Abstract
Abstract
Purpose: This study explores how an integrated approach to care for patients and families by transdisciplinary healthcare teams provides opportunities for a patient-centered care approach to support quality of life throughout one's chronic illness and at the end-of-life. Discussions and conversations about impending death or dying are often challenging and a complex task for healthcare professionals in whatever settings. While there is an understanding of aspects of collaborative care and transitions and processes to support patients and families about how to cope and communicate about death and dying, it is essential to recognize how best to support end-of-life care and provide quality of life for those faced with difficult conversations for the transition from active intervention, to palliative and then to end-of-life care.
Design and Methods: Employing a qualitative methodology, this study explores how healthcare professionals in multiple settings communicate within their disciplines and work with patients who are faced with death and dying. The research phase included a confidential, single, in-depth, semi-structured interview with 16 medical professionals who worked in multiple interdisciplinary settings. A constructivist grounded theory approach to data analysis is used to analyze findings using qualitative data analysis. Open-ended questions were carefully designed using a Likert scale to provide free-text responses.
Results: Findings from this study are organized into five main themes:
- Need for care planning and coordination.
- Need for additional resources in community and work settings.
- Need for built strategies and mental well-being.
- Standards of care in the workplace.
- Need for additional preparedness in school and continued education.
Conclusions: Healthcare professionals working collaboratively in this field of death and dying can pave the way to a continuum of care for adequate conversations, coordination, and care planning for patients and families in difficult situations. A clear understanding of a patient's wishes and values at the end-of-life is essential for quality healthcare delivery [1]. The transdisciplinary team's unique competencies, including those of healthcare professionals, affect assessing for comprehensive care, identifying and prioritizing diagnosis, and working on collaborative care in determining specific interventions [2]. Interprofessional collaboration goes beyond one's unique educational and clinical expertise and beyond just discussing teamwork. However, communicating about how to approach death and dying is complex and challenging at a personal and professional level. As healthcare settings are increasingly becoming more integrated within the team, inter-agency and transdisciplinary collaborations need to reduce medical errors, improve the quality of the life of the patients, and possibly reduce healthcare teams' stress as a result of streamlined coordination.
Keywords: Transdisciplinary, death, dying, coordination, quality of care, quality of life
Recommended Citation
Nguyen, Princess and Gietzen, Lindsay
(2024)
"Transdisciplinary Collaboration of Healthcare Professionals and the Emotional Connectedness with Working with Patients Coping with Death and Dying,"
Pacific Journal of Health: Vol. 7:
Iss.
1, Article 35.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56031/2576-215X.1085
Available at:
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/pjh/vol7/iss1/35
Included in
Health Communication Commons, Interprofessional Education Commons, Other Mental and Social Health Commons, Other Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons, Palliative Care Commons, Preventive Medicine Commons, Social Work Commons
