A healthcare team is made up of many different disciplines. For successful patient outcomes, the teams need to come together, communicate effectively, and be open to new ideas and viewpoints. It is important not only for the nurse to work side-by-side with other nurses, but to collaborate with patients and other professions in the health care system as well. All members of the healthcare team can benefit from the teams different backgrounds and experiences, which results in better care for the patient. In this paper, I will discuss the importance of communication skills, patient and nurse empowerment, and professional development.
Inter and Intradisciplinary Teams
In nursing the intradisciplinary team is comprised of the nurse manager, nursing supervisor, charge nurse, bedside nurse, and the nursing assistant. The intradisciplinary team works together to make a better working environment, improved patient satisfaction, and better patient outcomes. Better outcomes for the patient can be accomplished by having groups such as, shared governance and journal club. In shared governance, the nurses collaborate on different ideas to make their unit better. On my unit, shared governance focuses on education, finance, quality of work life, and research and development. Journal club allows nurses to discuss medical and patient topics amongst their peers. Through these activities, patient care is improved by working together to find the best way to care for patients.
The interdisciplinary team consists of the nursing staff along with other disciplines. This could consist of the admitting doctor, physical therapist, and the radiologist. In order for the patient to have a successful outcome, it is important for everyone to work t...
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Fernandez, R., Tran, D. T., Johnson, M., & Jones, S. (2010). Interdisciplinary communication in general medical and surgical wards using two different models of nursing care delivery. Journal of Nursing Management, 18(3), 265-274. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2834.2010.01058.x Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.ohiou.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=6&sid=10f6e965-7241-4704-873a-ea8abc53535e%40sessionmgr110&hid=109
Paget, L., Han, P., Nedza, S., Kurtz, P., Racine, E., & Russell, S. V. K., I. (2011). Patient-clinician communication: basic principles and expectations. Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. Retrieved from http://www.iom.edu/Activities/Quality/~/media/Files/Activity%20Files/Quality/VSRT/Discussion%20Papers/PCCwLogos.pdf
Communication is cited as a contributing factor in 70% of healthcare mistakes, leading to many initiatives across the healthcare settings to improve the way healthcare professionals communicate. (Kohn, 2000.)
The term interdisciplinary refers to situations in which various disciplines are involved in reaching a common goal with each contributing his or her specific expertise. Teamwork is essential to reach any set goals or objectives. Every team member should have specific characteristics and functions in order for the team to function properly. Collaboration is important to ensure quality in completion of the task. In health care an interdisciplinary team is a group of health care professionals from diverse fields who work in a coordinated fashion toward a common goal for the patient/client and the patient’s families. During the coordination of care we may come across barriers making the goals tougher to achieve. As health care professionals we
rofessionals from different disciplines collaborating to provide care to patients. Effectively coordinated and collaborative inter-professional teams are essential to the care and treatment of patients (Rowlands & Callen, 2013; Doyle, 2008; Ruhstaller, Roe, Thürlimann & Nicoll, 2006; Simpson & Patton, 2012, p. 300). Communication is a process of conferring information between individuals through use of speech, writing or various other means, and is critical to the success of a multidisciplinary team (MDT) (Higgs, McAllister & Sefton, 2012, p. 5; Rowlands & Callen, 2013; Sargeant, Loney & Murphy, 2008). An MDT must use multiple strategies to enhance communication and ensure their success (Doyle, 2008). An effective MDT generates opportunities that benefit healthcare, which is the reason for the recent dominance of inter-professional care in health practice (Simpson & Patton, 2012, p. 300; Rowlands & Callen, 2013). Many barriers prevent effective communication within inter-professional teams. Lack of communication within MDTs presents challenges to their success, leading to numerous consequences, including the failure of the MDT (London Deanery, 2012; Sargeant et al, 2008). Communication between professionals is the key factor underpinning the potential success or failure of inter-professional teams, the outcome of the functioning of MDTs will either benefit or impair care of patients.
The Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice recognizes how communication places responsibility on all team members. Members must have the opportunity to speak up in a respectful way about their concerns and quality of care, and in return be treated with respect. According to the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) position statement on inter-professional collaboration (2011), it states how the use of interprofessional collaboration is critical for improving client-centred care as well as strengthening effective collaboration with other health professionals (2011). Communication is a common theme that has repeatedly surfaced in my research.
Communication encompasses a wide range of processes such as the exchange of information, listening, posing of questions (Fleischer et al., 2009) or use of body language. In a healthcare environment where there are constant interactions among nurses, doctors, patients and other health professionals, professional and effective communication is important in ensuring high quality healthcare standards and meeting the individual needs of patients.
