Interdisciplinary Healthcare: Importance of Collaborative Care for Bob

This discussion post examines the importance of interdisciplinary healthcare, specifically focusing on a patient named Bob who suffers from multiple chronic conditions, including COPD, congestive cardiac failure, type 2 diabetes, and an abdominal mass. The assignment highlights the need for collaborative care, emphasizing the role of a nurse in managing Bob's complex medical needs. The author justifies the selection of a nurse, detailing the responsibilities in monitoring his dietary intake, medications, and lifestyle management, as well as providing support. The post underscores the significance of a collaborative approach involving various healthcare professionals to ensure optimal patient outcomes, particularly for elderly patients facing multiple health challenges. The discussion references several scholarly sources to support the arguments for interdisciplinary care and its benefits for patient well-being and satisfaction.

Running Head: INTERDISCIPLINARY HEALTHCARE
COLLABORATIVE INTERDISCIPLINARY CARE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

1INTERDISCIPLINARY CARE
Introduction
An interdisciplinary care approach is an effective practice for patient-centred care, as it
promotes medical discipline by setting goals and making decisions according to the
responsibilities and resources available. A team of interdisciplinary professionals or clinicians
come together from different fields of the medical profession to take the responsibility of a
particular patient for a better patient outcome (Brown, Deletic & Wong, 2015). In this
discussion, Bob’s medical conditions will be highlighted to choose an appropriate
interdisciplinary healthcare professional to control his medical complications. It will also include
the importance of collaborative interdisciplinary care.
Discussion
Collaborative interdisciplinary care is important for patients in the medical sector because
it is supported by many practices and policies because it provides quality care to patients as well
as widens the range of traditional professional boundaries. Several models and frameworks are
designed and used for collaborative care. Collaborative care includes strong leadership, clinical
reasoning and prompt actions to emergency medical situations as well as daily patient care.
Interdisciplinary means the knowledge of different professions and people coming from a variety
of backgrounds. These people collaborate and work for positive patient outcomes. Collaborative
care is a movement and philosophy that has certain models, which supervises different medical
facilities such as integrated care, integrated care systems and primary care behavioural health. It
gives satisfaction and positive patient feedback, including optimum care and safety for patients.
When different professionals come together for a motive such as nurses, pharmacists, social
workers, case manager, respiratory technicians as well as doctors, then they provide the best care

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by using their knowledge. Therefore, collaborative interdisciplinary care is important for patients
as well as healthcare sectors (Lancaster et al., 2015).
My chosen healthcare professional is a nurse who will be responsible for Bob’s health as
he is suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), congestive cardiac failure,
intermittent angina, type 2 diabetes, gastric ulcers and he complained of abdominal pain 3
months ago. After his CT scan, it was known that he has an abdominal mass. Bob is 80 years old,
and this is an additional complication so he needs monitoring and regular care because of his
unhealthy lifestyle and this is only possible for a medically trained expert (Hajek et al., 2015). In
his past, he has been an alcoholic, a smoker with a good appetite who tends to eat sweets during
the evenings. His health complication of diabetes can increase more with his ill diet habits
(Freitas et al., 2014). The nurse has to constantly keep a check of his dietary intake as well as his
medications, which are prescribed by his doctor for a sound recovery. The nurse can also guide
and train him about managing his lifestyle so that his health complications can be under control,
including his blood sugar levels and ulcers. He only has his wife for his support and his children
and grandchildren do not live with him.
Conclusion
Bob and his wife have constant stress about their increasing health complications with
old age, this is why Bob requires a nurse’s care and support. Collaborative interdisciplinary care
is needed for Bob as it can help in changing his lifestyle and get constant health guidance.

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References
Brown, R. R., Deletic, A., & Wong, T. H. (2015). Interdisciplinarity: How to catalyse
collaboration. Nature News, 525(7569), 315.
Freitas, J. S. D., Silva, A. E. B. D. C., Minamisava, R., Bezerra, A. L. Q., & Sousa, M. R. G. D.
(2014). Quality of nursing care and satisfaction of patients attended at a teaching
hospital. Revista latino-americana de enfermagem, 22(3), 454-460.
Hajek, A., Brettschneider, C., Lange, C., Posselt, T., Wiese, B., Steinmann, S., ... & Stein, J.
(2015). Longitudinal predictors of institutionalization in old age. PLoS One, 10(12),
e0144203.
Lancaster, G., Kolakowsky‐Hayner, S., Kovacich, J., & Greer‐Williams, N. (2015).
Interdisciplinary communication and collaboration among physicians, nurses, and
unlicensed assistive personnel. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 47(3), 275-284.