Lower Back Pain - Evaluation of Services - Essay Example

?Lower Back Pain-Evaluation of Services-Reflective Report The objective of this reflective report is to assess the processes leading to group presentation with regard to Lower back pain. It will provide an account of my experiences of working as part of the group and the importance of team roles. In preparing this reflective report, we were randomly grouped into four to work together as a team. The purpose of this kind of grouping was to get us work together with those whom we have never worked with before, to examine our ability to adapt and establish each others strengths and weaknesses in order to be able to know whom to delegate some of the work. In order for this to be successful, team roles was found to be critical to the success of our presentation of our chosen topic which is “Lower Back Pain: evaluation of Services”. As a result, we decided to use Belbin’s team role questionnaire to establish each person’s strengths and weaknesses. This was based on the fact that by us identifying strengths and weaknesses, we could now be able to use our strengths to the advantage while trying to manage our weaknesses as we could (Atherton 2011). The reason why we settled on using the Belbin questionnaire was the fact that it was the only way we could be able to build a productive working relationship, raise self-awareness and personal effectiveness, select and develop high performing teams and build mutual trust and understanding among us (Belbin 2011). Indeed, the Belbin questionnaire helped us a great deal as we could establish our strengths and weaknesses for effective delegation of work. With the help of Belbin questionnaire, we divided ourselves into two groups based on our strengths, in which one of the group member and I were to do a Musculo-skeletal outpatient placement. The reason for doing this was to help us review the current policies and guidelines and provide a rationale for service development with regard to lower back pain complications under clinical practice. Since I am the only one who had the clinical skills, I proactively took part in spinal rehab lessons where I could observe for myself the other services that were being provided to patients in relation to lower back pain. The reason why I did this was to enable me establish whether the services are in conformity with the prescribed guidelines that had earlier on been researched and communicated to me by fellow members of the team. During this lesion, I realized that many clinical services are shifting away from focusing care entirely on pain to helping patients adjust activity tolerance as per the Clinical Practice Guideline. The guide provides detection of serious conditions that usually cause low back pain. This includes tumor, spinal fracture, non-spinal conditions, and infections among others. I also established that the treatment of these conditions is far beyond the scope of these guidelines. This is due to the fact that the guideline employed fails to address the care of patient below the age of 18 years and those suffering from chronic back problems according to Tuchinsky (2000, p.7-21). After gathering the report pertaining to current policies and guidelines, now we were supposed to meet with the other team for us to be able to establish other areas of importance for purposes of compiling credible report. However, this became a huddle as we did not have proper equipments to aid communication. Nevertheless, we did not have any thing to worry about as according to our team role, we hand identified one of our group member who have information technology skills. As a result, he liaised with the institution that supplies us with lab tops and modems to enable us access the internet. It is then that he set up a group e-mail account which all members of the team could access and send our research findings to enable collation of information easy. This was one of the vital elements mentioned in the pear review assessment feedback sheet A, 19/04/2012. Were it that he could not have been a member of the team, this could not have been successful. This indeed highlights the importance of team roles in a group. Being assigned with the responsibility of data collection, recording and analysis also proved very important for the group. This is after we found that none among us had statistical skills except myself. For instance, for the purpose of understanding the aspects of Musculo-skeletal outpatient research, I came up with the idea that interviewing, and filling in of questionnaires was the best method to use in collecting our data. This proved successful as we were now able to sit and analyze the data (Hardingham 1998). This made me feel part of the success of the presentation. The importance of team role also manifested itself when it came to preparation of PowerPoint presentation. Using Belbin questionnaire helped us a great deal in this line since it helped us identify one member of the team member who had good knowledge of PowerPoint. As a result, we had nothing to worry about. In fact, if it were only me who was working on the project, then the excellent and exceptional PowerPoint we have come up with could not have been seen. This is because I totally have no knowledge of PowerPoint. It is here that he came in and prepared the PowerPoint on behalf of the team. Remember the whole PowerPoint presentation is his. Isn’t it a great contribution? It is because were it that he was not part of the group, and then it could not be as excellent as you see it. This shows importance of team roles indeed. In general, a part from communication challenges while working as a group, it was also difficult to agree on some of the issues. This is because each member of the team had divergent opinion especially when it came to compiling the report. But since success of a team is pegged on cooperation, we were able to reach a compromise, me as the facilitator. This is after I was given the responsibility of heading the entire team based on my leadership role established using Belbin’s team role questionnaire. What I did was to advice all the members to be able to listen to each others views as we considered one another equal. This is the reason why this presentation is a success. Webb (2000, p.14-22) notes that as a member of a team, one must be willing to listen to each others opinion for the agenda of the team to be successful. Based on the success of our project presentation I have learnt the importance of team roles when working as a group. This is based on the fact that we all have different skills, knowledge and personal attributes, which can collectively generate more creative solutions, more research and better outcomes. Therefore, utilizing Belbin’s questionnaire to identify people’s behavioral strengths and weaknesses in the team is very crucial. This is based on the fact that were it that we could not have identified our strengths with which to assign ourselves responsibilities, then the presentation could not have been a success. From team work, I have been able to learn of things which I did not know in the past such as us making PowerPoint presentation and the use establishing a website for communication. This also show importance of team roles as it enables members of the team to learn from each other and make work easier (Maughan and Webb 2001). Due to the challenges we were faced with in regards to meeting up as a group, communicating via email, Social networking site (Facebook), telephone, text and Skype all played an essential part in being able to keep in touch with one another in order to produce the final presentation. Without the ability to do this, we would not have been able to achieve our outcome. Many of the problems faced by a team are a direct result of people failing to communicate, which leads to confusion and finally cause good plans to fail (Webb 2011, p.206-208). I did feel at one point we were not going to be able to achieve a good result due to the lack of face-to-face contact, which made me feel very anxious and nervous, which was positively reciprocated by teammates. This understanding will be essential to me as a learner because I will bring forward my experiences to future projects to enable me to undertake tasks in a more positive, stress free and effective manner. It has increased my confidence in my capabilities and role within the team, which I feel, will be of great benefit in future group work. I may have been passive in this particular task, but in future I will be more assertive, taking forward my knowledge and experiences, and put myself forward as team leader in order to achieve a more focused and efficient outcome, using all the tools and sources available to me to do this. In conclusion, from what I learnt, I recommend that prevention of low back pain is the best. Nevertheless, despite research showing that there is no clear way of how one can prevent low back pain, there are certain things that one can do to prevent low back pain. This include exercising daily to keep your back strong and healthy, learning how to lift objects safety, protecting your back while sitting, trying different sleeping positions, and wearing low healed shoes. Other methods that one may try include controlling body weight, stopping smoking, eating healthy diet, and learning how to manage stress. References Atherton J. (2011). Learning and Teaching; Reflection and Reflective Practice. Retrieved from http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/reflecti.htm Belbin M. (2011). Belbin Team Roles, viewed 5 June 2012 http://www.belbin.com/rte.asp?id=8 Hardingham, A. (1998). Working in teams. London: CIPD Publishing. Maughan, C., & Webb, J. (2001). Small group learning and assessment. Retrieved from: www.ukcle.ac.uk/resources/temp/assessment.html Tuchinsky, D. (2000). Back Pain: Its causes and solution. Birmingham, UK: iUniverses Webb, L. (2011). Nursing: Communication skills in practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Read More