NURS FPX 4005 Assessment 3 Interdisciplinary Plan Proposal

Student Name

NURS-FPX4005

Capella University

Prof.

July, 2026

Interdisciplinary Plan Proposal

Riverside Medical Center is achieving several objectives, but meeting patients’ limited English proficiency (LEP) and families’ needs for providing adequate services remains a challenge. Multiple patient discharge planning departments have obstacles for LEP patients and their families. Without language interpreters, patients’ discharge and/or treatment plan education will be misinterpreted, and the safety risk will persist. This blockage will pose an unwelcome health hazard to patients, and it will definitely be an unpleasant patient experience—and a bad mental health outcome for the patient. Wong et. al. state that there are emerging and overlapping health care services. This will impact the quality of health care services and the safety of patients if there are no language interpreters to help overcome the barrier of communication.

Objective

The goal of this multi-disciplinary effort is to create a professional communication model that is appropriate for health care professionals to communicate with patients with limited English proficiency, as well as the patient’s family member(s). Collaboration between nurses, doctors, and professional translators, and between nurse educators, quality improvement specialists, and hospital administrators will lead to improvement of communication and healthcare outcomes. This way, professional translators are optimally and innovatively integrated into communication. These are aimed at further improving the quality of health services and helping the institution to decrease inequalities in communication. This will promote the sustainability of stakeholder engagement services, enhance the safety of healthcare services, and mitigate the risk of distortion and/or misinterpretation, which typically takes place in healthcare settings.

Questions and Predictions

1. How does a professional translator service integrated into communication models enhance care safety and quality for patients with limited English proficiency?

Interprofessional working by various healthcare practitioners and the use of professionally trained translators will improve communication and minimise the risk of distortion and misinterpretation in clinical communication. Ibikunle et al (2025) have given some examples of the benefits that professional interpreting services have in a healthcare service when compared to informal interpreting services in terms of patient comprehension and safety.

2. What effect will the initiative have on employee engagement and commitment regarding the provision of culturally and linguistically responsive services?

This project will likely enhance staff knowledge of patients with LEP and about the safety issues arising from the lack of communication. Interdisciplinary activities and communication services will probably boost staff involvement and engagement and improve teamwork and belonging in the organization (Muir et al., 2025).

3. Will the integration of the uniformed interpreter service documentation and the management of the interpreter service as described in the communication policy result in an improvement in the service delivery?

The use of interpreter services in the electronic health record (EHR) will likely create a demand for services that will be in keeping with the communication policy. Continued management, coupled with provision of guidance and supervision, will likely identify areas of further development in interpreter services and highlight any gaps. This should begin a process of improvement in communication in Riverside Medical Center’s health services.

Change Theories and Leadership Strategies

The implementation of enhanced communication services for patients and families who have LEP is likely to follow Lewin’s Change Theory (Prosci, 2024). Unfreezing Stage: The goal is to get the staff to realize the problems associated with using language interpreters and to understand the limitations in communication with patients. The use of a language interpreter has often made communicating with patients ineffective, and it has caused patients to be dissatisfied. In a few cases, this even endangers the health of patients. Variance in interpreter use may be due to a lack of a standard communication model. The staff should be encouraged to evaluate the level of communication and the information related to communication in the organization, and identify gaps (Leotin, 2025).

The goal in the changing stage is to create a common language interpreter usage standard, increase access to quality professional interpreters, and improve communication through interdisciplinary training and education.

Refreezing Stage: The organization will reinforce the use of standardized interpreters in clinical practices as a result of the changes implemented. The organisation will be able to address and clear the obstacles to the new communication practices.

It is crucial that leadership is involved when it comes to interdepartmental communication barriers. In this case, based on the concepts of transformational leadership of the leadership staff, the staff will be able to transform their skills in promoting and working towards the same goal (Santos et al., 2023). If the leaders encourage open communication and support it, and if the staff encourages and maintains teamwork, trust, and balance, then the interpreters will be used effectively and regularly.

