The project focused on the Interdisciplinary Team conferences because every
department within the organization who actively participated in patient care was
represented. Effective and efficient communication and collaboration are essential in
order to provide quality and safe patient care. To improve and ensure appropriate
communication and collaboration between the departments, the study involved utilizing
participatory action research and a performance improvement methodology. As in any
organization, teams can be a challenge due to conflicts, communication issues and
different working styles (Bosteder and Russ-Eft, 2010, p. 34).