Nursing Outcomes related to Purposeful Interprofessional Team Interventions

Abstract

Objectives. Effective interprofessional (IP) teamwork and communication are critical to improve quality of patient care and nursing outcomes. IP team interventions are recommended as a strategy to achieve effective teamwork and better work environments. Given the importance of effective IP team functioning, this dissertation consists of three papers aimed to review and investigate the effectiveness of purposeful IP team interventions on nursing outcomes. The first paper is a systematic review of current IP team intervention studies that examined the effects of IP team interventions on outcomes related to nursing and IP team including nurses. The other two papers are part of a larger study that involved the implementation and evaluation of a purposeful IP team intervention at an academic medical center in the Pacific Northwest. Specifically, the aim of the second paper is to explore nurses’ experiences and perceptions following the purposeful IP team intervention. The third paper aims to examine the effectiveness of the purposeful IP team intervention focused specifically on nurse job satisfaction and retention pre-and post-intervention. Methods. In the first paper, a systematic search of PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Embase was conducted using Boolean searching techniques and key search terms; 41 articles published between 2011 and 2016 were included for the final review. The second paper conducted a qualitative methods analysis of three focus group interviews among registered nurses. The third paper conducted a comparative cross-sectional study design using quantitative job satisfaction data and turnover data pre-and post-intervention. Results. The first paper provided a broad overview of various types of IP team interventions, and assessment methods commonly used, and included outcomes related to nursing, IP team, and patients. The findings revealed that the majority of the included studies were rated as low methodological quality. In the second paper, six interrelated themes were emerged from focus group interviews: (1) interprofessional team building, (2) psychological safety and cultural change, (3) efficiency in delivery of care, (4) quality of patient care, (5) job outcomes, and (6) team challenges. The third paper revealed that nurse job satisfaction was significantly improved, and nurse turnover was slightly decreased following the IP team intervention. Conclusions. Results from the first paper indicate that there needs to be improvement in methodological approaches to effectively evaluate effects of IP team interventions on team performance and nursing outcomes. Results from the other two papers suggest that ongoing coaching and team strategies need to be considered to maintain improved changes and to overcome the barriers to the implementation of the IP team intervention. In addition, efforts of organizational leadership to promote nurse job satisfaction and retention through improved interprofessional team functioning need to be considered to directly and indirectly promote patient delivery of care and patient outcomes in healthcare.