(Answered) Developing Collaborative Care Teams

Developing Collaborative Care Teams

Congratulation on your new promotion as case management director. You were selected because you are known for thinking out of the box and coming up with fresh ideas.

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.

Sample Answer

Executive Summary on the Need for Collaborative Care Teams in a Hospital

Collaborative care teams will benefit the hospital in different ways, including improving patient care outcomes, reducing medical errors, reducing patient wait times, helping to reduce inefficiencies and healthcare costs, and finally helping to boost staff relationships and job satisfaction (Ivbijaro et al., 2014). Collaborative care teams will promote the development of valuable insights and unique perspectives about patients, which enhances a more comprehensive and holistic view of a given patient and increases the chances of patients receiving quality care. Collaborative care teams also help significantly to reduce medical errors in healthcare facilities. According to Møller et al. (2018), communication gaps contribute significantly to medical errors in a healthcare facility. However, when healthcare teams are working collaboratively in a healthcare facility, communication gaps are effectively addressed, which significantly reduces the prevalence of medication errors. Collaborative care teams also play a significant role in reducing wait times in healthcare facilities and assisting patients to start treatment faster. Interprofessional collaboration bridges the gaps of care which boosts efficiency. CCTs also play a significant role in having to reduce different forms of inefficiencies in a hospital and, subsequently, healthcare costs.  Through interprofessional collaboration, CCTs are therefore able to improve patient experiences, prevent medication errors and deliver quality patient outcomes which play a significant role in helping healthcare facilities to save money by reducing operational inefficiencies and workflow redundancies (Møller et al., 2018). Finally, CCTs play a significant role in improving job satisfaction and staff relationships. Interprofessional collaboration helps to promote respect in the care team through the realization that all members of the healthcare team play a vital role (Møller et al., 2018).

Benefits of CCT to Patients

Collaborative care teams will benefit patients in many ways in the hospital, including reducing patient wait times, reducing healthcare costs, reducing medical errors, and boosting the chances of better patient outcomes. CCTs will help bridge the gaps of care by leveraging teamwork which plays a significant role in reducing patient wait times in a healthcare facility. On the other hand, CCTs will promote interprofessional collaboration, which will be vital in helping reduce medication errors in a hospital that mainly results from communication problems (Sanchez, 2017). Through collaborating and working together, CCTs will also help reduce the cost of healthcare facilities in a hospital by minimizing operational inefficiencies and redundancies. CCTs will boost the chances of better outcomes among patients in the hospital due to the adoption of a holistic approach to the evaluation and treatment of patients. Collaborative care teams will also benefit patients significantly by improving patient satisfaction rates. Having short patient wait times in a healthcare facility and a higher chance of better outcomes boosts the patient satisfaction rates in a healthcare facility and makes patients more likely to visit such a hospital again (Sanchez, 2017).

Benefits of CCT to Clinical Staff

Collaborative care teams will also significantly benefit the clinical staff in the hospital, with the central benefit being the improvement of staff relationships and job satisfaction. CCTs enhance interprofessional collaboration, which will help acknowledge all the members of a healthcare team and the important role they play in the provision of quality health care services. The sense of community and cooperation in CCTs will therefore help to promote staff retention and recruitment in a healthcare facility (Sanchez, 2017).

Structure of CCT 

Different providers will be involved in a collaborative care team, including the attending physician, specialist registered nurses, licensed practical nurse practitioners, patient care technicians, hospital pharmacists, and physical therapists. The attending physician will therefore be the leader of the collaborative care team while the specialist will help in the diagnosis and treatment of a specific treatment. Registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and nurse practitioners will be involved in monitoring evaluation and administering the prescribed drugs to a patient. A physical therapist might be involved in a patient with certain physical challenges (Møller et al., 2018).

Oversight and Assessment 

The unit manager in a specific department of the hospital will be responsible for tracking the success or failure of a collaborative care team. The unit manager will therefore come with a standard for evaluating the performance of a CCT and follow certain standards in evaluating such a team (Ivbijaro et al., 2014).

Operational/Financial Risks or Areas of Concern

There are no operational or financial risks associated with the implementation of collaborative care teams in a hospital. This is because the formation of such a day does not require any extra resources or finances, with only retraining of staff to work collaboratively being required.

Timeline for Implementation

The implementation of collaborative care teams in the hospital would take six months. The first month would include a renaissance survey of the Healthcare facility to determine the importance of interprofessional collaboration. The second month would include the budgeting of training to promote interprofessional collaboration. The 3rd and 4^th months would include the training of staff in a healthcare facility to work in a collaborative care team. Finally, the fifth and sixth months would include the evaluation of the effectiveness of collaborative care teams in the hospital (Møller et al., 2018).

Conclusion 

Collaborative care teams will benefit the hospital in different ways, including improving patient care outcomes, reducing medical errors, reducing patient wait times, helping to reduce inefficiencies and healthcare costs, and finally helping to boost staff relationships and job satisfaction. Different providers will be involved in a collaborative care team, including the attending physician, specialist registered nurses, licensed practical nurse practitioners’ patient care technicians, Hospital pharmacists, and physical therapists. The implementation of collaborative care teams in the hospital would ideally take six months.