Team Collaboration Strategy

To improve the ability to express themselves, the combined efforts of Riverside’s staff, including nurses, doctors, professional medical interpreters, nurse educators, IT staff, process and quality management staff, are needed. The interdisciplinary team is one pillar of structured communication and one of the pillars of safe and equitable care, as evidenced by Wahyuningsih and Firmanda (2025). The first contact with the patient is made by nurses who recognize a need to call an interpreter. The decision is identified by the physician, and the communication part of the decision is made. Professional medical interpreters provide the bridge to communication. Quality staff’s responsibility is for the quality of communication. This plan describes an integrated, interdisciplinary strategy for communication and a systematic process for calling interpreters during patient evaluation, education and informed consent, and at discharge. The most marginalized patient population has the greatest improvement in the exchange of ideas and information through collaborative communication (Sharkiya, 2023). This plan will include the use of routine “team huddles” and uniform protocols for how they will communicate to ensure the team stays focused on removing communication barriers and improving staff responsiveness to the patient’s priorities and unmet communication needs. This plan is based on culturally responsive care practices and promotes communication and accountability in the care delivery process.

Required Organizational Resources

A multi-sector initiative to address language barriers and maximize utilization of interpreter services at Riverside Medical Centre will require investment in people, time, and technology in multiple sectors. The resources will be put in place to schedule coverage for employees to attend interdisciplinary training, communication meetings, and to be involved in evaluations. Language access program interpreters and employees will be identified by leaders in the clinical departments. They should be able to help the interpreting service and help the employees respond to the communication needs of the patients. The health care use of interpreters has an “impactful influence” on the structured training of health care workers and tools that facilitate the health care worker’s need to communicate instantaneously, Heath et al. (2023) said. This technology will contain services that will embed interpreters in clinical pathways, documentation/information systems that will monitor the use of interpreters, information and communication-related metrics, and management of the quality of communication and interpreters.

Riverside Medical Center may have some of the systems needed to make language access initiatives a reality, but some additional resources would be helpful to ensure that language access initiatives are routine in all patient care areas. More resources are needed to access interpreters, improve technology to facilitate communication, and provide culturally and linguistically responsive services to facilitate culturally and linguistically appropriate care. Sharkiya (2023) declared that organizations with communication strategies will enhance their care and communication, and the patients will benefit. There will be a need for more resources, but the language barriers will result in a loss of benefit to the patient and poor communication and safety issues for the organization. This organization’s services reflect the organization’s issues of equity and patient care. The organization will assist with a proper financial plan.

References

Heath, M., Hvass, A. M. F., & Wejse, C. M. (2023). Interpreter services and effect on healthcare: A systematic review of the impact of different types of interpreters on patient outcome. Journal of Migration and Health, 7(2), 162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmh.2023.100162

Ibikunle, O., Boesel, O. K., Yu, S., Wang, S., Tolchin, D., Fraiman, Y. S., Kasper, J., Mulugeta, W., Thomas, A.-M., Cha, J., Anwar, S. B., Gomez, S. G., Kirwan, C., Jarvie, E. J., Wasden, K., Olveczky, D., & Molina, R. L. (2025). Best practices for partnering with interpreters in clinical encounters: A multimodal approach for teaching medical students. Cureus, 17(5), 849. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.84948

Leotin, S. (2025). Addressing health communication gaps: Improving patient experiences and outcomes through human-centered design. Journal of Patient Experience, 12(12), 3340. https://doi.org/10.1177/23743735251334015

Muir, K. J., Sliwinski, K. S., Ang, L., Amenyedor, K., Villarruel, A. M., Lee, A. K., & Carthon, J. M. B. (2025). Improving hospital care for patients experiencing communication barriers through nurse-endorsed strategies. The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing, 62(1), 2513. https://doi.org/10.1177/00469580251370934

Prosci. (2024). What is Lewin’s Change Theory? Explanation, pros and cons. Prosci.com. https://www.prosci.com/blog/lewins-change-theory

Santos, S., Augusto, L., Ferreira, S., Santo, P. E., & Vasconcelos, M. (2023). Recommendations for internal communication to strengthen the employer brand: A systematic literature review. Administrative Sciences, 13(10), 223. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/13/10/223

Sharkiya, S. H. (2023). Quality communication can improve patient-centred health outcomes among older patients: A rapid review. BioMed Central: Health Services Research, 23(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-09869-8

Wahyuningsih, A., & Firmanda, G. I. (2025). The role of interprofessional communication in enhancing the quality of hospital health services: A scoping review. Journal of Medicolegal and Hospital Management, 14(2), 230–241. https://doi.org/10.18196/jmmr.v14i2.570

Wong, M., Siddiqui, S., Nnamdi, G., Nguyen, B., Harutyunyan, N., & Dermenchyan, A. (2025). Addressing language barriers in U.S. healthcare: The role of CLAS standards, telehealth, and policy in supporting limited English proficiency populations. Health Sciences Review, 17(5), 109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hsr.2025.100249