According to the institute of medicine, 98,000 deaths occur annually because of medical errors, making medical errors the fifth leading cause of death in the United States (N.D, 2005). Research finds the leading cause of errors is due to lack of teamwork, communication, and accountability. In numerous studies, it has been determined that only two percent of communication occurs outside of disciplines; most communication takes place within the discipline itself (Kramer & Schmaleberg, 2004). This very pronounced lack of communication between the health care team can provide the perfect environment for communication breakdown, resulting in the death of the patient. Another important component of the health care team should be the patient; by teaching the patient to advocate for him or herself and take responsibility for their healthcare prevention of medical errors is certain (Kramer & Schmaleberg, 2004).

     The aviation department has a lot to teach regarding interdisciplinary – shared governance in health care. The challenger explosion occurred because despite countless foreseeable system errors reported by individuals at close contact to the shuttle, the information never reached the top executive responsible for launching the Challenger. The one top executive aware of the situation failed to report the concerns of the individuals under his command, for fear of retribution for failure to launch the million dollar project on time. When researching near misses in the aviation industry, it was determined that they kept occurring until a fatal injury occurred. Health care has a lot to learn from this industry in order to provide safe care for our patient population. The aviation department was able to make significant strides in safety beginning communication at the closest point of contact. The closest point of contact in the health care field is the patient’s bedside (N.D, 2005).

     Building strong health care teams with superior communication skills is vital to providing safe, effective and affordable health care. Providing interdisciplinary care with an emphasis on safety and continuity proves to be exceptionally difficult. Interdisciplinary communication has proven to be the most important factor in providing high quality care (Buerhaus, Donelan, Ulrich, Norman, Des Roches & Dittus 2007). One method for increasing the communication between disciplines would be using a bedside report, including the health care team and the patient in the discussion, regarding the patient plan of care. Research has already demonstrated that nursing bedside report have already improved patient’s safety, satisfaction, and overall compliance with medical regimens necessary to promote health (Davis,

2011). By including other health care disciplines in the bedside report daily, it could only afford to increase communication, collaboration, and patient safety.

     Implementing collaborative interdisciplinary bedside reports would require leadership to educate the staff on the importance of the initiative. Hospital leadership would initiate the project by selecting a design team, including members from each discipline, to create a working plan for implementing the project. The group design team would also be responsible for guiding other team members during the implementation phase. The project would first be implemented on a small scale in order to work out the technicalities prior to wide spread implementation.  Leadership would promote interdisciplinary reports by communicating the importance of the initiative for patient safety and helping staff work through perceived barriers prior to imitation (Kramer & Schmaleberg, 2004). Once the staff has bought into the idea, implementation of a pilot program will be initiated, and management will hold the staff accountable for carrying out the initiative. Management could evaluate accountability and identify problems by monitoring patient satisfaction scores, hospital readmissions, patient interviews, rounding and feedback from staff involved in the implementation. Wide spread hospital education will be given to all employees prior to initiation, and education to customers will be provided in the form of hospital wide education posters and literature. Compliance and recognition awards in the form of cash incentives, days off, and prizes will assist in the successful implementation of the pilot. The collaborative bedside report evaluation will take place yearly to determine effectiveness (Kramer & Schmaleberg, 2004).

    Improved communication and teamwork is essential for patient safety and the continued success of the health care industry. One of the ways health care providers can continue providing extraordinary care in the ever-changing complex and stressful environment is to remain closest to the point of care of the patient. Including the patient as a collaborating member of the health care team provides accountability and responsibility for personal health, enhancing communication and teaching from wide base of medical knowledge, improving the patient’s chances of an excellent health outcome. Teamwork and communication between health care professionals saves lives. Communication should be the top priority of all health care leaders (Buerhas, et al; 2010).

 

References

Advance nurses,2011,Hourly patient rounding.(Davis, Kristine).

     Retrieved from: http://nursing.advanceweb.com

Buerhaus,P.Donelan,K.,Ulrich,B,.Norman,L.,DesRoches,C.,& Dittus,R.
  
           (2007). Impact of the nurse shortage on hospital patient care:
  
     comparative perspectives. Health affairs, 26 (3), 853-863.

     Retrieved from http://www.liberty.edu

Kramer,M.,& Schmalenberg,C.(2004).Development and evaluating of

     essentials of magnetism tool. Journal of Nursing Administration,    

     34 (7). 365-367.

Lifewings, 2005, Saving lives and reducing cost with proven aviation

     tools. (N.D). retrieved from: http://www.safepatients.com