In this note, I will reflect on nursing collaboration which is a cornerstone for providing better care to patients. I will try to examine some benefits and opportunities while identifying the barriers and issues to effective collaborative work among nurses. Throughout my note, I will be using the LEARN format for better reflection on my clinical practice, my thoughts, and feeling.
Look back
During my last year of the nursing program, I was placed in North York Hospital’s Pediatric Unit. As part of my goal of recognizing changes in the child’s health status following my assessment, I advocated for my patient by advising the assigned RN and my CCD about the danger of overhydration and edema in the child, K. with severe GERD who received huge amounts of IV fluids due to inability to feed. When I noticed that his urine output drastically increased following the IV treatment I talked to the RN who was able to get a new order from MD to decrease fluids to the basic amounts to keep the vein open. I also advised my CCD about the problem and we were able to count the amounts of fluids that K. has received for the shift.
The significant amount of time that we as student nurses allocate in the unit work is intra-professional nursing communication and collaboration, including direct and indirect contact with nurses, nursing educators, CCD, and nursing student peers. I believe that a successful nursing collaboration may not only promote better patient care but also reduce errors and
Teaming nurses to help and supports new colleagues provide a safe and quality patient care. After all, nursing are all in this together. There is no perfect nurse, and cannot provide healthcare alone. Nurses need to respect and be able to rely on each other toward successful healthcare.
Nurses play an important role in achieving the competencies of interprofessional collaboration, quality improvement, and human flourishing. Successful interprofessional collaboration requires the willingness to step outside of one’s comfort zone and initiate interactions with other professionals. Nurses must also possess a well-rounded understanding of patient needs in order to know which types of professionals with which to collaborate. Communication skills are
Interprofessional team collaboration for professional nurses is viewed as a method to improve the care and safety for patients. However, interprofessional team collaboration presents both advantages and challenges for nurses and other team members. One of the advantages is the coordination of care for the patient and the sharing of knowledge to improve the outcomes for the patient. Challenges for interprofessional team collaboration is: poor role-definition, miscommunication, conflict, lack of accountability for assignment of responsibilities and tasks (Reeves, 2012). This paper will discussion the role of a nurse on an interprofessional team and the challenges, why interprofessional teams promote patient safety, and strategies to promote success interprofessional teams.
“All health care disciplines share a common and primary commitment to serving the patient and working toward the ideal of health for all.” (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2014, p. 1) There are many different professional members in the healthcare system. Each of them, have a specific specialty and responsibility to the patient and play an important role in the patient’s overall plan of care. “The scope of health care mandates that health professionals work collaboratively and with other related disciplines. Collaboration emanates from an understanding and appreciation of the roles and contributions that each discipline brings to the care delivery experience.” (American Association of Colleges of
Collaborative practice (Sadler 2004) is at the forefront of health and social care training. For me, like many nursing students, the first steps in collaborative practice were the IPL (interprofessional learning) modules at university. This has been described as two or more professions being taught together as away of cultivating collaborative practice (Caipe. 2010). These modules consisted of student nurses studying different fields, OT’s, radiographers and midwifes. This was the first opportunity I had to meet other professions, who as in any project are the ones who collaborate not the institutions (UKCR 2007). Since then all the IPL modules I have completed have been with adult nursing
This is the way nurses come together with healthcare consumer, family, and others in the conduct of nursing practices. Collaboration is professional healthcare partnership grounded in a reciprocal and respectful recognition and acceptance of: each partner’s unique expertise, power, and sphere of influence and responsibilities; the commonality of goals; the mutual safeguarding of the legitimate interest of each party; and the advantages of such a relationship. (Spring, 2010). Nursing students should be ready to collaborate with their patients and their families at times in every situation in order to come out with a positive outcome while helping the patients. This is attained by sharing the knowledge we have learned in class combined with what the patient says (subjectives) orthe situation you are. When nurses collaborate together and understand one another it will be easier for them to take care of the patients and they will manage to offer a high quality care possible.
Collaboration is a process in which a nurse practitioner has a relationship with one or more physicians to deliver health care services. Such collaboration is to be evidenced by nurse practitioners documenting the nurse practitioners’ scope of practice and indicating the relationships that they have with physicians to deal with issues outside their scope of practice. Nurse practitioners must document this collaborative process with physicians. The collaborating physician does not need to be present with the nurse practitioner when the services are furnished or to make an independent evaluation of each patient who is seen by the nurse practitioner.
Nurses should be full partners, with physicians and other health professionals, in regarding health care in the United States(Institute of Medicine, 2011).Nurses should be full partners because who knows nursing and what nurses need better than a nurses themselves? In care environments, being a full partner involves taking responsibility for identifying problems and areas of waste, devising and implementing a plan for improvement, tracking improvement over time, and making necessary adjustments to realize established goals (Institute of Medicine, 2011).The expense of certain supplies and equipment could be decreased over time if nurses had more say in their environment and resources. On many floors in hospitals, certain supplies are not needed
Student nurses who are transitioning into the role of registered nurse need to learn how to work with other members of the interprofessional team to prevent the negative impact on nursing staff as well as
Working in a team is an important responsibility by understanding each other’s role which may include doctor, nurse, occupational therapist, physiotherapist and many more. Team members divide the work based on their scope practice such as acute care, metal health care, homecare etc. Interprofessional collaboration practice is decision making and communicating between individuals for their patient’s health based on their knowledge and skills. It helps to promote habits, maximizing health resources, leading care to be safer with patient’s satisfaction and Canada’s health care (Kenaszchuk, Reeves, Nicholas, & Zwarenstein, 2010).
According to American Nurses Association (2010) Scope and Standards of Nursing Practice, collaboration is defined as, “a professional healthcare partnership grounded in a reciprocal and respectful recognition and acceptance of: each partner’s unique expertise, power, and sphere of influence and responsibilities; commonality of goals; the mutual safeguarding of the legitimate interest of each party; and the advantages of such a relationship”.(p. 64). Collaboration amongst health care providers is very crucial in providing quality care to patients. Integration of disciplinary teams, improves communication, coordination, and most importantly, the safety and quality of patient care. It provides interaction between team members allowing
In this essay I will concentrate on inter-professional collaboration which is cornerstone for providing better care to patients. I will try to examine some benefits and opportunities, while identifying the barriers and issues to effective collaborative work between employees. Throughout my essay I will be using LEARN format for better reflection on my clinical practice, my thoughts and feeling. As a nursing student in Early Identification team which is focused on maternal and children’s health, I will discuss my experience as being a part of this team.
Teamwork is vital in healthcare. When all participants are engaged in a program, goals are successfully achieved. Being able to communicate and work collectively as a team requires an appreciation for each other’s area of practice. Every team member has an important role and being acknowledged provides a sense of responsibility and accountability. Essentially, inter-professional collaboration helps ensure that the patient is getting care that is not only accessible but also comprehensive. The plan of a patients’ care includes active participation by all health care professionals working interdependently in accordance to the patient’s preferences, values and beliefs. The health care team accomplishes the goal of meeting the patient’s medical needs by delivering evidence-based practice. To deliver quality care, the patient should always be involved.
Ignatavicius, D. D., & Workman, M. L. (2010). Medical-Surgical Nursing: Patient-Centered Collaborative Care (6th ed.). St. Louis, Mo: Saunders Elsevier.
An effective care for patients can be achieved through the collaboration and team work within the certain health care teams to provide a focused and shared learning in health professional education, which can help enhance the outcome of the patient’s needs.1 Working with different professionals and care givers can lead to issues. This can be looked upon so that the patient is given good service and enhanced care.