logisticians, and informatics specialists will also be valued. Trust and respect in the team will be essential values that will prevent the members from withholding information that would be beneficial during patient care (Palanisamy, Taskin & Verville, 2017).