Volume 39 Number 2 | April 2025
The Value of Interdisciplinary Communication and Collaboration
Ali Murphy, MHHSA, MLS(ASCP)CM, caPM, ASCLS Director
After watching several talks from the 2024 ASCLS, AGT & SAFMLS Joint Annual Meeting (JAM), I came across four lectures that preached fellowship and made me want to shout from the rooftops. I would like to credit Elissa Passiment, Doryan Redding, Grace Leu Burke, and Ally Storla for inspiring me to put these thoughts together. So, full disclosure: these ideas are not my own. I’m just attempting to summarize them into something meaningful.
The clinical laboratory, like any healthcare department, is critical to the delivery of quality results to patients. However, an undervalued part of that equation is interdisciplinary communication and collaboration. As a unified laboratory team, it is time to dismiss the stereotypical, outdated theories that other healthcare providers are naive or are purposely trying to be confrontational. The narratives that nurses are dumb, doctors know everything, or other unfounded negative sentiments need to be tossed aside. Instead, we should embrace a spirit of fellowship and encourage educational communication rather than assuming negative intent.
Healthcare education is unique to each profession. If every healthcare profession could be taught with one degree, there would not be dozens of distinct education tracks. Each track focuses their education on a unique aspect of healthcare, specializing in a narrow window of care for a patient. That is why an entire medical team has to come together to provide quality care for our community. The days of a single general practitioner providing all the care for every generation is slowly becoming rarer as the need for highly skilled and knowledgeable healthcare practitioners has become the norm.
“Make the other departments look forward to calling the lab, even for something that may seem obvious.”
Keeping in mind how specialized and unique each member of a healthcare team is, it should be clear that grace is needed when working as interdepartmental units. Laboratory training for a medical student is very short compared to the multiyear programs that laboratorians go through. Therefore, laboratorians are the best candidates to give guidance about laboratory testing. People don’t know what they don’t know! This is a phenomenon that all of us have experienced. It is no fault of the individual for not knowing something. That is why it is so important to not look down on someone for not knowing something that may seem obvious to you.
The adage of Hanlon’s razor states: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” Knowing that not all education is equal, Hanlon’s razor is relevant. It is easy to point fingers, belittle, or assume malintent when encountering knowledge gaps as part of a healthcare team. Knowledge gaps are a product of our educational system for training new healthcare workers. Highly specialized training creates knowledge gaps across the medical community, requiring specialists to pull together, collaborate, and communicate that much more. Next time you speak with a provider and the conversation becomes frustrating, remember to not assume malintent if a knowledge gap is a more logical explanation.
Quality interdisciplinary communication does not need to be difficult nor intimidating. Instead, take it as an opportunity to show off the education of a laboratorian. Demonstrate to others why lab training is a unique and rigorous program, which leads to highly qualified, skilled individuals. Approach conversations from a standpoint of “communicating the knowledge gap” instead of belittling the other over something not known to them.
Registration is open for the 2025 ASCLS, AGT & SAFMLS Joint Annual Meeting, June 8-12 in Sacramento, CA, or virtual.
When interacting, take a little extra time to spread knowledge to our fellow healthcare team members. Allow and encourage questions. Make the other departments look forward to calling the lab, even for something that may seem obvious. This inspires safe working conditions, where questions can be legitimately asked without fear of condemnation. This change within an organization will benefit everyone, most importantly the patient.
We are a team with the common goal of providing the best, most meaningful outcomes for patients. Additionally, there is space to learn, grow, and teach those around us in a positive way. Removing negativity and intentionally coming from a place of compassion is the first step to bridging the barriers between departments. Teams that communicate well, utilize each other’s strengths, and collaborate provide the highest level of care for the community. This is a dream worth striving for and one that we all have a role in achieving.
Ali Murphy is an LIS Technical Specialist at HealthPartners in Minneapolis, Minnesota.