Interprofessional Communication in the Care of Adults with Cancer: Examining Providers’ Perceptions of Team Rounding

Interprofessional communication is fundamental to the delivery of safe, effective, patient centered care. Healthcare providers are providing more complex care to chronically ill patients and as a result the demands on the interprofessional team are growing. In order to achieve optimal care, interprofessional communication is necessary and one tool used to accomplish meeting these needs is interdisciplinary team rounding. In this study, twelve interviews were conducted with providers from five different professions: Nursing Assistant, Registered Nurse, Pharmacy, Advanced Practice Provider, and Physician. The purpose of these semi-structured interviews was to explore providers’ perceptions of interprofessional communication on an in-patient adult oncology unit at a large southern medical hospital. Six major themes emerged from the data: provider’s perceptions of interprofessional communication, perceptions of rounding, lack of information or communication, how the role is understood by others, perceptions of other’s roles, perceptions of the team and communication, and challenges or barriers. Findings from this study indicate each profession had unique perceptions, but all had a positive outlook on the necessity of interprofessional communication in the delivery of optimal patient care.Bachelor of Scienc