Strategies for Effective Inter-Professional Teamwork and Collaboration
Teamwork is a necessity in nursing and the overall provision of quality healthcare services. Nurses have to collaborate effectively to realize success in their profession. Collaboration requires the intervention of technology that is also associated with a higher rate of efficiency. Achieving effectiveness through the use of technology in promoting collaboration of nurses requires the development and implementation of certain strategies (Vroman & Kovacich, 2002).
Alliance helps in the facilitation of teamwork. A duly organized collaborative practice across nursing practice is capable of permitting comprehensive health care that is based on the patients’ safety. The technology has to abide by the strategic requirements to enhance cooperation in the working environment such as the emergency unit (Vroman & Kovacich, 2002).
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The first strategy to facilitate the group effort is the articulation of professional actions. In the nursing practice, the work is classified as a collective responsibility. Here, the nurses have the responsibility of coordinating the professional activities that include the provision of patient care in the emergency situation.
The second strategy is the establishment relationships of cooperation. Collaboration is crucial because the role of every individual is needed. The professional practices depend on the functions of various specialists to support one another. For instance, nurses may have to rely on technicians for the monitoring of patients due to overcrowding, which makes them understand the needs of various patients (Furst et al. 2013).
The nursing professionals have to build and maintain friendly ties. Such relations are important in fostering the development of teamwork and promoting the efficiency required in performing tasks. The nurses should establish open relationships through which they can address professional and social issues to improve effectiveness.
Proper coordination of healthcare activities demands efficient management of conflicts. In the nursing setup, there may be interpersonal differences and mavens conflicts. There should be an effective means of managing conflicts to promote efficient collaboration and teamwork.
Telemedicine and Electronic ICU
Telemedicine is a virtual modality that provides a telecommunication framework where the healthcare professionals can diagnose, treat, and monitor patients remotely. It is important in promoting collaboration among the different health professionals such as nurses, physicians, and pharmacists. Notably, it improves attendance and communication density among them. Through effective communication, nurses and other health professionals eliminate misunderstanding and encourage collaboration among different healthcare professionals (Vroman & Kovacich, 2002). Telemedicine promotes teamwork among nurses even though it does not support all its elements.
Similarly, the electronic ICU is a different type of telemedicine that also uses telecommunications technology to monitor and administer treatments to patients in the intensive care units. The technology uses two front and back cameras to monitor the patient and notifies the care providers remotely through their phones and alarm systems. Different medical practitioners can obtain information on the status of their patients and prepare the prescriptions. The platform encourages different professionals to serve a patient at the same time from various locations (Furst et al., 2013).
Role of Virtual Modalities in Promoting Inter-Professional Collaboration
Technological services such as telehealth support the complementary and interdependent roles. Upon the realization of a patient’s situation through the camera view, a nurse can call and alert the bedside staff on the status and the need to reorient the patient. The bedside staff can reach the bed on time, stabilize, and refocus the patients before returning them to bed.
Interpersonal collaboration targets optimal outcomes in healthcare service delivery to the patients (Vroman & Kovacich, 2002). Interpersonal teamwork can be hampered by failure in communication among the different caregivers. Service delivery is performed by various professionals within the health sector. The monitoring systems, including laser devices and 3D cameras among other tools that help the nurses to observe the patients efficiently by enabling efficient communication. Through these systems, every department of healthcare can monitor the patients and relay the information with minimal misunderstanding (Weaver, Lindsay, & Gitelman, 2012).
Power sharing among the different professionals can cause a challenge in the teamwork process. Primarily, some professionals may feel more powerful than others while others may also feel sidelined. Technologies have been programmed to operate according to the rules in which they apply logic to connect actions to responsible individuals or groups. The caregivers are attached to the wireless devices they use, and through this, they get their roles assigned. By the use of technology, there will be no professional conflicts.
Benefits and Challenges of Virtual Modalities
Benefits
The virtual modalities reduce costs significantly in their applications. Expenses such as executive travels among different caregivers can be cut because various professionals can provide advice on health issues and handle patients from diverse geographic locations.
