Developing collaborative team working - Essay Example

This makes the nurse a part of the collaborative team. Working in a collaborative environment although may provide more exposure to each team member, there are also some associated challenges (Carnwell & Buchanan, 2005). The nurse and the doctor are essentially performing the same job i.e. providing the patient the required treatment. Whereas a doctor's job is to decide on what treatment the patient should be given and how he should be treated, the nurse's duty is to facilitate this process by assisting the doctor.

This puts the doctor in the decision making role and the nurse in an assisting role. In such a scenario, where the team works collaboratively, several barriers may hinder the process of collaboration and team cooperation. As a nurse I experienced a number of differences between the professions in the first two years. Initially I felt that the team members were less cooperative and were ready to criticize each action that another member took. However as the time passed, these problems were overcome.

Furthermore another issue that I noticed was the difference in attitude of people from different fields. Where I and the doctors were directly concerned about the patient's health since we had personal interaction with them, other members such as the lab assistants, radiologists etc had little if any interaction with the patients and hence were not as concerned as us. Moreover, in the initial period the level of communication between the different team members was low which hindered the process of collaboration.

Nevertheless with time, the communication between the members increased as they felt more comfortable working in the team. The higher cooperation resulted in a more comprehensive care for the patient as all the team members were made aware of the patient's disease, the treatment required and the progress in the patient's health (Koubel & Bungay, 2009). As a result of better communication, each team member had respect for the other's contribution and since each idea was open to discussion and criticism, the outcome was most suitable to the patient and was the one reached by consensus of the team members.

Another challenge that I initially faced as nurse was stereotyping. Most doctors undermined my role as a nurse as they believed, I had very little contribution towards the treatment of the patient and was just merely the doctor's assistant and had to abide by their decisions. This gave me very little authority to make any suggestions regarding the patient's health and treatment. However, when I communicated my concern to my team members and apprised the doctors in my team of my perspective on their attitude towards me, I felt my team members started acknowledging my efforts and respecting my contribution.

With time I experienced a great amount of change in the attitude of my team members towards me and the other team members. Where the doctors have given me more responsibility in terms of overseeing the patient, the paramedics and lab assistants also extend their cooperation by providing me with all the required information about the patient and their tests. However, one similarity I noticed that has kept the entire team intact is the common objective of all the team members. Each one of us works for the common goal of improving the patient's condition and making sure he is healthy once again (Lethard, 2003).

This is one similarity that existed among all team members from the beginning has stayed for the past two years. In fact with more experience and