Teamwork And Collaboration

Teamwork and collaboration in healthcare is of utmost importance. Delivery of healthcare has evolved to a more interconnected, and therefore, coordinating care between physicians, pharmacists, nurses, social workers, and other disciplines has become increasingly significant. Communication forms a critical aspect of teamwork and collaboration. For instance, nurses must communicate with physicians if a problem arises, and therapists and doctors must communicate to provide the best care possible. Another important aspect associated with teamwork and collaboration is that it provides an individual with the opportunity to assess their strengths and weaknesses as well as those of their peers or coworkers (Taylor & Beel-Bates, 2016). Regardless of the role each individual plays within the healthcare team, they have a common goal to provide the best care possible.

Nursing Care Issue Encountered In Clinical Practice

During my internship, I encountered a stroke patient who was admitted to the medical floor with a new onset of stroke. Due to the condition of his illness, the patient required comprehensive care and healthcare collaboration of the patient’s healthcare outcomes. The healthcare team is comprised of a doctor and speech and swallow specialists. Dietician, registered case manager, nurse assistant, and physical therapists. These members of the interprofessional worked collaboratively to ensure the delivery of patient-centered care.

However, during this particular incidence of a stroke patient who was admitted to the medical floor, I encountered indecisive decision-makers within the interprofessional team. The patient needed immediate medical attention to stabilize his deteriorating condition. The individuals who were supposed to provide a clear path on how the condition of the patient would be addressed seemed to have no idea of what path to take. Indecisiveness is a common situation, especially when several team members are involved and not all members are on the same page.

Current Literature On Indecisiveness In Interprofessional Team Leadership

In more complex decision situations, decision-related differences are likely to emerge. While these circumstances go beyond the present evidence-based practice, research studies further support the relationship between indecisiveness and decision-making behavior. According to a study conducted by Orchard et al. (2018) on the impact of indecisiveness on the leadership of the healthcare team, indecisive leaders were shown to devote greater working memory resources to search for information in order to make decisions. These leaders feel very distracted when they encounter challenging situations that require instant decisions. In a healthcare setting, health providers are faced with difficult clinical situations that require them to come up with a solid decision to stabilize the condition of their patients. The study also examined the individual differences and characteristics of the team members and their contribution to the common understanding and collective behavior of the group. From the study, it was concluded that indecisiveness is compounded at the group level as leaders are likely to propose a few ideas and have the members of the team choose (Orchard et al. 2018).

Literature Analysis

Indecisiveness is usually regarded as a negative trait in that indecisive professionals use greater resources despite little evidence of better healthcare outcomes. Indecisiveness imposes great challenges in making important healthcare decisions and reports greater decision regret and worry, and lowers patient satisfaction. According to Orchard et al. (2018), indecisiveness is related to personality and correlates, including perfectionism and low self-esteem. It is also associated with a maximizing tendency, which is defined as the desire to pursue the best choices rather than one that is simply good enough.

Indecisiveness is associated with decisional confidence and an individual’s strength of belief about the quality of a choice of healthcare continuum ranging from complete doubt to total uncertainty. Making healthcare decisions can seem overwhelming at times. Healthcare issues are often complex and involve subjects that the health provider is not used to thinking about in their clinical practice (Merrill, 2015). Intensive decision-making is usually magnified when the interprofessional team is presented with a life-threatening condition. The stakes feel very high for every choice that arises. Indecisiveness presents a major challenge for interprofessional team members, especially when the team does not have competent leadership. The leaders feel very high for every choice that arises.

Nursing Implications Of Indecisiveness

Indecisiveness has significant implications for the delivery of healthcare care and poor inter-team collaboration. It leads to delayed communication, which negatively impacts patient care. Poor team collaboration and support, as well as delayed communication, have a significant impact on the patient’s care, especially for acute admissions. Adverse events and near-misses often occur as a result of poor coordination among healthcare staff. Interprofessional team members have a responsibility to limit this practice to overcome toxic relations between team members (Taylor & Beel-Bates, 2016).

In the emergency department, indecisiveness has been reported to increase morbidity and mortality. It is also associated with more technical errors during surgical procedures and, therefore, decreases the aspect of patient safety. In addition, an analysis of sentinel events, such as wrong-side surgery, has leadership and communists as the leading factors (Taareor & Beel-Bates, 2016).

Preferred Nursing Practice For Indecisiveness In Teamwork

When the team leader at the helm is not in a position to steer the course of the team when they are faced with complex issue issues that require an immediate decision, the organization’s credibility is questioned. The interprofessional team is likely to suffer from unclear goals and poor performance efficiency. However, it is important to determine which steps to take to overcome the challenge of indecisiveness. There are various reasons which can make a person become indecisive. One of the primary reasons why people may become indecisive is fear of failure (Kamerer & Russ 2017). These individuals are worried too much about failing to meet expectations, which leads to the inability to provide concrete and clear direction. However, there are different strategies that can be implemented to deal effectively with indecisive leaders.

