NU610 Unit 4 Assignment – Developing Collaborative Care Teams
Developing Collaborative Care Teams
Collaborative Care Teams (CCTs) are now a key part of modern healthcare, as they employ an integrated approach to care delivery to address the growing complexity of patient needs (Hossny & Sabra, 2020). CCTs promote communication, collaboration, and efficiency across disciplines by bringing together doctors, nurses, advanced practice providers, social workers, pharmacists, and other allied health professionals. This paper will present a proposal for developing CCTs at Mercy Hospital. It will provide an overview of why CCTs are needed, outline the benefits for patients and staff, describe how the team will be set up and supervised, highlight potential risks, and suggest a schedule for implementing and evaluating the plan.
Executive Summary
To keep up with the changing needs of the healthcare industry, new ideas are needed that improve both the level of care and the speed of operations. Mercy Hospital is currently experiencing issues, including delayed care changes, broken communication, and an increase in the number of patients who need to be readmitted. Experts from various fields collaborate in CCTs to achieve patient-centered care, which is the most effective and promising solution to this problem. CCTs improve processes, reduce unnecessary duplication of services, and ensure that patients are cared for holistically throughout the care continuum by working together in an organized manner. Research indicates that healthcare groups utilizing CCTs achieve better patient outcomes, improved management of long-term illnesses, and more satisfied patients (McLaney et al., 2022). Utilizing CCTs at Mercy Hospital would be a wise long-term investment in the health of the business and a means to enhance quality.
CCTs will help Mercy Hospital in many ways, not just by improving care delivery. A collaborative approach leads to higher job satisfaction among healthcare providers by lowering provider burnout and creating a culture of shared responsibility. CCTs help save money by cutting down on hospital stays, trips to the emergency room, and the need for more than one diagnostic test (Stucky et al., 2022). Because it focuses on providing coordinated care, the hospital is also well-suited to succeed in value-based payment models that put quality over quantity. Mercy Hospital would also improve its reputation as a leader in patient-centered innovation by using CCTs. This would help bring in both patients and highly skilled providers. CCTs are not only a means of delivering care, but they also enable Mercy Hospital to stay ahead in a healthcare system that is becoming increasingly complex.
Benefits of CCT to Patients
CCTs offer a comprehensive, patient-centered approach to care, significantly enhancing the patient experience. Patients frequently find it challenging to navigate disjointed systems where healthcare professionals operate independently. Patients gain from the smooth Co-ordination of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, and case managers that occurs with CCTs. This combination ensures that all of a patient’s physical, mental, and social health needs are met promptly and effectively (Hossny & Sabra, 2020). When people from different fields work together, they make patients safer by making fewer mistakes, avoiding tests that are not needed, and speeding up treatment. Close monitoring and regular follow-up are the best ways to manage chronic diseases. This reduces the number of people who have to return to the hospital and helps them lead healthier lives. Patients are also more likely to be happy with their care when communication is clear, education is ongoing, and treatment plans are made to fit their specific needs, wants, and long-term health goals.
Benefits of CCT to Clinical Staff
In addition to improving patient care, CCTs offer significant advantages to medical personnel. Clinical personnel who collaborate have lighter workloads since duties are distributed throughout the team rather than being focused on a single practitioner. Through the promotion of shared accountability and mutual support, this collaborative environment helps reduce burnout, a prevalent issue in high-stress healthcare settings (Stucky et al., 2022). Staff members are also more likely to feel appreciated when their unique skills help make decisions and improve patient results. Interprofessional collaboration in CCTs enables individuals to share information and enhance their skills, fostering ongoing professional growth. Better communication within teams reduces misunderstandings and disagreements, allowing staff to perform their jobs more effectively. In the end, CCTs make people happier with their jobs by giving them a feeling of belonging, purpose, and collective achievement. They also strengthen staff so they can better handle the needs of more patients and system-wide pressures.
Structure of CCT
Mercy Hospital’s CCT would be purposefully structured to incorporate a range of skills into patient-centered treatment. A physician or nurse practitioner would be in charge of basic care for each team. Social workers, case managers, registered nurses, and pharmacists would also be there to help. Specialists, such as chefs, mental health workers, or therapy workers, would be brought in as needed, based on the type of patient (Stucky et al., 2022). Everyone would make care plans, but there would be clear roles so that everyone knows what their job is and can make changes as required. Every week, staff members from different areas would get together and share information through electronic health data. To ensure that no single field has too much control over the process, decisions would be made through collaboration. The care would be based on what everyone on the team knows and thinks, rather than what the team leader knows.
