| Course | DNP 714 Professional Relationships in Healthcare |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 4 |
| Paper type | MindMap with written narrative |
| Length | About 650 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Arizona State University |
| Program | Doctor of Nursing Practice |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for DNP 714 Module 4
Three Lenses on One Handoff Chain: Relational Coordination, IMOI and Psychological Safety Across the Continuum of Care
Student Name
Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation, Arizona State University
DNP 714: Professional Relationships in Healthcare
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Three Lenses on One Handoff Chain: Relational Coordination, IMOI and Psychological Safety Across the Continuum of Care
Central Node
Which theories best explain how hospital, skilled nursing and home health staff work together, or fail to, when an older adult moves across the continuum after hip surgery?
The Case Behind the Map
A 79-year-old woman has a hip replaced, spends three days in the hospital, two weeks in a skilled nursing facility and then goes home with home health. Her anticoagulant dose was changed at the facility, but the change never reached the home health nurse, who taught her the old dose. Each organization did its own part well; the relationships between them failed.
Branch 1: Relational Coordination
Level: relationships between roles, crossing team and organizational boundaries. Roots: organizational sociology. Core concepts: goals, knowledge and respect held in common across roles, which make communication more regular, prompt, correct and aimed at solutions; together these are associated with better quality and efficiency, as in the nine-hospital surgical study by Gittell et al. (2000). Context: separate employers, schedules and records weaken relational ties. Prediction for the case: the dose change was lost because the facility nurse and the home health nurse shared no goal, knew little about each other's work and had no expected channel for timely communication.
Branch 2: The IMOI Model of Teams
Level: the team as a whole, over time. Roots: organizational and social psychology. Core concepts: inputs such as composition and resources lead to mediators, which include processes and emergent states like trust, and then to outputs, which feed back into the next cycle (Ilgen et al., 2005). Context: a team whose membership changes at each transition never completes a full cycle of learning. Prediction for the case: the "team" around this patient formed and dissolved three times in three weeks, so it could not build shared mental models or learn from its errors.
Branch 3: Psychological Safety
Level: team climate, influenced by leaders. Roots: organizational psychology. Core concept: a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking, which predicts whether members will seek help, admit mistakes and question a plan (Edmondson, 1999). Context: hierarchy and fear of blame, especially for newer or lower-status staff. Prediction for the case: a home health aide who noticed a new medication bottle might not have spoken up if she believed nurses would dismiss her.
Comparison
| Feature | Relational coordination | IMOI model | Psychological safety |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level of focus | Relationships between roles | Whole team over time | Team climate |
| Disciplinary roots | Organizational sociology | Organizational and social psychology | Organizational psychology |
| Core concepts | Shared goals, knowledge, respect; quality communication | Inputs, mediators, outputs and feedback cycles | Safety for interpersonal risk; learning behavior |
| Key contextual factors | Separate organizations and records | Changing membership | Hierarchy and blame |
| What it predicts here | A lost dose change at the handoff | No shared learning across transitions | Silence from lower-status staff |
| Best used for | Designing handoffs across organizations | Planning how a team develops | Setting leader behavior |
How the Theories Fit Together
The three theories work at different levels and are complementary. Relational coordination explains the handoff failure most directly because the problem sat between roles in different organizations. The IMOI model explains why the same failure keeps recurring: teams across the continuum never stay together long enough to learn. Psychological safety explains which warnings never get voiced. A transitional care program designed with all three would build shared goals and a defined channel between facility and home health nurses, create a stable core team that meets regularly across organizations and train leaders to invite concerns from every role.
Implications for the DNP Leader
Choosing the theory that matches the level of the problem is the leader's first task. Tannenbaum and Salas (2021) note that team effectiveness depends on several drivers working together, so the leader's job is to strengthen the relationships, routines and climate at once rather than to pick a single fix.
References
Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350-383. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999
Gittell, J. H., Fairfield, K. M., Bierbaum, B., Head, W., Jackson, R., Kelly, M., Laskin, R., Lipson, S., Siliski, J., Thornhill, T., & Zuckerman, J. (2000). Impact of relational coordination on quality of care, postoperative pain and functioning, and length of stay: A nine-hospital study of surgical patients. Medical Care, 38(8), 807-819. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005650-200008000-00005
Ilgen, D. R., Hollenbeck, J. R., Johnson, M., & Jundt, D. (2005). Teams in organizations: From input-process-output models to IMOI models. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 517-543. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.56.091103.070250
Tannenbaum, S., & Salas, E. (2021). Teams that work: The seven drivers of team effectiveness. Oxford University Press.
Reading the DNP 714 Module 4 assignment instructions
The posted syllabus grades Individual Assignment 2 at 15 points in Module 2, Models and Theories. The second MindMap weighs three theories or models used to explain or predict transdisciplinary relationships across the continuum of care in team-based care delivery. For each, you describe its focus at the individual, team or organizational level, its roots in psychology, sociology or another discipline, its core concepts and the relationships that influence or result from professional relationships, and the impact of contextual factors. Canvas lists any further elements and the rubric. Choose theories at different levels so the comparison is meaningful, and test them on one realistic case across settings. Expect faculty to read the map for how well the three theories are contrasted, not only described.
How the DNP 714 Module 4 example is put together
The narrative opens with a central question and a short case that crosses three settings, a hip replacement patient whose anticoagulant change was lost between facility and home health. Three branches describe relational coordination, the IMOI model and psychological safety using the same four elements the prompt names, and each ends with a prediction about the case. A comparison table sets the theories side by side, including what each predicts and where each is most useful. A section explains how the three fit together and what a program built on all three would look like. A final paragraph draws the implication for the DNP leader. Four sources support the map.
DNP 714 Module 4 rubric: what earns full marks
This MindMap is likely graded on the accuracy of each theory's description, coverage of every element in the prompt, the quality of the comparison and contrast, relevance to transdisciplinary care across the continuum, attention to context and use of scholarly sources. Choosing theories at different levels and from different disciplinary roots makes the comparison richer. Applying all three to the same case shows the student can use theory, not only describe it. Explaining how the theories complement each other demonstrates synthesis. Clear labels and a readable layout matter for a visual assignment. Cite the original theorists where possible. Implications for the DNP leader round out the comparison.
DNP 714 Module 4 help from the desk
A frequent problem is choosing three theories that sit at the same level and say nearly the same thing. Pick models that differ in focus and roots. Another is describing each theory without ever comparing them; a table helps. Do not forget contextual factors, which the prompt lists explicitly. Use a case that crosses settings, since the prompt is about the continuum of care. Name the three theories you prefer and a patient journey from your work, and the desk can compare them for you. Keep labels brief on the map itself. Check that each theory is cited to a primary source. Read the original articles for each theory rather than summaries.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Arizona State University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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DNP 714 Module 4 questions, answered
Where can I find a free DNP 714 Module 4 sample paper?
The narrative above is a complete DNP 714 Individual Assignment 2 sample comparing relational coordination, the IMOI model and psychological safety across the continuum of care.
How many points is DNP 714 Individual Assignment 2?
The posted syllabus lists it at 15 points in Module 2, Models and Theories.
What is the IMOI model of teams?
It describes teams as cycles in which inputs lead to mediators, such as processes and emergent states, then to outputs that feed back into the next cycle.
Which theories explain teamwork across care settings?
Relational coordination fits handoffs between roles and organizations, team process models explain development over time, and psychological safety explains whether people speak up.
What should I compare in the DNP 714 theories MindMap?
Each theory's level of focus, disciplinary roots, core concepts and relationships and the effect of contextual factors.