The more health care professionals collaborate, the more knowledge is used, and patient safety can be maintained. Communication is related to interprofessional collaboration, because health care professionals collaborate with each other about the patient through communicating with each other. “Collaboration among nurses, physicians, and other members of the care team can improve the outcomes of care for patients” (Engel & Prentice, 2013; IOM, 2010).
“Physicians and other health care professionals all agree on the importance of effective communication among the members of a health care team. However, there are many challenges associated with effective interprofessional (between physicians and other health care providers) communication, and these difficulties sometimes lead to unfavourable patient outcomes” (Canadian Medical Protection Association, 2011 p. 11).
Effective communication between patient and clinician is an important aspect to patient care. Proper communication has a direct positive impact on patient care and adversely poor communication has a direct negative impact on patient care. I will define the seven principles of patient-clinician communication and how I apply these communications with my patients. I will also describe the three methods currently being used to improve interdisciplinary communication and the one method that my area of practice currently uses. Then, I will explain the ethical principles that can be applied to issues in patient-clinician communication. And Lastly, the importance of ethics in communication and how patient safety is influenced by good or bad team communication.
The practice of using inter-professional teams in delivering care is not a new concept but current health policy requires professionals work within a multidisciplinary team Department of Health (2001) and entrenched in the Nursing and Midwifery Council (2008) Code. The principle focus of this essay is to discuss the importance of inter-professional collaboration in delivering effective health care and what challenges and constraints exist. The integration of a case study will give an insight into inter-professional collaboration in practice.
The introduction paragraph gives information on communication and the impact that it has on patient-nurse relationships. It gives the reader an understanding of what is involved in true communication and how that it is a fundamental part of nursing and skills all nurses need. It leads those interested in delivering quality nursing to read on. Showing us the significance that communication makes in the
Cultivating teamwork is vital in the fast-moving pace of the Emergency Department. One of the most important ways to cultivate this process is through developing a plan of communication with the team. According to L.J. Hood, communication is “…the dynamic interaction between two or more persons in which ideas, goals, beliefs and values, feelings, and feelings about feelings are exchanged. Even very brief communication exchanges may change all involved parties” (Hood, 2014, P.81). In many scenarios some nurses and staff members are unwilling to be those team players that are needed in a busy nursing unit, and many times nurses and staff will not communicate professionally at all. In these situations, some nurses and staff will require coaching sessions on how to communicate, and in worst case scenarios some nurses and staff, who are unwilling to communicate professionally, will be asked to leave the team
To start implementing this framework, one need to understand and acknowledge that every patient is not only different from one another, but a unique individual. Assumptions and stereotypes about a specific cultural group must be avoided, along with personal biases (Murphy, 2011). Furthermore, actively listening and fully engaging patients’ can improve nurse-patient communication and enhance patient outcome.
“Communication is the heart of nursing… your ability to use your growing knowledge and yourself as an instrument of care and caring and compassion” (Koerner, 2010, as cited in Balzer-Riley, 2012, p. 2). The knowledge base which Koerner is referring to includes important concepts such as communication, assertiveness, responsibility and caring (Balzer-Riley, 2012). Furthermore, communication is complex. It includes communication with patients, patient families, doctors, co-workers, nurse managers and many others. Due to those concepts and the variety of people involved, barriers and issues are present. Knowing how to communicate efficiently can be difficult.
Communication and collaboration are an integral part of interprofessional health care teams. There could be possible barriers to communication and collaboration that could affect the entire team’s success. Personal values and expectation, personality differences, culture and ethnicity, and gender could affect how some individuals respond according to a patient’s care or needs(O’Daniel, 2008). For example, if someone comes from a background where they refrain from being assertive or challenging opinions openly, it could be difficult for that person to speak up if they think differently from the other team members. The differences in language and jargon can also be an obstacle to teams especially if members are not familiar with a specific type
Communication involves relaying information from an individual to another through the use of verbal and nonverbal techniques. Many factors affect the effectiveness of information relay. It involves evaluating verbal aspects such as tone of voice, the emotional content being communicated, the timing and rapport of the interaction with patients, and nonverbal techniques such as facial expressions, time invested. It is necessary for productive and satisfactory work environment, improved patient outcomes, and settling conflicts. The purpose of this paper is to identify issues with ineffective communication and ways to improve proper communication throughout the a hospital’s interdisciplinary team and patients.