NURS FPX 4005 Assessment 2 Interview and Interdisciplinary Issue Identification

Student name

Capella University

NURS-FPX4005

Professor Name

Submission Date

Interview and Interdisciplinary Issue Identification

The secrets of delivering high-quality and patient-centered care that is safe are interprofessional communication and collaboration. Interdisciplinary teamwork absenteeism results in delays, increased costs, and low care outcomes within organizations (Katantha et al., 2025). The topic of this report is the problem of poor medication reconciliation in organizations, which was discussed in one of the interviews with a nursing supervisor of Riverside Community Hospital. The test will be intended to examine the issue and propose evidence-based measures to enhance interdisciplinary collaboration and the overall functioning of the system.

Interview Summary

According to a nurse manager at Riverside Community Hospital, Sarah Thompson, a registered nurse (RN) with a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), in a recent interview identified the problem of inefficient medication reconciliation as a persistent organizational issue. Thompson has further explained that doctors and pharmacy staff would usually give the nurses incomplete and/or delayed information on medication, thus rendering them incapable of updating patients’ medication lists appropriately. Such communication gaps have been found to increase the likelihood of making medication errors and negatively affect patient safety (Katantha et al., 2025). The problem commonly resulted in medication errors, patient risk, extended hospital stay, and high costs. She identified that the root causes of inefficiency in the workflow and low patient safety in these communication gaps, and a more structured and collaborative interdisciplinary approach was required to get medication right.

Strategies Employed in the Interview

I used a semi-structured interview (open-ended questions) in order to have the information collected in detail without specifying restrictions on the answer. With the help of these questions, Thompson was able to give certain details relating to her experience with the medication reconciliation issue in Riverside Community Hospital. In particular, open-ended questioning can be particularly effective in the field of health care research because it enables the stakeholders and researchers to get to know more about the complex issues in case the necessary information is needed in time (Galura et al., 2022). Active listening, which involves responding to the interviewee, paraphrasing, and following up, was my way of taking advantage to seek clarity and ensure that the patient was at risk to his life, such as can you describe a recent incident that has caused a patient safety risk, such as delayed medication information? I also took comprehensive field notes of significant things and provided Thompson time to expand or expound on her answers, which made the information collected more valid and rich.

Issue Identification

The identified problem, as revealed by the interview with Nurse Thompson at Riverside Community Hospital, is that effective communication between the interdisciplinary team members has not been timely and thorough during the process of medication reconciliation. The communication barriers in the majority of situations lead to medication-related errors, medication delays, excessive health care costs, and a potential decrease in patient safety. The evidence-based interdisciplinary approach is quite appropriate in addressing this issue since effective medication care requires an integrative effort of physicians, nurses, and pharmacy staff. As research has revealed, structured interprofessional collaboration can be regarded as one of the strategies applied to improve medication safety and reduce errors (Katantha et al., 2025). The interdisciplinary approach will assist all team members in sharing their expertise when they are needed and provide adequate and timely medication reconciliation and patient care outcomes in general.

Change Management and Leadership Theories

The Change Theory developed by Lewin offers an approach to interdisciplinary change in an orderly and well-structured manner to address the problems related to medication reconciliation in Riverside Community Hospital. Rousseau and Have. (2022) observed that unfreezing, changing, and refreezing are the three stages of the Lewin model, which can help teams to understand that they should work harder to get things done, implement new communication processes, and practice them as a part of their everyday routine. The unfreezing stage involves the discussion of the recent medication errors and the transfer of data among the staff members to prove the risks and inefficiency of the delayed or inaccurate medication reconciliation. Change phase may also involve interdisciplinary checklists and handoff processes, and the refreezing phase will involve the maintenance of the same changes by policies, continuous learning, and specific roles.

The latter leadership type is also particularly applicable in addressing this issue, as transformational leadership is likely to encourage the individuals who work towards the same agenda focused on patient safety and proper use of medications. The characteristics of this leadership style are trust, transparency, and professional development, which are necessary in the context of effective interdisciplinary teamwork (Broome, 2024). The transformational leader at Riverside Community Hospital can facilitate frequent interdisciplinary huddles, facilitate feedback about the communication processes, and recognize the contribution of the team. Based on such modelling of transparency, inclusivity, and accountability, the decrease of change resistance, encouraging the ownership of the new processes, and a positive transformation of the accuracy of the medication reconciliation and the overall team performance can be achieved in the long-term.

Most Credible Source

Another good model presented by Rousseau and Have. (2022) is based on the change theory of Lewin applied to improve the interdisciplinary practice of clinical care. Broome. (2024) revealed that transformational leadership enhances staff satisfaction, patient safety of patients, and collaboration. These are the evidence-based approaches that assist in the techniques of improving medication reconciliation in Riverside Community Hospital. Both articles are viable because they are founded on stringent procedures and extrapolation to the actual world, and can be applicable in the organizational dilemmas of medication management.

Collaboration Approaches

The problems of medication reconciliation within Riverside Community Hospital are based on the idea of community collaboration. One of the effective interventions that can be applied to reinforce interdisciplinary communication is daily interdisciplinary huddles. Such brief, focused visits will bring together nurses, physicians, pharmacists, and other parties deemed as interested (or not) to analyse patient medication lists, to address the discrepancies, and to be aware of the dangers of risks (Katantha et al., 2025). Huddles improve team-based communication, reduce fragmentation, guarantee interdisciplinary coordination, and encourage active problem-solving. They also foster respect and accountability between themselves, which are vital to team operation. The introduction of frequent huddles in Riverside Community Hospital assists in identifying medication issues at an earlier stage and taking timely measures, and also boosts patient safety.

Another evidence-based practice approach that may be implemented in order to improve interdisciplinary collaboration is the situation-background-assessment-recommendation (SBAR) communication framework. SBAR has ensured that the process of sharing information is more standardized to enable the delivery of the most crucial pieces of information in a smooth and comprehensible manner across healthcare roles. This framework has been discovered to be useful in reducing the number of miscommunications and clinical practice errors (Irawati et al., 2025). SBAR allows nurses, pharmacists, and physicians to communicate the required medication information about an occurrence of changes or problems systematically in terms of medication reconciliation. The adoption of SBAR would facilitate Riverside Community Hospital in improving the responsiveness of the team and the accuracy and safety of the process of dealing with patient medication.

Most Credible

The article by Katantha et al. (2025) was useful in terms of increasing interdisciplinary work, which could enhance medication reconciliation. Based on their research, they found that the number of errors may be reduced with the help of team-based and structured approaches to provide safer care to patients. The study provided the quantitative information on the improved workflow process and patient outcomes due to the multidisciplinary team-based approach. Its theoretical relevance and scientific approach make it a legitimate source of evidence-based strategies in guiding the Riverside Community Hospital.

Conclusion

Through the interview, organizational problems were uncovered as far as the ease of medication reconciliation is concerned in Riverside Community Hospital. The interdisciplinary strategies that would be used to improve the communication and coordination among the members of the healthcare team would be evidence-based. The transformational leadership and Change Theory by Lewin offer a chance to concentrate these improvements and achieve success. The strategies that could be used to enhance collaboration, reduce errors, and improve patient safety include the daily interdisciplinary huddles and the SBAR communication tool.