My Reflections on the Patient Pathway The purpose of this essay is to reflect upon the teamwork and communication within the multi- disciplinary environment of the theatre suite. I will follow a patient on their journey along the Patient pathway, from their arrival in the anaesthetic room, through to them being handed over to the recovery staff. The patient pathway is described by the Department of Health (2007) as a timeline, on which every event relating to treatment can be entered. Events such as consultations, diagnosis, treatment, medication, diet, assessment and discharge can be mapped on this timeline. In this essay, I will use the Johns 1994 mode of reflection. The purpose of reflection, as stated by Johns (1994) is to promote desirable practice through the practitioners understanding and learning about their lived experiences. Patient trust and confidentiality will be maintained throughout, the patient referred to as Mrs X and any details will be improvised. During the “Who’s who”, we were briefed about a Mrs X, who had sustained serious burns and scaring to her face, arms and hands as a result of an accident with cooking oil. The “Who” checklist, is carried out before every patient list, as per Local Policy (2012). All theatre staff are introduced and the surgeon briefly discusses each case and make known his requirements. (Mrs X, would require a skin graft to her shoulder). Everybody is given the opportunity to voice any concerns. Mitchell (2005) draws attention to how essential, effective communication is, to the quality and efficiency of patient care within the NHS. Also, various authors, including Berry (2007) and Bury (2005) explain how communication skills are used by practitioners to: gather information, reassure,... ... middle of paper ... ... I felt better, knowing that I had mentioned this. Mrs X had an uneventful recovery, she was calm, relaxed and indicated that she had no pain prior to her discharge to the ward. In conclusion, Leonard, M et al (2004) point out that The complexities of patient care, coupled with the inherent limitations of human performance, make it critically important that the multi-disciplinary teams have standardised communication tools. looking back over Mrs X’s journey along this pathway. It was unquestionably the exemplary teamwork and communication, that were so fundamental in providing the holistic care that Mrs X needed. The responsibility and roles of the multi-disciplinary team were varied and often overlapped within the theatre suite. The team members had differing and varying levels of experience and expertise, but combined these when working together to care for Mrs X.
In the healthcare system many times patients are just patients and appointments are just appointments. The outlook on the patients and appointments all depends on the area of practice and the health professional themselves. Working in the emergency department, the nurses and doctors there typically do not see the same patient more than once and if they do the chance of them remembering them is slim to none just for the simple fact of the pace of the department. When it comes down to Physicians in the hospital setting, the care is not just quick and done. Great patient to healthcare professional relationships are formed and for some it may feel as if they are taking a “journey”(209) with their patients as they receive their medical care. This essay will be based off the book Medicine in Translation: Journeys with My Patients by Danielle Ofri, in which Ofri herself gives us the stories of the journeys she went on with several of her patients. Patients are more than just an appointment to some people, and when it comes to Ofri she tends to treat her patients as if they are her own family.
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.)
It is key to demonstrate communication in a Peri-operative theatre environment while maintaining patient care and safety. As an ODP it is also important at times to give evidence of understanding the legislations and regulatory requirements needed to care for theatre patients.
Some of the patients had children, which really broke my heart because I have kids and I couldn’t imagine being away from them for any period of time. In relation to the lecture content covered in this week’s lectures, I felt they related to clinical when describing the layout and description of the milieu. For example, I was able to see how the doors were securely locked, and the nursing station was behind an encasement called a bubble. In addition, we discussed the different type of therapies that were conducted on the floor.
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 demands on health care providers to provide the best quality care for patients is increasing. With added responsibilities and demands on our health care workers, it is hard not to become overwhelmed and forget the reason and purpose of our profession. However, there is a way where all professionals can meet and come together for a common cause, which is the patient. A new approach to patient care is coming of age. This approach allows all health care professionals to collaborate and explore the roles of other professions in the hope of creating a successful health care team.
“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).
Intro- Collaboration with the interdisciplinary team plays a big part in the care of a patient.
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.
It is another extremely hectic Monday in the Emergency Department. The waiting room is building up fast with many new walk-in patients. Fire Rescue trucks are calling one after the next with several medical and trauma cases. The hospital supervisor is calling to inform the Charge Nurse of the Emergency Department that the Operating Room has several cases that need beds and will supersede the Emergency Department admits. Patient through put will now be further delayed. This is just one example of a typical Monday and why Teamwork and Collaboration are vital components to run an efficient nursing unit, especially in the Emergency Department. When a common goal is created to foster teamwork, health care professionals working cohesively together
It’s very important that the units that are supportive of evidence based practices instill the idea of the patients being as important as family members or close friends in order to carry out the best practice. These would be good areas for individuals of the team to reflect during meetings. What is means to care for patients as a close friends or family members and what areas they can improve their practice; For instance, long term care nurses taking the time to ensure that all of their bedridden residents are turned every 2 hours to prevent bed sores.
Ritin Fernandez, Duong Tran, Maree Johnson, and Sonya Jones, in their 2010 article “Interdisciplinary communication in general medical and surgical wards using two different models of nursing care delivery” published in the Journal Of Nursing Management conducted a study to compare the effect of the Shared care in nursing (SCN) model with the existing model of patient allocation (PA) on nurses’ perception of interdisciplinary communication in general medical and surgery wards in Australia. Ineffective communication is a leading cause of patient injuries and death. From the Joint Commission, “communication breakdown was identified as the root cause of more than 60% of 2034 medical errors, of which 75% resulted in a patient’s death (Fernandez, et.al, 2010). Many of the reasons why ineffective communication even occurs could due to stressful environment in health care, a hierarchy
For this reason, it is imperative that individuals improve communication among these stakeholders. In the course of 4days in a hospital, a patient can come into contact with about 50 different employees including nurses, technicians and physicians. As a result, for effective clinical practice, critical information MUST be passed on with complete accuracy. According to Rosenstein & O’Daniel 2008, some of the obstacles to Interprofessional Collaboration and Communication include Gender, hierarchy, differences in languages and jargon, the diverse levels of preparation, qualifications and status, the complexity of the care, the historical Interprofessional and Interprofessional contentions, differences in professional routines and agenda, the emphasis on quick decision-making, the fear of diluting one’s professional identity among others. Additionally, those who have the most barriers tend to be physicians and nurses. Despite their numerous interactions in one day, they have differing perceptions about their responsibilities and roles concerning the requirements the patient may have so they end up having different goals for the patient. Due to the ethnic diversity
From my personal perspective, the environment appeared to be exceptionally calm and comfortable. When I first strolled through the doors, I noticed a bird cage that was built into the wall containing approximately 20-30 birds. I could hear them chirping down the hallway. The scenery was particularly relaxing. The building was very clean and smelled of flowers, which pushed me to believe this setting was suitable. By the time the paperwork was signed and she settled in, it was nearly 9 o’clock and time to leave. I noticed in her eyes that she was nervous about staying; my family and I were as well, but the nurses reassured us they would take appropriate care of her, and we felt they all
Each profession from diverse backgrounds with clashing perceptions and reluctance to accept others’ views could cause conflicts. Another hurdle is the unequal number of each profession and the team not composed of appropriate professionals. Ineffective communication causes lack of commitment and insufficient decision-making. This could be seen through medical errors such as misunderstanding of information, inaccurate and lack of clarity of medication which increase patient safety risk. Another problem is the difficulty to arrange a schedule of different profession for meetings which might be