Common Principles for the Hospital Care Collaborative (HCC)
The HCC believes that healthcare is a “team sport” with respect and recognition for the knowledge, talent and professionalism of all team members.
The HCC supports clear delineation of team roles and responsibilities with an emphasis on a collaborative and non-hierarchical model.
The HCC believes in patient centered care, rather than provider-centered care, and that the healthcare team members should involve the patient/family/caregiver in developing care plans and goals of care.
The HCC believes that collaboration of the healthcare team can lead to improved systems and processes that provide care more efficiently and result in better patient outcomes. Examples include strategies for implementation, improved workflow and the utilization of evidence-based processes.
The HCC believes that all members of the team within their licensure and scope of practice have a role to play in establishing organizational policy, and directing and evaluating clinical care.
The HCC believes that in a system that involves many team members, all health professionals should work to create safe care transitions and handoffs within the hospitalization and post-hospitalization episodes of care.
The HCC believes that all team members must be as proficient in communications skills as in clinical skills.
The HCC believes that the appropriate capacity and staffing of the entire team is a requirement for providing the best care.
The HCC believes that the all team members are accountable for their individual performance as a healthcare provider as well as the performance of the entire team. While this may be defined by statute or regulation, this also relies on the clinical judgment of each member of the team.
The HCC understands that in order to improve quality of care, standards and measurement of performance are important. The HCC believes that the measurement should be of the outcomes of the team rather than of any individual member of the team.
The HCC believes that in order to provide the best care possible appropriate information must be readily available to all team members, at the right point of decision making, and in a format that allows for ongoing updating and communication to the team.
The HCC believes the current undergraduate and postgraduate professional education of team members is inadequate to promote true team functions. The HCC calls on the training institutions for health professionals to adopt new curricula and experiential models that foster the competencies and the culture that support team-based care. The HCC also calls on the professional associations to likewise function in a team-based manner and develop creative approaches to “teaching” the professionals they represent, as well as modeling for other healthcare professionals, the skills to be a functioning member of a healthcare team. Professional associations should foster research that demonstrates the effectiveness of team-provided care.
The HCC recognizes that today’s hospital cultures do not foster true teams of healthcare professionals. The HCC calls on all stakeholders (e.g. payers, providers, administrators, patients) to work together to create a new hospital culture that nurtures and rewards high performing teams.