Working Across Boundaries: A Case Study

Working across boundaries is critical to service users

For health care professionals to work more effectively, they must work across boundaries. Intellectually this idea makes good sense and it is attractive and persuasive, but in practice it is not just that easy to achieve (West, 2015).

According to (West, 2015) Cross-boundary relationships often spawn conflict because of clashes of values, working methods, identities, territories and inter-group prejudice. The issues need to be identified and resolved quickly, transparently and creatively in the best interests of patient care and all those involved. Cross organisational trust is built through authenticity, openness, fairness and commitment in the process of conflict resolution.

For example,

An effective team -Is a one where the team members, including the patients, communicate with each other, as well as merging their observations, expertise and decision-making responsibilities to optimize patients’ care. Understanding the culture of the workplace and its impact on team dynamics and functioning will make a team member a good team player.

Effective Communication -This is crucial for the teamwork success. The team prioritizes and continuously refines its communication skills. It has consistent and accessible channels for complete communication, and used by all team members across all settings.

Measurable processes and outcomes of Teamwork - Reliable and timely feedback on successes and failures should be agreed and implemented by the team. These are used to track and improve performance immediately and put strategies for the

A strong sense of purpose - Groups and individuals who truly collaborate see the value in working together. Collaboration is not forced upon someone. There should be a meaningful reason for working together, and it should benefit either parties or the workplace as a whole.

There are many benefits to collaboration in a team environment, let’s look at some of those benefits in more detail.

Access to Skills and Strengths

When healthcare departments collaborate, they are able to utilize the strengths and skills of everyone involved. For example, you may struggle with presentation skills but know all the benefits and challenges of a particular task or solution. Collaborating will enable you to share your knowledge and work with someone who can present the ideas in the best possible way (Hill, 2016).

Develop health care professionals Skills

Both departments and health and Social care workers benefit from collaboration in a team environment because, as a result of sharing ideas and working together, they may see how others think, negotiate and operate. The skills and knowledge that each health and social Care worker can pick up from others can be utilized or taken back to their own department to make improvements or