Evaluate The Situation On The Hand

When faced with a complex issue that renders the team leader indecisive, one should evaluate the current situation carefully to create a better assessment of the root cause of the problem. As a member of the interprofessional team, one should find out the root cause of the leader’s indecisive behavior. Has the leader always been like this, or has he or has she suddenly stated or behaved strangely toward the particular issue at hand? By figuring out the root of the problem, one can determine the most appropriate approach to address the problem (Kamerer & Russ 2017).

Figure Out How To Help Indecisive Leader

Once the root cause of the problem has been identified, the next step is to think about how you can assist them in solving the problem. For instance, when a member of the healthcare team knows that their leader is suffering from fear of failure, one can step forward and lead him with a helping hand to support objective patient care goals. One can encourage their leaders to be confident by providing constructive input and positive feedback. Conversely, if indecisiveness is entrenched in naturally complicated issues, it is important to offer different perspectives and provide relevant information which can help the leader thatke decisions (Crawford, 2016).

Take The Lead

When the above approaches have been executed, and the leader is stuck in his or her own endless confused state of mind, then one should move forward and take the lead. Although decision-making rests in the final leadership of the interdisciplinary team, one can push the leader to take action by giving both helpful and reliable information to proceed with the process of decision-making quickly. Alternatively, an individual can also employ a different approach such that the leader delegates them to take care of the case altogether (Kamerer & Russ 2017).

Protect Your Reputation

Confronting The Leader

Sometimes, individuals may be unaware of their own weaknesses, which poses a big challenge in fixing the drawbacks. Therefore, it is important to confront the leader directly by engaging them in a face-to-face conversation concerning their behavior and how it impacts the morale of members of the team and patient outcomes (Crawford, 2016).

Education

The American Nurses Association (ANA) outlines the current guidelines for educating nurses about effective leadership in healthcare settings. These guidelines tap into that spirit of leadership and help an individual to improve their effectiveness as a leader. The principles of leadership, as outlined by ANA, include a commitment to excellence, measuring the important things, creating and nurturing leaders, building a culture around service, focusing on employee satisfaction, aligning behaviors with values and goals, and building individual accountability. Also, the ANA education guidelines of leadership emphasize communication at all levels and recognizing and rewarding success (American Nurses Association, 2014).

As a leader, one should be committed to one’s purpose and passion, and commitment should turn into perseverance. Nurse leaders are expected to be committed employee advocates, patient advocates, or clinicians. The leader should measure important things, including patient satisfaction, action parallel to staff satisfaction, and inaction. Asswithsing employee satisfaction has significant benefits to the team, department, and unit. The education guidelines emphasize fostering a culture around service. Leaders should teach their staff to appreciate their clients as their customers (American Nurses Association, 2014).

Leaders are also encouraged to identify informal and formal leaders, invest in them, and train them to be the next leaders. Leaders should also focus on promoting employee satisfaction by making their workplace a great place to work. A good leader celebrates what each person can bring to the team. The ANA education guidelines also encourage individuals to build individual accountability to assess opportunities for growth. Furthermore, leaders are encouraged to communicate on all levels of the interdisciplinary team to successfully achieve the goal of delivering quality care (American Nurses Association, 2014).

Research

The priorities for further studies from a nursing perspective include the scope of practice, teamwork, residences, technology, and transforming nursing education. The research will focus on the comparison of healthcare costs, quality, and accessibility to primary care delivery models. Further research needs to focus on the identification of important features of residencies that lead nurses to develop competency and confidence at a reasonable cost. Also, further research should focus on the main barriers to team collaboration between healthcare providers as well as new advancements in new and existing technology (Holloway & Galvin, 2016). Moreover, research priorities for transforming nursing education should identify the combination of salary, benefits, and professional attributes that lead to highly competent nurses being absorbed and retained in faculty positions.

References

American Nurses Association. (2014). Safe patient handling and mobility: Interprofessional national standards. American Nurses Association.

Crawford, S. D. B. (2016). Indecisiveness in Teamwork: A Search for Interventions to Avoid Failure-to-Decide (Doctoral dissertation, University of Maryland University College).

Holloway, I., & Galvin,K. (2016). Qualitative research in nursing and healthcare. John Wiley & Sons.

Kamerer, J., & Russ, T. (2017). Critical Thinking and Decision Making Handbook.

Merrill, K. C. (2015). Leadership style and patient safety: implications for nurse managers. Journal of Nursing Administration, 45(6), 319-324.

Orchard, C., Pederson, L. L., Read, E., Mahler, C., & Laschinger, H. (2018). Assessment of interprofessional team collaboration scale (AITCS): Further testing and instrument revision. Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions, 38(1), 11-18.

Taylor, A., & Beel-Bates, C. (2016). Improving Interprofessional Teamwork and Collaboration in a Community Health Care Setting.