Implementing an interdisciplinary healthcare quality project.
Bringing together healthcare professionals from several disciplines for a quality project can provide many benefits. This article describes the collaborative process between nursing and dental services at a Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center as they assessed and evaluated the practice of oral hygiene among 120 long-term care patients. Enhancement of interdisciplinary collaboration occurred through appropriate disciplinary representation and leadership, clarification of disciplinary vocabularies, firsthand empirical assessment, and timely feedback. With each discipline combining resources, fostering open communication, and evaluating the project, the collaborative process was optimized. Benefits of this interdisciplinary quality project included (a) more comprehensive and holistic evaluation of patients' oral hygiene practices, (b) quality assessment in a timely fashion, (c) establishment of rapport between individuals who otherwise might not have an opportunity to interact, (d) improved communication and understanding between disciplines, and (e) development of better patient care indicators.
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D003142:Communication; D006746:Hospital Bed Capacity, 500 and over; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000592:standards*; D008332:Management Quality Circles; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D010934:Planning Techniques; D016730:Program Development; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*