Interdisciplinary Learning and Collaboration with Technology

As per the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN), the 21^st century nursing student requires education within an interdisciplinary environment that fosters communication, teamwork, respect, and understanding, as well as joint collaboration to develop goals and make decisions that result in safe, quality patient care with positive outcomes.  

The importance of integrating interdisciplinary staff within nursing course curriculum offers the student the opportunity to learn to utilize and appreciate the importance of the relationship between the different acute and post-acute care departments that care for the patient.  Proper integration of technology within nursing curriculum provides the student with first-hand simulated experiences and situations that may occur within everyday clinical practice involving interdepartmental and interdisciplinary staff members.  Use of simulation laboratories in this manner  (like the one at Drexel University) has proven to be quite beneficial in the development and strengthening of interpersonal skills among students, as it allows the student the opportunity to develop clinical reasoning and critical thinking skills without the potential for clinical error within an actual patient care environment. 

Development of an interdisciplinary team approach, integration of electronic health records and medical administration records, simulation and other modern technologies within nursing curriculum provides nursing students with the framework needed to flourish post-graduation within the clinical environment.  Regardless of the venue a student might choose for employment, introductory teamwork skills ensure a new hire graduate nurse has the basic ability to appropriately communicate and collaborate a patient needs not only interdepartmentally, but also with interdisciplinary teams.  For instance, a new graduate registered nurse may opt for employment within a home health agency.  This nurse would have to have the basic know how to communicate and collaborate the patient care needs with the doctor’s office, and potentially a pharmacy, a medical equipment company, a physical or occupational therapist, a social worker or speech language pathologist in order to provide comprehensive, safe patient care in the home; the same would be true within an acute or post-acute care environment and with regard to the use of modern technologies.

                In conclusion, the more exposure the better….Utilization of modern technology within unique simulation experiences that incorporate interdepartmental and interdisciplinary teams within curriculum is truly required to ensure the growth and continued importance of nursing in healthcare today; it is also relevant to the cost of healthcare, vital to the continuity of safe, quality healthcare, and is insurance that newly graduated nurses are able to provide in the delivery of comprehensive, positive patient outcomes.

Graphic created by S.Bernardini RN, BSN, CPHM on 4.12.17