A major milestone for the healthcare sector today is the increased focus on patient outcomes and the insistence on the need for accountability in optimization of resources. The nursing process is theoretically an intervention that helps patients fulfill their unmet needs and therefore nurses act as the point of interaction between the patient, their families and the general population with the mechanisms that facilitate meeting those needs. The healthcare sector in itself seeks to continually help people recognize the health and illness continuum and thus help them adapt to the dynamics of this continuum so that they maintain a viable health status (Al Sayah et al., 2014).
A major strategy that has been utilized by the sector in response to improving the health status of individual families and populations is the adequate preparation of the workforce so that they appropriately respond to the needs and aid in meeting those needs. The empowerment of nurse workforce and the continued investment in the sector has been necessitated by the demand for better healthcare and the populations’ insistence on accountability from as guarded by the existing laws and policies. Nurses have been called out to look beyond the defined scope of practice and impact more directly in improving the health status of the population they serve. The involvement of nurses within these perspectives ranges from the need to become active advocates for patients, families and populations as well as acting as health promoters and health educators even beyond the clinical work (Downey, Parslow & Smart, 2011).
While these demands have significantly changes the way nursing is viewed, as well as redefining the scope of work of the nurses, much of the effort has been attributed to the ability of the nurses at an individual level to actually initiate personal goals towards improving health status of the populations they serve. My leadership development plan will be the focus of this paper based on my personal role within the healthcare facility and anchored on the leadership development plan for the organization where I work.
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has defined up to five core competencies for nurses that actually guide the way nurses perform and deliver their service to the people. However, in this paper, I will seek to focus on the core competency of working within interdisciplinary teams. The current healthcare setting is characterized by complexity of illnesses, increased populations and the insistence on cost-effectiveness as a key component of determining or gauging patient outcomes. These issues all imply that the nurse has to involve their colleagues at all times to ensure that these complexities are managed without compromising the quality of care afforded to the patient. In this case therefore I find it important to emphasize that for me, the ability to work with interdisciplinary teams is a key priority within my leadership development plan. In an era where holistic care is a necessity, the nurse cannot fully fulfill the needs of the patient without seeking the help of the other professionals in the facility or beyond.
Holistic care is characterized by various transitions in care and over these transitions, different professional expertise is required. In this case, I have to act as the caregiver to the patient so that the transitions are well thought out and accomplished while also ensuring that the care process is reliable and continuous. Interdisciplinary teamwork is based on communication and collaboration as the key elements (Al Sayah et al., 2014). I would wish to work in a dialysis unit and this is particularly one of the most demanding units within the healthcare facility. Patients undergoing dialysis are at a point where they have physical, psychological, emotional and even cognitive problems all that are primarily influenced by their state of health.
The general perception for patient within dialysis units is that they are in end-of-life care stage and they do not actually deserve much beyond the pharmacological needs. However, as a nurse I feel that patients should be afforded all round care even when in the end-of-life. Recovery is the desired outcome but a comfortable death is also an acceptable outcome in such cases. These patients have needs that range from spiritual, psychological, physical and social and the nurse alone cannot adequately address them as would be desired. In these instances, bringing onboard members of the care team particularly those from various disciplines who are vital for the management of the health and wellness of these patients (Knebel & Greiner, (Eds.), 2003).
My first goal is to improve my communication skills; when working with colleagues and other professionals; the need to share information especially along different points of the care transition cannot be overemphasized. Most patients in the dialysis unit only receive pharmacological care and all these other aspects that affect their quality of life are ignored or partially managed. As a nurse I seek to develop and encourage my colleagues to work towards optimizing the quality of life of patients in dialysis unit by affording them holistic care. I seek to assume the lead role other formally or informally by ensuring that I develop effective and efficient working relationship among nurses and the interdisciplinary care team members (Finkelman, 2015).
When working as team, the importance of having defined goals in the care process is important. However, this is driven by the presence of a member of the team who can communicate with the others and ensure that at all times they are update of the progress of each client or process. It is this role that I would seek to assume; to ensure that I am the source of information for the care team members as well as communication coordinator to keep every one informed of their role within the predefined goals and objectives. Such coordinated communication is an assurance that there will be minimal errors and misses and that feedback between members is utilized in optimizing the care process.
Beyond this obligation to my colleagues, I also have a role to communicate the needs of the patient. As a nurse, I am the point of interaction between the care process and the patient; I serve as the patient advocate and this to me implies that I have a role to play in helping patients have their input considered as primary in the nursing process. In fact, the IOM and the Joint Commission regard patient input as a critical component of the care process (Finkelman, 2015). Once the channels of communication have been set forth, my next goal within the concept of interdisciplinary care is to ensure that the shared data is utilized well for purposes of optimal cooperation and collaboration. The outcomes of the nursing process can be optimized when the team is working to assist and support each other and in my view, I would play the role of the arbitrator to facilitate this cooperation and collaboration.
Essentially, when working in a team, there are bound to be differences especially where people are driven by common agenda and each person feels that that have a critical role to play. In this case, conflict resolution mechanism should be key components and at this point I would seek to integrate the role of the nurse supervisors and the managers so that they provide appropriate guidance to resolve differences (Knebel & Greiner, (Eds.), 2003). Nurse Managers and nurse supervisors hold significant experience and skills to initiate cooperation, to resolve conflicts and ensure optimal collaboration. When the care team adopts appropriate collaboration techniques and in the presence of effective frameworks for cooperation, there exists minimal hitches in the nursing process as each member of the care team feels that they owe the patient as well as their colleagues to sustain quality care and patient satisfaction (Al Sayah et al., 2014).
In an interview with PS a nurse educator who works as part of the care team in a dialysis unit, she insists that within this unit, care provision cannot be accomplished in the absence of a team of willing members. PS notes that once a patient is admitted to the unit or when they report for the weekly or biweekly clinics, all care team members are informed via the electronic health records of a pending patient and regularly updated on the progress of the patient at the time of visit. This ensures that as the patient transits from one stage of the nursing process to the other, each member if the care team is well versed of the results and findings and can begin to prepare for the patient within their scope of work before they report to them. PS insists that nurses and members of the interdisciplinary care team feel at times overworked by the need to keep a constant follow-up of the patient along the nursing process but the presence of a member who coordinates the process and facilitates feedback ensures that each member recognizes that everyone else is placing concerted effort to afford the patient quality care. PS notes that in most cases the outcomes within dialysis units are poor because of the assumption that each member of the care team recognizes their role; however, the important aspect is not just the recognition of the role rather the constant feedback and cooperation between members (Finkelman, 2015).
References
Al Sayah, F., Szafran, O., Robertson, S., Bell, N. R., & Williams, B. (2014). Nursing perspectives on factors influencing interdisciplinary teamwork in the Canadian primary care setting. Journal of clinical nursing, 23(19-20), 2968-2979.
Downey, M., Parslow, S., & Smart, M. (2011). The hidden treasure in nursing leadership: Informal leaders. Journal of Nursing Management, 19(4), 517-521.
Finkelman, A. (2015). Leadership and Management in Nursing: Core Competencies for Quality Care. Prentice Hall.
Knebel, E., & Greiner, A. C. (Eds.). (2003). Health Professions Education:: A Bridge to Quality. National Academies Press.
