The paper reviews the role of a nurse in a healthcare setting and explains the key notions from theory and practice concerning communication. It provides an overview of such vital items as interprofessional collaboration, communication with colleagues and patients, and nursing education. It stresses the urgency of these topics, supports claims with evidence from various scholarly studies, and explains issues using case studies. The paper provides an elaborate guide on how to enhance communication between nurses and physicians.
The paper identifies education, payment, and gender differences as the main barriers that obstruct healthy communication between the two groups of professionals. Education seems to be a vital problem as it is one of the most significant reasons why nurses are viewed as subordinates without a right to voice their opinion on a patient’s treatment course (Price, Doucet, & Hall, 2014). It seems a valid point and this inequality in knowledge may stimulate nurses to increase their level of theoretical and practical expertise (Margolis, Rosenberg, & Umble, 2015). However, education does not need to be a barrier to effective inter-personal communication as it is not a prerequisite for mutual trust and respect. Payment inequality appears to be significant to some people. However, it can be explained by the difference in experience and education so this also does not have to become an issue that undermines interprofessional relations. When it comes to gender, it is abnormal that in the present-day civil society gender creates a bias for some professionals and gives them a reason to treat the opposite sex as professionally inferior. All in all, educational corrections should be made programs for both nurses and physicians to eliminate the said gaps.
The paper provides strategies for improving inter-professional collaboration and stresses communication as the key to it. It seems to be pivotal that physicians and nurses became more aware of the peculiarities of their colleagues’ professions. The reason for this is that such knowledge might help them become less judgmental about one another and develop healthy respect, which will ultimately benefit collaboration. Additionally, such educational programs have been already introduced and some of them are successful, which gives a strong reason to believe that the barriers to effective interprofessional communication and collaboration can be erased (Billings & Halstead, 2015).
If a healthcare organization chooses to implement teamSTEPPS strategies, it could be wise, to begin with gathering information. Administration and team leaders as the key elements of the introduction of new approaches to everyday practice need to collaborate on making sure every person involved is aware of the changes before their onset. Next, senior staff needs to identify key problem areas to be able to determine the innovations to implement first. When this is done, leaders should notify all people whose everyday working process will change as a result of the interventions and make sure everyone understands how to proceed when innovation is implemented. An assessment stage is often in order to confirm that the new strategies work properly.
Introducing team events, brief and debrief checklists seem like a proper first step towards creating a better work environment. The reason for this is that leaders influence other people on the team, and if their performance rises, then their team members might also improve. Positive changes occurring on higher levels often affect lower levels of the organization structure as well (Laubach, Hudak, & Pocrnich, 2013). Therefore, it seems to be beneficial to start from the leader strategies.
References
Billings, D. M., & Halstead, J. A. (2015). Teaching in nursing-e-book: A guide for faculty. Berlin, Germany: Elsevier Health Sciences.
Laubach, V., Hudak, J., & Pocrnich, A. (2013). Improvements in teamwork during neonatal resuscitation after interprofessional TeamSTEPPS training. Neonatal Network, 32(1), 26-33.
Margolis, L., Rosenberg, A., & Umble, K. (2015). The relationship between interprofessional leadership education and interprofessional practice: How intensive personal leadership education makes a difference. Health and Interprofessional Practice, 2(3), eP1071.
Price, S., Doucet, S., & Hall, L. M. (2014). The historical social positioning of nursing and medicine: Implications for career choice, early socialization and interprofessional collaboration. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 28(2), 103-109.