Blog Post 4 - Interprofessional Practice 🤝🏻

 

It is very important to include Interprofessional Practice (IPP) and collaboration in our daily routine as SLPs. Insight and opinions from other professionals can help us make informed clinical decisions for the clients under our care. 

Interprofessional Practice is a collaborative approach to daily practice that can increase work efficiency with colleagues and help to give patients we see more improved care outcomes. In this way, SLPs are given the opportunity to learn from, about, and with other professionals from different specialties in interprofessional practice and collaboration. 

⭐️ The way a successful IPP team works is: ⭐️

- Each member gives their own professional expertise and opinions to the team regarding the case on hand

- Then, the team collaborates to create an assessment and treatment plan centering around the patient's and family's wishes 

- While collaborating on a plan of action, the team takes into consideration each other's perspectives and expertise and uses it to guide their clinical decision-making along the way

According to ASHA, Interprofessional collaboration can be a short-term practice or last years, depending on how long the client you're seeing needs team-based care. Team members can be added to the team, as well, if additional expertise and advice is warranted. 

🤝🏻 As I am completing my current placement in a skilled nursing facility (SNF), members on an IPP team besides an SLP in this setting could include: 🤝🏻

- Patient

- Patient's family/caregivers/POAs

- Occupational Therapist

- Physical Therapist

- Nursing staff

- Dietary staff

- Physicians

- Case Manager

- Social Worker

- Other SLPs

👍🏻 Pros of IPP: 👍🏻

- Improving outcomes for patients by gathering a more comprehensive knowledge of how to assess and treat

- Implementing an intentional service delivery approach that involves cooperating with colleagues from other disciplines to determine a plan of action

- Gleaning knowledge from other professionals, therefore expanding our knowledge horizons as SLPs and implementing this learned information into treatment with future patients

- Helps medical teams become more efficient in providing equitable health services

- Reduces gaps in patient care which reduces the chance of clinical errors and redundant services

- Ensures that patients are receiving the most well-rounded care available for them

👎🏻 Cons of IPP: 👎🏻

- Time-consuming process to reach a conclusion when multiple professions might believe in different concepts

- Arranging time for interprofessional collaboration meetings can be overwhelming and difficult

- Could lead to a reduction in individual responsibility for team members

- Increase chances of interprofessional conflict among team members

In the time I have spent at my SNF, I have learned that IPP is helpful for reaching conclusions on patient care and what method of care might be best for certain patients. My supervisor has shown me the importance of speaking with other professionals daily to ensure the most timely and efficient care for our patients. We speak with OTs about transferring, positioning, and some feeding procedures for patients. We speak to PT regarding the extent of mobility for patients. We speak to nursing staff regarding patient plan of care carryover as well as patient safety and status updates. We speak with dietary staff regularly when we need to change patient diet textures or meal delivery options. When we make changes, we must first write orders for these changes and send them for physician approval. Most importantly, we try to speak with patients to the highest extent possible, depending on their level of understanding. Otherwise, we do get permission to evaluate and treat from family and POAs. Overall, at my placement at the SNF, we have a good level of communication. I'm sure every location has room for improvement (like we do), but we try our best to make time for interprofessional practice daily.