OPTIMIZING PATIENT RECOVERY THROUGH INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION BETWEEN NURSING AND PROSTHETICS AND ORTHOTICS TEAMS IN TERTIARY HEALTHCARE SETTINGS
Keywords:
Interdisciplinary collaboration, patient recovery, nursing, prosthetics and orthotics, rehabilitation, tertiary healthcare, teamwork, integrated care, mobility, clinical outcomes.Abstract
Efforts to optimize patient recovery have stimulated interest in interdisciplinary collaboration between nursing and prosthetics and orthotics (P&O) teams within tertiary healthcare. Early mobility is vital for recovery from lower limb surgical procedures and the faster re-establishment of functional independence positively influences rehabilitation outcomes. However, despite active collaboration within sequential care pathways, current collaborative practices remain limited and fail to fully address the interdisciplinary scope between nursing and P&O teams. Interventions targeting early patient mobilization and enabling access to long-term assistive devices are central to improving patient recovery. Both team’s processes span from hospital admission through to discharge, integrating care, assessment, and planning activities within shared pathways.
The study aimed to identify potential options for interdisciplinary collaboration in tertiary healthcare settings, documenting current approaches from other hospitals and distilling specific opportunities for improvement. Recovery-related evidence concerning quantitatively measured outcomes (such as mobility level, recovery times, functional independence, and equipment use) and qualitative survey responses (including patient satisfaction and quality of life) associated with collaborative practices was reviewed. Preliminary findings indicated improvements in recovery, postoperative therapy uptake, equipment use, and patient experience.
The different facets of these collaborative partnerships can be structured through an overarching framework delineating the roles and responsibilities of the involved parties, an illustration of interconnected communication processes, documentation strategies, coordinated care pathways, quantitative metrics to monitor restoration goals and the conditions required to establish and maintain this cooperative configuration. (van der Sluis et al., 2015) (R Espelita, 2022) (HEALY et al., 1970)
