Interview and Interdisciplinary Issue Identification

Example 2

Interviews are a great way of gathering healthcare data to stimulate change interventions. Nurses are healthcare professionals closest to the patient, thus containing vital information that informs care delivery and changes focus. Well-structured interviews can generate information whose use can change the healthcare facility’s safety and quality of care delivery. This assessment focuses on an interview with a care provider, identifies a care issue at the care provider’s workplace, and describes a change theory that can help address the issue. The assessment will also evaluate a leadership strategy and collaboration strategy to address the issue.

Interview Summary

The interview was conducted with Mrs. Judy, a nurse practitioner and the in-charge of the ICU at MedStar Union Hospital. The NP coordinates care delivery and oversees care delivery at the facility. She also does other managerial duties such as scheduling, new staff training, and implementing disciplinary actions in the ward. The NP states that hospital-acquired infections are relatively high, with a rising mortality rate associated with infections. The leading ones include central-line associated bloodstream infections, catheter-acquired urinary tract infections, and surgical site infections. The facility has implemented a risk assessment tool for all these categories that helps identify the patients at risk for infections and manage them accordingly. 

The rates have dropped for some time, but the NP is concerned about the high rates of catheter-acquired urinary tract infections despite the organizational efforts to manage them. Other problems include medication errors, and patient falls, which are relatively high in the facility. The NP participated in the interprofessional teams assigned the role of developing the risk assessment tools, which was a great success. She is a member of the professional team concerned with infections in the facility. The organization promotes collaboration and increases the utilization of interdisciplinary collaboration by creating and supporting interprofessional team approaches.

Issue Identification

The issue that requires an interdisciplinary approach is catheter-acquired urinary tract infections. CAUTIs are associated with multiple factors, and their prevention entails many interventions delivered in care bundles. An interprofessional team must review healthcare data and perform a gap analysis, determining and implementing corrective action. According to Letica-Kriegel (2019), the risk factors for CAUTI include prolonged catheter use, female gender, catheter care violations, severe disease, diabetes, and immunocompromised.

An interprofessional team is required to ensure correct indications of catheters and management of other risk factors. About 15-25% of the patients are catheterized, meaning that 15-25% are at risk for CAUTIs (Wernburg, 2022). Physicians and nurse practitioners do the prescriptions, while risk assessment requires collaboration from all these professionals. Evidence from studies shows that interdisciplinary collaborative interventions can lead to better patient outcomes and a significant decrease in CAUTIs (Karimi et al., 2019).

Change Theory That Could Lead to an Interdisciplinary Solution

The change theory of interest is Kurt Lewin’s change theory. It is simple and easy to implement. The theory focuses on an issue generally and allows the care providers to implement the best-fit intervention for their problem. The first stage, unfreezing, entails mobilizing support for the change by showing the concerned parties the need for change. The second stage entails facilitating the change (such as providing resources required to implement it) and supporting staff to implement it (Saleem et al., 2019).

The theory is generalizable and can be used for organization-wide change, hence its significance in the interdisciplinary approach to CAUTI management. The third stage, refreezing, entails embedding the change into the organizational culture by incorporating it into the organizational policies (Saleem et al., 2019). The theory is widely applied in healthcare, and studies have used it as a framework to guide the implementation of evidence-based interventions and manage change (Iwe, 2022). The sources are current and published by reputable journals, hence the information’s reliability.

Leadership Strategies That Could Lead to an Interdisciplinary Solution

The leadership strategies selected are open and effective communication and creating shared goals, objectives, and a strategic vision. Open and effective communication is a motivating factor for professionals to collaborate. Developing goals, objectives, and a strategic vision creates unity of direction as all professionals understand the implications of the change and the desired outco