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Teamwork and Collaboration as a Core Competence in Nursing - Research Paper



EssayChat / Apr 22, 2019

Introduction

Nursing is such an exciting field bringing with it the care for aiding people in returning to health. In viewing the field of nursing, The Institute of Medicine or IOM has described five core competencies that are required of health professionals to improve professional practice inclusive of patient outcomes. The five core competencies of nursing include patient-centered care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and informatics. This paper discusses one chosen core competence which is teamwork and collaboration. Information is discussed to include how to use teamwork and collaboration to improve patient awareness, three ways to force clinical practice and patient care outcomes through teamwork and collaboration and the current challenges in healthcare delivery which can be averted by teamwork and collaboration.

Teamwork and Collaboration in Nursing



Nursing TeamWhen looking at the health care system today, it is of importance to understand delivery processes. The processes involve patient handoffs among various health care practitioners who have different of educational. It is of importance to realize that the team-based health care process concerns patients and the community. There is the involvement of at least two health providers working together with patients. The caregivers are needed allowing for the achievement of coordinated as well as high-quality care.

The team consists of team members working together with the patients. Another part of the process is the understanding of the culture of the workplace.

Collaboration can be described as the sharing of ideas with the implication of working together toward a common goal (Franklin, Bernhardt, Lopez, Long-Middleton & Davis, 2015). The collaboration process occurs in the spirit of harmony and trust, especially when looking at the framework of health professionals. This information reveals that patient care cannot be delivered within the silos of individual health professions. Health care organizations must aim at providing the most exceptional patient care by creating the team that understands the importance of collaboration and culture with specific values and principles shared. Clearness must also be communicated among team members. The team members must also include the patients being the center of the healthcare process.

How to Use Teamwork and Collaboration to Improve Patient Awareness



Nursing is all about the care of the patient. Research has been performed to discover how double disciplinary in-hospital teams could improve patient outcomes (Epstein, 2014). It was found that the staff worked together as one with the double disciplinary in-hospital teams. Within hospitals, the delivery of services was seen as a team effort with goals to include: (a) the expansion of patient safety and of satisfaction, (b) reducing the length of stay, and (c) increasing the quality of patient outcomes (Epstein, 2014). The teams were very active in that they worked together very well, shared information and found ways to improve efficiency.

It is also of importance to note that the quality of teamwork in healthcare has been associated with a higher level of job staff satisfaction (Kalisch, Curley & Stefanov, 2007). Other studies have revealed the force of teamwork in healthcare to include working with the nursing staff on patient care. This process has received limited attention from researchers. In the research, the mediation to enhance teamwork and staff engagement was tested on a medical unit in an acute care hospital. The satisfaction of the patient was measured via a professional survey tool. The tool has also been used in hospitals in the US for many years.

Several essential factors were learned. In viewing patient and their satisfaction, the patients' awareness of the nurses' promptness increased by 17%, nurses' communication with the patients and family increased by over 11% and the overall quality relevant to nursing care increased by 6% (Kalisch, Curley & Stefanov, 2007). There was also an increase in staff ratings based on the level of teamwork. The team improvement, as well as engagement, followed a specific procedure that had been developed for the project. The procedure allowed for the flexibility within it meeting the specific needs of the healthcare professionals.

Three Ways to Improve Patient Care Outcomes through Teamwork and Collaboration



While there are many ways to force clinical practice and patient care outcomes through teamwork and collaboration, there are three ways that are most needed in healthcare today. There is the need for the interdisciplinary team to work collaboratively helping (Nancarrow et al., 2013):

(a) The aging population as this group has many needs associated with chronic diseases. It is of importance for all healthcare professionals to work together to discover new medications. New processes and exercises are needed as they enable older people to live a better quality of life.

(b) The increase of specialization within health professions training. There is also corresponding disciplinary knowledge that is resulting in no one health care professional having the ability to meet the entire complex needs of their patients. It is only through teamwork inclusive of collaboration that healthcare can improve for all who were suffering from some illness. There are discoveries being shared by health professionals to enable the wellness of the sick all over the world. Lastly,

(c) Ensuring continuity of care ensuring continuous quality improvement which needs teamwork and collaboration to aid in increased quality of care.

Current Challenges in Healthcare Delivery Which can be averted by Teamwork and Collaboration



Past research has revealed that there can be challenges in the achievement of collaboration in clinical practice. There were a total of eight articles that were used in the research study. The articles revealed the constituting empirical material with a meta-ethnography being used to integrate the information. There was also the translation and the synthetization of the themes and the concepts. The results of the research revealed that the providers collaborated across contexts that were hindered by the organizational and individual factors.

These factors included differences in professional power, knowledge bases as well as professional culture (Steihaug, Johannessen, Ådnanes, Paulsen & Mannion, 2016). It was also found that the lack of appropriate collaboration between the providers impeded the clinical work. The mental health service users also experienced the fragmented services that led to insecurity inclusive of frustration. The lack of collaboration also resulted in inadequate rehabilitation services while adding to the increase in the length of stay for older patients. These factors prove the need for teamwork and collaboration for healthcare quality.

Conclusion

This paper has involved the discussion of the core competence of teamwork and collaboration and its importance to the nursing profession. Giving and receiving feedback from peers and other team members enable the successful performing of tasks as well as the sharing of good ideas with others. Using teamwork and collaboration improves patient awareness thereby enabling authenticity and transparency which assists the patient in trusting the healthcare team. Three ways have been discussed that force clinical practice and patient care through teamwork and collaboration. It is only through teamwork that the quality of healthcare can be improved. Finally, challenges in healthcare can be averted by teams continually working together while collaborating sharing all information beneficially.

References

Babiker, A., Husseini, M., & Nemri, A. (2014). Health care professional development: Working as a team to improve patient care. Sudanese Journal Of Paediatrics, 14(2), 9-16.

Epstein, N. (2014). Multidisciplinary in-hospital teams improve patient outcomes: A review. Surgical Neurology International, 5(8), 295. doi: 10.4103/2152-7806.139612

EssayScam. Example Nursing Paper for Students. Online: essayscam.org/forum/fe/sample-nursing-paper-76/

Franklin, C., Bernhardt, J., Lopez, R., Long-Middleton, E., & Davis, S. (2015). Interprofessional Teamwork and Collaboration Between Community Health Workers and

Healthcare Teams. Health Services Research And Managerial Epidemiology, 2, 2333-392. doi: 10.1177/2333392815573312

Kalisch, B., Curley, M., & Stefanov, S. (2007). An Intervention to Enhance Nursing Staff Teamwork and Engagement. JONA: The Journal Of Nursing Administration, 37(2), 77-84. doi: 10.1097/00005110-200702000-00010

Nancarrow, S., Booth, A., Ariss, S., Smith, T., Enderby, P., & Roots, A. (2013). Ten principles of good interdisciplinary teamwork. Human Resources For Health, 11(1), 1-3. doi: 10.1186/1478-4491-11-19

Steihaug, S., Johannessen, A., Ådnanes, M., Paulsen, B., & Mannion, R. (2016). Challenges in Achieving Collaboration in Clinical Practice: The Case of Norwegian Health Care. International Journal Of Integrated Care, 16(3), 3. doi: 10.5334/ijic.2217


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