Interdisciplinary Collaboration among Health Professionals: A Panacea for Effective and Evidence based Health Care delivery

Introduction: Interdisciplinary collaboration (IDC) is important in health care settings as the complex nature and demands of the health care work environment requires the expertise and knowledge of different individuals or specialists working together to solve multifaceted and complex patient care problems. Objective: To assess the health professionals attitude towards the development of an interdisciplinary collaborative approach to patient care in health institutions and to systematically review the impact of IDC as a panacea for effective health outcomes in Nigeria. Methodology: The research is a systematic review that provides various approaches for studying interdisciplinary teams. Fifty articles were selected from different search engines such as Google, google scholar, science direct and research gate with the search term Interdisciplinary collaboration among health care professionals. Articles were arranged based on most relevant, relevant and closely related articles. Result: The study revealed that IDC is pivotal in evidence-based care and contributes immensely to effective and efficient health outcomes. It puts the patient at the centre of the healthcare team s focus and allows all health professionals, with the patient, to collaboratively provide input, be part of the decision making, and improve outcomes. Although there are several obstacles to IDC, adopting this team-based culture of mutual respect and understanding is possible and, in fact, necessary. Conclusion: This study reveals that there are many benefits to IDC. It can improve safety and healthcare delivery, as well as reduce costs. The interprofessional team supports patient and personnel engagement, organizational efficiency and innovation

Related Factors and Predictors of Cognitive Dysfunction in Chronic Kidney Disease on Maintenance Hemodialysis in Nigeria

Background: Previous studies suggest a high frequency of cognitive impairment (CI) in persons with chronic kidney disease (CKD); however, factors associated with CI and predictors of CI in persons with CKD remain largely unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the factors associated with CI and predictors of CI in CKD patients on maintenance hemodialysis. Materials and Methods: The first stage of the study included recruitment of 100 apparently healthy participants aimed at determining the reference values. The second stage of the study included eighty CKD patients on maintenance hemodialysis. The iron psychology (FEPSY) was used to assess the memory, psychomotor speed, concentration, and attention using simple auditory reaction time (ART) and visual reaction time (VRT) tasks, recognition memory tests (RMT), finger tapping task (FTT), and binary choice task (BCT). Results: Using normative values generated in this study, 41 (51.3%) and 43 (53.8%) CKD patients had abnormal scores on ART dominant (D) and nondominant (ND) sides, respectively. Forty (50%) and 42 (52.5%) patients had abnormal scores on VRT D and ND sides, respectively. Twenty-one (26.3%) and 68 (85%) had abnormal scores on BCT and computer-assisted visual scanning task, respectively. Sixty-four (80%) and 65 (81.3%) had abnormal scores on RMT (words) and RMT, respectively. Fifty-two (65%) and 48 (60%) patients had abnormal scores on D and ND sides of (FTT), respectively. Factors associated with psychomotor speed impairment were duration of CKD from diagnosis (P = 0.0001 and 0.043 in D and ND ART, respectively), duration on dialysis (P = 0.0001 across board in D and ND ART as well as in D and ND VRT, respectively), and plasma urea (PU) and plasma creatinine (PCr) (P < 0.05). Factors found to be associated with memory impairment included age (P = 0.045 and 0.025 on words and figures RMT, respectively), PU (P = 0.002 and 0.005 on words and figures RMT, respectively), and PCr (P = 0.012 and 0.040 on words and figures RMT, respectively). Duration on dialysis (P = 0.032) and PCr (P = 0.001) were associated with attention and concentration. Only psychomotor speed was independently predicted by duration of CKD. Conclusion: Factors associated with psychomotor speed impairment were duration of CKD, duration on dialysis, and PU and PCr while age, PU, and PCr were associated with memory. Duration on dialysis and PCr were associated with attention and concentration. Only psychomotor speed was independently predicted by duration of CKD