Quality of health care and interdisciplinary collaboration from the perspective of employees and patients

Introduction. Cooperation in an interdisciplinary team is an important aspect of ensuring the quality and safety of patient care, although the interaction of individuals from different disciplines in the clinical environment can also be hampered by inadequate communication.Aim. This study attempts to fill the research gap and identify professionals' perceptions of interdisciplinary collaboration and quality measures, the impact of interdisciplinary collaboration on the quality of care in a general hospital and clarify the perspective of patients and healthcare professionals.Material and methods. The case study was conducted using a survey of healthcare professionals (N = 150) and a qualitative approach by interviewing healthcare professionals (N = 47) and patients (N = 20).Results and conclusions. The results of the survey show that the nurses rated all the criteria of interdisciplinary cooperation and individual quality criteria the highest, and the quality of care in general the worst, as they were not satisfied with the implementation due to the lack of staff. The exchange of information did not affect the quality of care because organizational and national authorities did not sufficiently consider the views of staff. In in-depth interviews, patients rate teamwork as poor because they do not get enough explanation and do not feel treated as equal members of the medical team. In in-depth interviews, patients and healthcare professionals are aware of the lack of teamwork among themselves, as well as of the quality of care due to staff shortages in general and especially during the pandemic.