Healthcare Teams and Collaboration - Essay Example

"Healthcare Teams and Collaboration" is a wonderful example of a paper on the health system.
Teamwork facilitates the achievement of a number of goals, which could be very difficult to achieve when an individual takes up different responsibilities. Successful collaboration leads to the minimization of costs and improves efficiency in the health care system. The following discussion highlights the different teams, important communication skills in teams, and the roles played by these teams.

Differences between inter and intradisciplinary teams

An intra-disciplinary team consists of professionals from one discipline, but the individuals have varying levels of training, as well as skills. More to these, the team engages itself in activities with a narrow focus. An example of such a team in psychology could comprise of a licensed psychologist, psychological technician, and a psychology intern. On the other hand, an interdisciplinary team comprises of professionals from related disciplines, although the fields do not necessarily have to be similar. The individual members depend on each other as they work towards the accomplishment of a common goal. They merge the different expertise and make a collective decision on a given issue. Additionally, interdisciplinary teams focus on a wider scope compared to intra-disciplinary teams. This follows the various meetings the professionals hold to discuss their independent opinions, findings, recommendations, and an eventual report that summarizes the entire process.

Given the involvement of a number of practitioners in the health issues of patients, involving patients in the process becomes a critical concern. Patients ought to be informed of the various people attending to their case, and the reasons explained in a manner that makes the patient comfortable. This owes to the fact that groups of people access the personal and health information of the patient, instead of a single doctor.

Communication skills held by successful teams

Efficient communication among teams leads to an increase in the success rates of the team. The efficiency leads to improvement in health outcomes. It also prevents the occurrence of adverse events, thus mitigating the costs associated with healthcare. Therefore, teams should promote effective communication skills, such as openness, accuracy, and timeliness (Fernandez, Tran, Johnson, & Jones, 2010).

Openness involves the ability to communicate on difficult issues facing the team. A team of nurses and doctors, for example, ought to communicate openly with each other concerning the state of the patient, and any likely consequences that should be expected. Doctors should always try and give the nurses ample information, just like nurses should discuss any problems encountered within their activities. More to these, the professionals should create an atmosphere that allows the patients to express the way they feel, hence improving the medical experience.

Accuracy of information ensures that the right actions are taken at the right time. Ambiguity should be avoided in healthcare teams, to guard against inappropriate actions that may endanger the safety of patients. More to these, unnecessary jargon ought to be avoided as it may interfere with the accuracy of the required information. Additionally, ensuring that communication is done in a timely manner promotes the quality of service given to the patients. This also protects the team against the occurrence of serious harm as the patients get to be attended to in time.

Role of teams in nursing empowerment

Teams provide nurses with an avenue for expressing themselves. Teams influence individuals’ decisions into advocacy for various changes, and solution for detrimental problems. Empowering the nursing profession also requires the team members to collaborate with each other in the decisions passed by the groups. Such collaboration ensures that the nurses stand united in advocating for policies that promote a safer and conducive working environment.

Role of teams in patient empowerment

Teams of nurses create environments that empower patients towards recovery. The teams make it easy to conduct complex tasks, which cannot be handled by a few individuals alone, thus maximizing the attention given to patients for their recovery. Collaborating as a team also minimizes the time taken attending to the patients, which in many instances helps in averting imminent dangers. Apart from these, interdisciplinary teams also research into complex issues affecting the patients and propose measures that can be used to counter harmful effects. Team members also offer psychological, as well as social needs to the patients, which contributes greatly to their recovery potentials. In addition, teams can provide patients with preventive medical care, which promotes the management of chronic diseases among patients. Therefore, patients faceless health risks as they get to identify diseases early, thus taking the necessary caution.

Role of teams in professional nursing development

Working as a team requires every team member to collaborate with other members for the best results to be achieved. Medical residents and nurses, for instance, have a better ability to identify potential risks that could lead to the deterioration of a patient’s health. Consequently, they can identify and bring to notice, any possible danger, and therefore improve the quality of care offered by the professionals (Okuyama, Wagner, & Bijnen, 2014).

Working together with other professionals also allows nurses to learn a variety of skills from a number of disciplines. More to this, the collaboration fosters good relations with the other professionals, which promotes practices that advance the nursing profession (Masterson, Maslin-Prothero, & Ashby, 2013). The professionals also get encouraged to develop innovative ways of curbing difficulties in their respective fields, thus advancing the medical field. Additionally, the teams allow the individuals to concentrate on their areas of expertise, thus increasing professional satisfaction.

Conclusion

Teams help in advancing various goals. They lead to the sharing of information, which helps in finding solutions to critical problems. In addition, they allow likeminded people to collaborate with each other to advocate for better conditions in their fields. Nurses, through teams, get to advocate for safer environments in their workplace and to improve the quality of care given to the patients. Therefore, teams serve to promote conditions that boost the dignity of humankind, through empowering nurses, patients, and the profession, and should be encouraged in this profession.