Oversight and Assessment
For CCTs to be successful, effective monitoring and evaluation are essential. The program at Mercy Hospital would be jointly managed by the medical director and chief nursing officer (CNO), with assistance from a quality improvement committee. To guarantee a range of viewpoints, this council would comprise individuals from the fields of nursing, medicine, pharmacy, and case management. Performance measures would include patient outcomes, readmission rates, patient satisfaction, and staff engagement. Through the electronic health record (EHR) system, information would be gathered and reviewed every three months to identify patterns, strengths, and areas for improvement (Brown et al., 2020). Workflows and processes could be changed in real-time if the working staff were given feedback regularly. Transparent reporting to the hospital’s leaders would ensure that people are held accountable and receive ongoing support. Ultimately, structured evaluations and regular oversight will ensure that CCTs align with both patient needs and organizational objectives.
Operational/Financial Risks or Areas of Concern
Despite the apparent benefits of CCTs, Mercy Hospital is required to manage operational and financial risks. The initial deployment phase necessitates substantial funding for staff training, workflow redesign, and technological integration, which includes the implementation of standard electronic health record systems (McLaney et al., 2022). Hiring more staff to satisfy team needs, especially case managers or social workers, also raises financial difficulties. Scheduling and coordinating across different fields of work can be inefficient if not handled carefully. There may also be resistance from staff who are used to standard, siloed care models. This means that strong leadership and change management skills are needed. Without clear frameworks for accountability, work might be done twice instead of once, which would slow down care. These risks can be mitigated, though, by implementing the plan in stages, testing it with a small group of people, and closely monitoring it to ensure that short-term costs are balanced with long-term benefits in terms of efficiency and patient outcomes.
Timeline for Implementation
Mercy Hospital will be able to successfully adopt CCTs with the least amount of disturbance possible, thanks to a staggered timeline. Planning will concentrate on defining team roles, educating staff, and integrating collaborative workflows into the electronic health record within the first three months (Brown et al., 2020). After a test program starts in one area, such as the medical-surgical floor, it typically lasts from four to six months. This part will assess how the team collaborates, communicates with each other, and how effectively the patients perform. In months seven through nine, the data from the pilot will be reviewed, leading to changes and improvements. By the tenth month, the hospital will have an increased number of units, and executives will provide ongoing training and supervision to the staff at all times. The entire institution should implement it within 12 to 15 months, ensuring a progressive rollout based on facts that will facilitate long-term success and sustainability.
Conclusion
Through integrated, patient-centered care via CCTs, Mercy Hospital could change the way staff feel about their jobs, lower healthcare costs, and improve patient outcomes. CCTs facilitate communication between individuals from diverse disciplines, thereby enhancing the efficacy and quality of processes. This plan can be implemented throughout the hospital with the assistance of structured supervision, a phased implementation, and leadership commitment. CCTs may become a prevalent method of operation if the pilot is successful. Mercy Hospital would be a pioneer in the delivery of new, value-based healthcare if this were to occur.
References
Brown, J. B., Mulder, C., Clark, R. E., Belsito, L., & Thorpe, C. (2020). It starts with a strong foundation: constructing collaborative, interprofessional teams in primary healthcare. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 35(4), 514–520. https://doi.org/10.1080/13561820.2020.1787360
Hossny, E. K., & Sabra, H. E. (2020). The attitudes of healthcare professionals towards nurse–physician collaboration. Nursing Open, 8(3), 1406–1416. https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.756
McLaney, E., Morassaei, S., Hughes, L., Davies, R., Campbell, M., & Di Prospero, L. (2022). A framework for interprofessional team collaboration in a hospital setting: Advancing team competencies and behaviors. Healthcare Management Forum, 35(2), 112–117. https://doi.org/10.1177/08404704211063584
Stucky, C. H., Wymer, J. A., & House, S. (2022). Nurse Leaders: Transforming interprofessional relationships to bridge healthcare quality and safety. Nurse Leader, 20(4), 375–380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2021.12.003
CLICK HERE TO ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER
This assessment addresses the following course objective(s):
- Advocate for policies that improve the health of the public and the profession of nursing and health care administration.
Instructions
Use the following scenario as the basis for this assignment:
You will develop a proposal for review by the hospital leadership team. This proposal should contain the following (at minimum):
- Executive summary detailing the need for collaborative care teams (CCT) and why they will benefit the hospital.
- At least one paragraph to summarize each of the following components, citing relevant research as applicable. Assume fictional information to formulate your rationale:
- Benefits of CCT to patients
- Benefits of CCT to clinical staff
- Structure of CCT (what providers are involved, and to what degree)
- Oversight and assessment (who is responsible for tracking the success or failure)
- Operational/Financial risks or areas of concern
- Timeline for implementation
- Conclusion: summarize key points to “sell” this proposal. Ideally, this will become a standardized model of care in your hospital, if a pilot is successful.
- APA style
- Include a cover and reference page
- Include a minimum of three references. In-text citations should be used to cite relevant research supporting your rationale for using CCT.