Team work reminds me of Rugby, the specific team I’m thinking about is the All Blacks

In the game of rugby a team has many players who each has a specific part to play, everyone on the team has their eye on the rugby ball and is aiming for the same outcome- to score a try. Watching the All Blacks work together is amazing especially when they work in a combined effort, with each individuals skills and contributions coming together as a whole team to ultimately score a try behind the goal line.

Team Work in Hospital- 

Healthcare like rugby has many individuals in a team all with different roles and who are working collaboratively with their specific skills sets. Each of these health professionals has dedicated themselves to studying for many years and have gained qualifications in their different fields of specialisms. Examples of members of the team in healthcare are- pharmacists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers, speech therapists, dieticians etc etc -(this list is not exhaustive, as there are so many more roles within healthcare).

The different health professionals come together within the team and share their expertise and knowledge. The team can be quite dynamic as each of the disciplines are working together to ensure the appropriate decisions are made and to set goals with a doctor usually being the final decision maker, the main focus is always on the patient.

Collaboration- 

Keeping structure and a healthy team dynamic is important for ideas to be exchanged in a collaborative manner also with the team working with a shared mindset.

When embracing the needs of a patient, each of the disciplines may contribute different types of ideas for example by providing education, resources or any other support to the patient. A benefit to the patient is being more informed of the care they are receiving and in turn may adhere to treatments. An example is – Medications, a pharmacist may provide education to a patient and whilst considering the persons abilities and safety with the particular medications, the pharmacist may make any changes or give new strategies to the patient as needed.

The benefits of collaboration in healthcare is improved quality of care, safety, patient engagement and staff satisfaction. 

Many people come into hospital because of their health and due to illness, injury or even after a surgical procedure, but being admitted into hospital may be extremely disruptive to an individuals normal life. To reduce any vulnerabilities from any negative impacts due to the hospitalisation, the social worker may assist a person with welfare services such as for financial, housing, legal or crisis supports.

Communication-

Each team member from each discipline is pivotal and the understanding of the roles and expectations of the team require clear direction with the sharing of information especially to meet the required goals for the patient.

When the different disciplines come together to form the patients goals, the patient is informed of any decisions made by one of the members of the team. This allows a person to have knowledge whilst having a choice to set new goals for themselves and can lead to better outcomes from the accomplishments of the goals for the individual.

Out of all the health professionals nurses have the most contact with patients, listening to their thoughts, feelings or concerns is important as to provide the patient a way to express themselves. The nurses role is to advocate by recognising and communicating the patients views and wishes, in turn to empower the person by involving them in their own health care decisions.

Conclusion-

In this blog post I have focussed on the perspective of a ward based nurse, in a hospital setting but team work occurs within all areas of nursing from the emergency department, theatres, wards, community health etc.

Nurses work with many of the diverse health professionals, the strength of the team is combining the individuality of each of the disciplines. Which allows a whole team of health and social professionals to work together in a collaborative manner at every stage of the patients journey within health care.

(Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash)