The Role of Teamwork in Nursing

Introduction

The chosen core-nursing concept is “Teamwork in Nursing” and the reason behind it is that this concept can help to explain importance of teamwork. Information regarding it is interesting and in detail as well. This essay aims to examine the perceived level of nursing teamwork and factors influencing teamwork among enrolled nurses (ENs) and registered nurses (RNs) in general ward settings. Quantitative and qualitative data regarding ENs and RNs have been collected and are presented in the study we will be looking at. The ENs and RNs are said to have different predictions regarding each other's role on performing patient care activities and face power struggles in leadership practices (Goh et al., 2020). In this essay, main body will consist of information regarding the article, like important ideas mentioned in the article which can relate to the field of adult nursing, mental health, child or learning disability. Moreover, information would be supported by evidence and main strong arguments will be identified from the article and they will be discussed. Finally, conclusion would be there which will cover and summarize all the important points from the article.

What Is Nursing and Teamwork

According to Watson, (2011), Nursing is known as a profession within the health and social care sector. This profession is focused on care towards individuals, families and communities in order to recover health of the patients and help them in improving their quality of life. Teamwork is known as a shared or collaborative effort by people in a certain group to achieve their aim / goals or to complete a task together in the most effective and efficient way possible (Rimmer, 2019). On the other hand, West and Markiewicz (2016) argues that teamwork in health care is known as two or more people in a group interacting with one another by having a common purpose and goal and working towards that goal to which benefits from leadership that maintains stability by motivating towards honest discussion and solution of problem. In a healthcare system, an effective teamwork is important and necessary for keeping patients safe because it reduces the bad affects which are caused by misunderstanding and miscommunication by other people who care for people and misunderstanding of different responsibilities and roles. The Idea provided by this article is connected to improvement of group performance towards patient care. According to Goh, et.al (2020). In a health care system, the enrolled nurses and registered nurses both have a clear understanding and idea regarding their roles and responsibilities provided to them in order to achieve their goals. Teamwork still can be improved with a collaborative mental model and discussion towards performing some assigned basic nursing tasks. It can also be improved by supporting each other when there is any workload and helping each other out. Moreover, better delegation of the team and effective communication helps in reducing any misunderstanding related to tasks and responsibilities. This helps in avoiding any conflicts or any error during the task, hence patient care can be proper by this. Improved team orientation can also help towards motivating one another to perform well and overcoming weakness if there any in order to provide efficient patient care and maintain the image of the health care system or organization. Work in collaboration should be there by educators and nursing managers to look after positive practices regarding leadership in a clinical environment. Team training should be there to improve and enhance trust towards one another and to improve collective orientation in nursing teams. According to the data provided in the article, there is an empirical evidence provided which relates to the impact of teamwork towards nursing care. The evidence highlights the necessity of putting and executing efforts to explore and improve nursing teamwork. The study’s major strength is the combined exploratory quantitative and qualitative methods in order to be able to understand EN and RN teamwork. A good teamwork can also help to handle some patients who have difficulty in adjusting to a healthcare environment and who face some serious issues with their mental and physical behaviors, such as mental health patients.

Evidence and Argument

Workload performs as a stressor which negatively impacts team performance. Chua, et.al (2020), has highlighted the importance of a team to monitor or observe the entire workload and to give some backup in order to reduce overload of work. If there will not be any common backup in a nursing team then the risk of care missed might get intense and can affect or compromise safety of patients. In this article it has been stated by Kærnested and Bragadóttir (2012), that the leadership skills of registered nurses (RNs) are required to be supported by trust and effective communication within the team to take care of proper team leaders. This study reflected that open discussion regarding team member’s behaviors and conflicts of workplace was lacking. This was incompatible the qualitative findings in the study that had acknowledged the need of keeping aside the individual issues and personal life while working as a team towards a task for patient care. Huynh et al., (2011) states that with the demands of nursing care, nursing homes or hospitals need to reduce negative emotions such as anger while showing appropriate emotion or behavior at workplace that led to job related stress. According to Kalisch et al. (2012), nursing staff who were satisfied more towards their jobs had seen a reduced level of missed nursing care. It has been argued in this study that firstly both the ENs and the RNs should have a clear understanding regarding their tasks which they share with each other and recognition of the importance of support of one another in order to perform patient care related tasks properly. According to Kusnoor and Stelljes (2016), Role of nursing managers is to give different opportunities to ENs and RNs so that they can understand each other’s responsibilities and can focus on effective teamwork. Sometimes RNs can be allowed to perform tasks like ENs do so that they can understand the roles they play and how to work towards certain tasks by being prepared for. Secondly, senior nurses should take care of positive cultures linked to leadership practices RN’s to monitor ENs performance and motivate them to give feedback and response regarding workload issues. Thirdly, according to Zárate-Grajales and Mejías (2019), in order to succeed leadership practice, ENs and RNs should be provided with proper team training which mostly focuses on communication skills enhancement. Educators present at educational institutes and at health care settings can execute team training programs and challenges through experts and by providing professional education for both ENs and RNs. Moreover, according to Liaw, (2015) Innovative team training approach can be a use of simulation which shows the reality regarding practices at the general ward in order to allow nursing students, or nurses to practice and improve their communication skills within the leadership process. EN and RN are supposed to share information and communicate about delegated tasks. Delhy et al., (2020) states that senior nurses can provide different opportunities to discuss issues that are linked conflicts which surround teamwork during staff meetings.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this article highlights the importance of teamwork in health care / general ward settings and how EN and RN should perform during teamwork tasks and how they should be trained properly in order to perform better towards their tasks. This article provides different ideas about how the teamwork and delegation process can be improved and what is necessary or required to improve them. Moreover, role of seniors or nursing managers have been discussed as well as to how they should look after the groups of staff working as a team and how to train them. Educators are said to play an important role for providing the staff professional education and training through experts. Lastly, innovating team training approach is suggested as well for efficient practice. Understanding regarding of the information from this article regarding the team work process in a general ward setting can help me in my practice in way that I’ll be aware of the roles and responsibilities given to me and my group members so that we can easily work according to that and avoid any misunderstanding or miscommunication. Moreover, I will be able to focus on the training and education provided to me regarding team work so that I can easily avoid mistakes and takes care of my patients properly. It is important that I implement my understanding and knowledge regarding team work as well as my role as a nurse on my tasks so that I can look after my patients properly and they can feel better. Improving my communication skills can be helpful because I can easily interact with my patients to understand their problems and I can easily interact with my group members to provide efficient and effective results towards my work and to avoid any issues or conflicts.

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References:

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