Collaborative Practice: the Basis of Good Educational Work - Essay Example

"Collaborative Practice: the Basis of Good Educational Work" is a great example of a paper on the health system. All the conditions that can be found in hospitals need multidisciplinary collaboration to achieve good results in the management of patient care. To give an example a patient with a fracture may involve all the departments in the hospital in his care: x-rays have to be taken, he has to be reviewed by a physician, his nutrition status has to be reviewed, the nurses have to take daily care of him, and a psychologist has to be involved for counseling. Though it has been a challenge for multidisciplinary collaboration it is possible to practice it.

            Is there an ingredient that may put health care professionals to work together? All health care professionals have essential skills that need collaboration for the benefit of patient care. For healthcare professions to work together they need to have tolerance, willingness, and trust in each other and they should seek to weaken the professional boundaries that exist. As a nurse, I would exercise the following strategies to ensure multidisciplinary collaboration of these professions:-

           Changes in the workplace have to be made in order to suit a multidisciplinary working environment. Advocating for both practice and policy changes is the backbone of collaborative management. Policies that encourage multidisciplinary collaborative management of patient care should be adopted. It is believed that when good policies are put in place, the goals intended will be achieved with ease (Vaughan, 2006).

           As a nurse, I would first look for committed individuals in the various professions involved. I would seek the head of each department and ask them to commit their selves in collaboration care for the benefit of patient care. This way the heads of each department if committed will task each and every professional under their supervision to collaborate with other departments for the benefit of patient care (Seifter, 2001).

            I will seek staff with the same mindset, vision, and purpose and encourage them to lead a campaign for the collaborative care and management of patients. These committed professionals will be provided with scientific messages, that tell the importance of multidisciplinary collaborative management and the benefits it has in the care of the patient (James, 2010).

            The next approach is to form a task team that will negotiate the roles that each team will have to play in the multidisciplinary collaborative management of patient care. Each profession shall be allocated or given specific roles that they will have to do in the care of the patient. All the teams should be engaged in reflective practice, as this may help solve the long term tension that existed between each department. Each professional department should understand the values, concepts, and principals of each team and they should familiarize themselves with the culture of each discipline. This will advocate for accountability of each profession and thus they will be forced to work together (Garber, 2006).

            Adequate and clear support should be given to all the departments to encourage any positive developments in the multidisciplinary collaborative care of patients. Necessary resources have to be allocated to avoid frustrations at departmental levels (Garber, 2006).

            In summary, strong forces have to be overcome for full integrated multidisciplinary teamwork to exist. It is essential that all the departments in a healthcare set up to practice professional collaborative care for the benefit of patient care.

Read More