This essential is identified by the Institute of Medicine as one of the five core competencies for all health professionals and includes working in interdisciplinary teams. My strength in this essential comes from my experience in nursing both in a hospital and in a clinic. In both settings, we are required to collaborate with other disciplines with the main goal of continuity of care. Competency in this area was met primarily in the clinical setting in coordinating care for patients. Many times patients required referrals to specialists or for home care supplies, and this evidence is provided in SOAP notes and in Journals where I documented collaboration. 

     Also crucial to this competency is the component of patient advocacy, which is already a strength of mine.  Reduction of barriers, facilitating access to care and improving health outcomes are also key to this essential and are demonstrated by the Women's Health Issue Assignment I completed on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender health, as this was one of the Healthy People 2020 topics. 

   Finally, the pediatric case presentation that I completed on the endocrine system involved a patient that received a pediatric endocrinology consult for precocious puberty. This was a comprehensive case study that I presented to my student colleagues.