Evaluating the Effectiveness of Interdisciplinary Rounds in Enhancing Care Coordination in Nursing Teams

Posted: Nov 26, 2019

• Reagan Bryant
• Miles Donovan
• Juliette Harrington

Abstract

Care coordination represents a critical challenge in contemporary healthcare delivery, particularly within nursing teams that operate at the frontline of patient care. Traditional rounding practices in nursing have historically emphasized discipline-specific assessments and task completion, often resulting in fragmented communication and suboptimal information transfer between healthcare professionals. The complexity of modern patient care demands more integrated approaches that transcend disciplinary boundaries and foster collaborative problem-solving. This study addresses the significant gap in understanding how structured interdisciplinary rounds can transform care coordination dynamics within nursing teams. Our research builds upon emerging evidence suggesting that interdisciplinary collaboration improves patient outcomes, yet few studies have systematically examined the mechanisms through which structured rounding protocols enhance care coordination. We propose a novel theoretical framework that integrates complex adaptive systems theory with principles from high-reliability organizations, positing that healthcare teams function as complex adaptive systems that require specific conditions to achieve optimal coordination. This perspective represents a departure from traditional linear models of healthcare communication and offers new insights into the dynamics of interdisciplinary collaboration. The primary research question guiding this investigation examines how structured interdisciplinary rounds influence care coordination metrics, including medication safety, care plan consistency, and timely intervention. Additionally, we explore the qualitative dimensions of team communication, psychological safety, and shared mental model development that underpin effective interdisciplinary collaboration. By addressing these questions through a mixed-methods approach, this study contributes original insights to both healthcare informatics and organizational behavior literature.