Introduction

Interprofessional communication among members of a healthcare team is essential for quality patient care and effective team performance. Building cooperative and respectful team relationships assists in a patient’s perception of the care they are receiving. Critical patient information needs to be shared with members of healthcare teams to ensure a collaborative approach. Conversely, lack of communication creates opportunities for errors to occur, quality of care to diminished, and can place patient safety at risk.

Interpersonal Dimensions of HealthCare Teams

Many components are involved in working effectively in an interprofessional healthcare team. Communication channels bring the team together to enable patient-centered care. Therapeutic communication is an important tool that helps put the patient at ease and builds trust in the healthcare team. When managing patient care each member of the team will have their own interpretation of the information presented and how the information is acted upon can be dependent on each member’s uniqueness, expertise, and level of involvement within the team.

Interpersonal communication is the exchange of information between two or more people involving verbal and nonverbal methods. Developed interpersonal communication skills are vital to ensure collaboration with team members to support the best interest of patients. In most healthcare settings, teams are formed to support patient care and outcomes. A variety of teams are found in healthcare settings. They can be described as interprofessional care, collaborative care, shared care, or team care.

Collaboration and Open Communication

Collaboration described in the context of the healthcare team involves professionals undertaking interdependent roles working together, investing in shared strategies, problem-solving, and decision-making to design care plans supporting patient outcomes. Inherently, effective teams who coordinate care successfully establish methods of communication, inclusive of data management systems, team meetings, and responses to rapidly evolving healthcare needs.

Interventions to support collaborative team dynamics include:

• remove the reliance on continuing the way things have always been done, try new approaches
• encourage change, look for opportunities to find solutions, and improve processes
• support transparency in all interactions
• recognize and celebrate collaboration within the team

Judgment and Decision-Making

Many thinking strategies are needed in a healthcare setting to ensure quality patient outcomes and accountability. Healthcare team members typically utilize and apply knowledge based on their scope of practice and role. Clinical reasoning is a process undertaken by healthcare professionals to understand a patient’s problem, analyze information, and implement interventions. Healthcare decision-making is also a process inclusive of definable steps in sequential order.

Technology and the Impact on HealthCare Team Communication

Technology has enhanced the accessibility of interprofessional team communication in healthcare settings with the ability to communicate through the variety of devices and channels available. Connected healthcare spaces enable more agile treatment plans to develop within the team. Healthcare innovation allows the sharing and analyzing of patient data with team members to support decision-making capabilities. Technology can strengthen therapeutic communication via team relationships when used in a consistent manner to update team members and share information practices.

Navigating Challenging Conversations and Workplace Conflict

An integral part of being a member of the interprofessional healthcare team involves navigating challenging or difficult conversations. These conversations may arise based on a number of contributing factors such as stress, fatigue, time of day, and a patient who is in pain, angry, or appears aggressive. The team should attempt to approach these situations in a non-judgmental manner and avoid labeling someone as hostile or unpleasant. Practicing therapeutic communication techniques can help to de-escalate encounters.

INTERPROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION

The third IPEC competency focuses on interprofessional communication and states, “Communicate in a responsive, responsible, respectful, and compassionate manner with team members” (Interprofessional Education Collaborative, 2023). This competency also aligns with The Joint Commission’s (2023) National Patient Safety Goal for improving staff communication. See the following box for the components associated with the Interprofessional Communication competency.

Transmission of information among members of the interprofessional healthcare team and facilities is ongoing and critical to quality care. However, information that is delayed, inefficient, or inadequate creates barriers to providing quality care. Communication barriers continue to exist in healthcare environments due to interprofessional team members’ lack of experience when interacting with other disciplines. For instance, many novice nurses enter the workforce without experiencing communication with other members of the healthcare team (e.g., providers, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, social workers, surgical staff, dieticians, physical therapists, et cetera). Additionally, healthcare professionals tend to develop a professional identity based on their educational program with a distinction made between groups. This distinction can cause tension between professional groups due to diverse training and perspectives on providing quality patient care. In addition, a healthcare organization’s environment may not be conducive to effectively sharing information with multiple staff members across multiple units. In addition to potential educational, psychological, and organizational barriers to sharing information, there can also be general barriers that impact interprofessional communication and collaboration. See the following box for a list of these general barriers.

References and Attributions

Introduction and Interprofessional Communication and Collaboration

“Health Care Teams and Communication” in Therapeutic Communication for Health Care Administrators by Kimberlee Carter, Marie Rutherford, and Connie Stevens. Published by Conestoga College under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. Lightly edited for brevity and to change to American spelling conventions.

Laughlin, L., Anderson, A., Martinez, A., & Gayfield, A. (2023). Who are our health care workers: 22 million employed in health care fight against COVID-19. United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/04/who-are-our-health-care-workers.html

Interprofessional Communication 

“Interprofessional Communication” in Nursing Management and Professional Concepts by Chippewa Valley Technical College. Published by the Wisconsin Technical College System under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel. (2023). Core competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice: Version 3. https://www.ipecollaborative.org/assets/core-competencies/IPEC_Core_Competencies_Version_3_2023.pdf

The Joint Commission. 2023). 2023 Hospital national patient safety goals. https://www.jointcommission.org/-/media/tjc/documents/standards/national-patient-safety-goals/2023/hap-npsg-simplified-2023-july.pdf

O’Daniel, M., & Rosenstein, A. H. (2011). Professional communication and team collaboration. In: Hughes R.G. (Ed.). Patient safety and quality: An evidence-based handbook for nurses. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US); Chapter 33. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2637

Interprofessional Healthcare Team Communication: Choose Your Own Adventure Activity

Copyrighted images used with permission through a TechSmith Snagit license. Please see Appendix A for image credits.

Discharging Mrs. Fox: A Team-Based Interprofessional Collaborative Standardized Patient Encounter by Anna Richmond, Anna Burgner, Jennifer Green, Greg Young, Jonathan Gelber, Jim Bills, Darlene Linzenbold Parker, and Heather A. Ridinger. Published in MedEdPortal by the Association of American Medical Colleges under a CC BY-NC-SA license. Material was adapted to the H5P format. Content was edited for brevity and flow. Descriptions of role responsibilities were replaced to remain consistent with the textbook content. Reflection questions and images were added.

Occupation descriptions from the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor under a public domain license. Lightly edited for clarity.

Image Descriptions

Image 4.1: A photo of various types of healthcare professionals. [Return to Image 4.1].

Image 4.2: A photo of a healthcare worker using technology. [Return to Image 4.2].