Through the virtual modalities, there can be a higher production of quality services. Moreover, through the modalities, the professionals have increased focus on their specific tasks at hand. The systems support flatter organizations and provisions of services, eliminating the bureaucracy that may hamper the process of decision making (Furst et al., 2013).
The modalities save time for different professionals can work on a similar patient performing various tasks. Consequently, the work is done continuously on the patient. For instance, when one practitioner leaves, there will be another helping and the other will also be monitored remotely.
For the professionals who are less mobile and may be hesitant to move to different locations, the virtual modalities have created newer opportunities for them. Tasks such as prescription, record analysis, and recommendations may require no movement since they can be supported virtually. Such tasks can be the best opportunities for the caregivers to collaborate virtually and realize a good outcome.
Limitations
The use of virtual modalities in the inter-professional collaborations can pose social isolation challenges (Furst et al., 2013). Many members of the team may be affected by the fact that they lack physical interactions. The working environment requires physical interactions and verbal communications to create a bond between the professionals.
Conflicts due to lack of trust among different individuals involved may become another challenge. The primary cause of conflicts is the cultural differences that also hamper communication and promote misunderstandings. People from diverse cultures interpret communications differently, and this can cause a conflict.
Analysis of Implications in a Multifaceted Setting
Working with a different professional in an environment that requires different specializations means that all professions are important in the formation of a comprehensive care system. The observation can also prompt an evaluation of the advantages of engaging different professionals through a collaborative framework. Technology is the most efficient way of ensuring effective collaboration among the various professionals. The disadvantages associated with the collaboration have to be prevented or tolerated because the benefits are more substantial (Furst et al., 2013).
Use of Emerging Technologies to Ensure Patient Safety
3D Cameras
The healthcare providers can use the cameras to monitor patients in their various locations. Similarly, they can make recommendations to other practitioners on how to uphold their safety. For instance, a physician can monitor a patient from a remote office and advise the resident nurses accordingly (Furst et al., 2013).
Telehealth
A remote healthcare provider can detect the need for a response to the situation of a patient by the relevant department. The care provider can use this technology to explain to the nurses within the facility to act promptly on the status of the patient observed.
Telemedicine
Telemedicine is essential because it powers perfect communication between different healthcare providers on their tasks and progress. In the situation where a patient requires a coordinated treatment that depends on the chronology of medication administration, the professionals with different specializations can communicate with one another to obtain the information needed to inform their actions. Such communication is necessary for the safety of the patient under treatment.
Ethical issues of Social Media in Inter-Professional Collaborations
Ethical Issues
The social media communications involve communications and the discussion of personal problems. The discussions may be complicated and may spread to impact the consultation between professionals, their relatives, and the patients (Weaver et al., 2012). Through discussions on social media, it is ethical to understand the boundaries separating the talks between the professionals. It is critical for them to have an understanding of the discussions on their patients. The privacy of the patients should always be upheld.
Legal Issues
The legal issues involved in the use of social media in interpersonal collaborations include freedom of expression and the right to privacy. The professionals should handle the issues between themselves and the patients with a full knowledge of the legal requirements. The collaborations between professionals should uphold their rights and those of the patients they serve. They should know the legal implications of the issues arising from social media based on the freedom and the need for privacy (Weaver et al., 2012).
- Furst, C. M., Finto, D., Malouf-Todaro, N., Moore, C., Orr, D., Santos, J., Tipton, P. H. (2013). Changing times: Enhancing clinical practice through evolving technology. MEDSURG Nursing, 22(2), 131–134.
- Vroman, K., &Kovacich, J. (2002). Computer-mediated interdisciplinary teams: Theory and reality. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 16(2), 159–170
- Weaver, B., Lindsay, B., &Gitelman, B. (2012). Communication technology and social media: Opportunities and implications for healthcare systems. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 17(3), Manuscript 3.
