The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.

—Vince Lombardi

Collaboration is a critical component of quality improvement. It is also a central tenet of your endeavors as a scholar-practitioner in this Walden University Master’s program. To succeed in your role as a nurse leader-manager, it is important to engage in ongoing development of collaborative skills and to help foster a culture that values collaboration.

In Weeks 1 and 2 of this course, you analyzed your strengths and considered how to leverage these strengths for effective leadership. In a similar vein, this week you evaluate your strengths and areas for growth with regard to interdisciplinary collaboration.

To prepare:

• Review the competencies described in the Interprofessional Education Collaborative report and in Chapter 9 of the Hickey and Brosnan text.
• As you reflect on the competency statements outlined for each domain, think about which ones reflect your strengths. Which competency statements point to areas for growth?
• Consider the benefit of working with interdisciplinary teams for addressing quality improvement initiatives.
• Conduct a search of the literature and select at least one article that illustrates the benefits of interprofessional collaboration for nurse leader-managers as it relates to improving quality.

Note: Think about a potential connection between the concepts presented throughout this course (i.e. systems-level change, quality, etc.), and a Practicum Project that you might focus on in NURS 6600. Consider how you might use interprofessional collaboration in your practicum setting.

By Day 3

Post an analysis of your strengths and areas for growth related to interprofessional collaboration competencies. Explain the benefits of interprofessional collaboration for meeting quality improvement goals. Support your response with examples from current literature.

optional resources

http://www.aacn.nche.edu/education-resources/ipecreport.pdf

Shor, R. (2010). Interdisciplinary collaboration between social workers and dieticians in nutrition education programs for children-at-risk. Social Work in Health Care, 49(4), 345–361.

Petri, L. (2010). Concept analysis of interdisciplinary collaboration. Nursing Forum, 45(2), 73–82.

Braithwaite, J., Westbrook, M., Nugus, P., Greenfield, D., Travaglia, J. Runciman, W. … Westbrook, J. (2012). A four-year, systems-wide intervention promoting interprofessional collaboration. BMC Health Services Research, 12(1), 99–106

Bainbridge, L., Nasmith, L., Orchard, C., & Wood, V. (2010). Competencies for interprofessional collaboration. Journal of Physical Therapy Education, 24(1), 6–11.