Introduction
Interprofessional teams are crucial in ensuring effective multidisciplinary work, improving patient outcomes. For my urgent care center, heart failure multidisciplinary teams consisting of nurses, physicians, cardiologist, nephrologist, and neurologist is the most prominent interprofessional teams. Every team member is well-versed in what is expected of them. The fundamentals of iCARE have proven helpful in promoting interprofessional teams and improving patient outcomes. The iCARE fundamentals include advocacy, compassion, resilience, and evidence-based exercise. In this essay, discussions are focused on exploiting the nursing activities contributing to interprofessional team support.
Compassion
Compassion is a vital element of better nursing care in promoting patient outcomes. Compassion is healthcare providers’ awareness to comprehend patients’ problems and their needs to consciously assist them in realizing their general welfare (Sinclair et al., 2018). Nursing activities that seek to promote interprofessional team is the nurse’s acknowledgment of the patient’s needs regarding their state. Further, those nursing actions should strive to provide patients with education on the ways to approach their concerns.
Regarding my urgent care center interprofessional team, the patient needs can be addressed by nurses collaborating with cardiologists. Further, nephrologists and neurologists can be brought into the equation for better handling of the patient’s fears. As such, the actions of the nurse would have proved compassionate. Therefore, patient health concerns are addressed, resulting in improved patient outcomes. According to Sinclair et al. (2018), compassion enhances healthcare practitioners’ skills, knowledge, behaviors, and qualities underpinnings in delivering patient healthcare service. Consequently, health outcomes are improved by compassionate acts exhibited by nurses, such as improving well-being and generally improving pain adaptation by patients.
Advocacy
Advocacy incorporates nurses assuming patients’ position in working toward their rights and protection to realize better quality care. Through advocacy, patient satisfaction is realized regarding respect for their rights and dignity (Milbrath & Snyder, 2021). A nurse can contribute crucially to promoting patient advocacy. As such, the nurses can facilitate the involvement of patients in a treatment procedure. For instance, when patients prove to be not cooperative with a particular medication, which does not augur well with the cardiologists and nephrologists, the nurse can come in to educate the patients about the significance of the medication. With that, the patients can make sound decisions on heeding the required medical procedure.
In addition, the interprofessional team members can, therefore, respect the patient’s decision. The actions facilitated by the nurses breed a culture that gives respect to the needs of a patient in any organization (Milbrath & Snyder, 2021). Further, the patient feels confident with their treatment procedures, considering that their opinions are listened to and respected. Additionally, the action steps taken by the nurses regarding patients’ advocacy improve patient mental health, enabling the patient to observe the treatment measures and promote good health outcomes.
Resilience
Resilience is the ability to withstand and take proper measures to bounce back from adverse life situations and events. Regarding nurses, resilience is the capacity to exhaust every ounce of their ability by working beyond their shifts to respond to critical situations, such as an emergency. As such, teamwork spirit can be promoted, ensuring effective interprofessional teamwork. Further, the actions portrayed by the nurses promote a culture of resilience among healthcare practitioners (Kim & Chang, 2022). Thereby encouraging the healthcare providers to give their all in dealing with workloads, and patient concerns, more so when the situation in question requires absolute care, such as dealing with dangerous infectious diseases. In doing so, resilience positively impacts patient health outcomes.
Evidence-Based Practice
The evidence-based practice (EBP) incorporates the utilization of current evidence in making decisions concerning patient well-being. This reduces overall cost and further contributes to the variation in the patient health outcome. The EBP involves the best practices from the current medical literature with clinical capacity and the general welfare of patients under treatment (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2021). The actions involved in the EBP include wearing protective gear to prevent infections. Further, maintaining healthcare hygiene thus promotes better healthcare policy tolerance by interprofessional team members.
In addition, the practices involved in the EBP cultivate a culture that encourages observance of hygiene. Therefore, preventing possible infections that may arise in the organization. Further, the aforementioned actions by the EBP will assure significant health outcomes. Additionally, evidence-based practice will provide a conducive environment for health experts. As such, research and crucial matters pertaining to health practices, such as patient health and rights, will be promoted.
Conclusion
Compassion in health care positively impacts an interprofessional team’s collaboration and team spirit. As a result, better coordination, communication, and therapeutic relationships are assured, leading to significant patient health outcomes. Apart from such, advocacy, on the other hand, promotes respect for the patients by the interprofessional team members. As such, culture is cultivated, which incorporates patients’ opinions and decisions during healthcare practices. Resilience by nurses in their work output encourages other multidisciplinary team members to adopt the same spirit exhibited by the nurses. Conclusively, observance of evidence-based practices by nurses promotes research and vital practices in the organization. Consequently, health outcomes are improved since current practices are exploited.
References
Kim, E. Y., & Chang, S. O. (2022). Exploring nurse perceptions and experiences of resilience: A meta-synthesis study. CINAHL Nursing, 21(1), 1-14.
LoBiondo-Wood, G., & Haber, J. (2021). Nursing Research E-Book: Methods and Critical Appraisal for Evidence-Based Practice. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Milbrath, G., & Snyder, A. (2021). The emergency nurses association: 50 years of advocacy and advancement. Journal of emergency nursing, 47(2), 224-238.
Sinclair, S., Hack, T. F., Raffin-Bouchal, S., McClement, S., Stajduhar, K., Singh, P. & Chochinov, H. M. (2018). What are healthcare providers’ understandings and experiences of compassion? The healthcare compassion model: A grounded theory study of healthcare providers in Canada. BMJ open, 8(3), e019701.