Healthcare Communication

Nursing professionals work in an environment where they are expected to engage in interdisciplinary teamwork. Such interactions stand as a basic competency in the medical profession. In the proper implementation of this important professional healthcare communication ability, the proficient nurse must distinguish interdisciplinary from intradisciplinary team interactions and comprehend when to apply each. Stated concisely, interdisciplinary teams join professionals from various disciplines to complete a common task. In spite of the prevalence of such teamwork interactions, many nursing programs do not prepare their students for interaction with other medical practitioners upon completion of their degree program. Such collaborations minimize the occurrence of the same task completed more than once and foster an environment for creative solutions because of broad academic backgrounds.

Intradisciplinary teams, on the other hand, work within a single profession. In this case, it would consist of a team of nurses assigned to the same task. Regulation of the team in these situations will become easier as competent parties will understand the same system. Further differences with the intradisciplinary approach allow for streamlined research approaches that can effectively focus the same formational energies on the present task.

The patient role in the team cannot be overlooked. This fundamental contributor to the situation deserves to obtain a position where they feel valued for their insights and needed in order to achieve an appropriate resolution to the issue (Paget, Han, Nedza, Hurtz, Racine, Russell et al., 2011, p. 5). Throughout the team process, the patient has a right to "candid and explicit acknowledgment . . . of limits in science and system" as well as clear practitioner efforts to clearly understand the patient's medical background and economic means when making decisions Paget et al., 2011, p. 4). Through disclosure and clarity, practitioners can foster trust.

Communication skills within healthcare teams represent an important facet of successful patient outcomes. Such indicators are unmistakable; when clear communication occurs, patients report satisfactory results, professionals work with confidence with a clear understanding of the competencies of their colleagues, and patients benefit from better care. Ultimately, well-developed communication skills result in lowered healthcare costs as professionals engage in more efficient collaboration. These results are the byproduct of clear communication skills.

Such consequences come as a result of mission-oriented directives that embrace clear communication as a top priority. Fundamentally, healthcare teams must embrace respect for all members whether the organization is interdisciplinary or intradisciplinary. Secondly, team members can share boundaries, equal time, and "safe zone" rules to increase communication efficiency. Thirdly, successful teams place a high value on trust. When people feel fundamentally validated in this important way, their willingness to share ideas and insights increases substantially. Through these three directives, healthcare teams may employ successful communication skills.

When healthcare teams engage in collaborative practice relationships, a positive work environment is created. These kinds of environments come from administrations that take the initiative to challenge and encourage healthcare practitioners to engage with one another. Fowler (2010) describes an interdisciplinary environment where healthcare providers from various backgrounds frequently meet to solve problems, share insights on current situations, and listen to each other (p. 80). Indeed, the skill of listening lies at the heart of communication. People of all professions live with a fundamental need to feel that their viewpoints are understood, recognized, and acknowledged. Without this basic competency, successful communication will remain, at best, a one-way dialogue.

Nurses deserve to feel empowered to freely address needs and concerns that can positively shape their workplace environment. Within interdisciplinary settings, nurses play a role in a team where they benefit from the opportunity to share their ideas and intrinsic insights that come from the niche of their professional healthcare view. Ideally, when this occurs in a supportive setting, they may experience feelings of contributing to a greater good and a cause that could not be as effectively achieved without their presence. Intradisciplinary settings may focus on profession-specific goals where the mass implementation of a specialized assignment requires attention. In this case, nurses will feel empowered as they stand as the most qualified individuals to complete the task at hand; no other trained professional carries the education and practical knowledge that nurses do thereby rendering the nurse an essential component of the healing process. No matter what the method used, researchers acknowledge the need for training programs among nurses to build more effective collaborative environments (Fernandez, Johnson, & Jones, 2010, p. 265). As nurses improve communication skills, they benefit from a sense of empowerment.

The patient also deserves to benefit from feelings of empowerment. Within interpersonal settings, patient empowerment occurs when healthcare practitioners endeavor to present the most accurate information available along with the risks and the potential benefits associated with each option (Paget et al., 2011, p. 4). By maintaining an attitude of respect for the patient's situational needs, interdisciplinary colleagues will recognize the limits of the current system and work to bring the patient to a point of advanced understanding to make an informed decision (Paget et al., 2011, p. 4). Within intradisciplinary settings, patients may turn to community online networks to share their struggles and insights. By building off common experiences with others and relying on healthcare professionals to make informed decisions, patients feel empowered.

After a review of the compassion instilled through empowerment measures and the benefits of interdisciplinary and intradisciplinary collaboration through successful communication, it remains clear that my development as a professional nurse extends well beyond the application of checklists and measurements. Effectively, nursing is a people skill requiring practical knowledge to contribute towards a greater good for patients, colleagues, and communities where I work. Fowler (2010) best describes this standard in quoting the American Nursing Association Code for Professional Nurses: "The nurse, in all professional relationships, practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth, and uniqueness of every individual, unrestricted by considerations of social or economic status, personal attributes, or the nature of health problems" (p. 3). By addressing human dignity in such broad terms, measures of inter- and intradisciplinary collaboration rest under a common cause—respect. No matter the colleague or patient involved, they deserve to understand the situation at issue and play a meaningful role in contributing to its successful resolution.

Perhaps most importantly, my development as a professional nurse rests on the clear application of intradisciplinary measures to ensure patients receive the proper attention and education necessary to engender long-term health advancements. Provision Two of the Code of Ethics for Nurses states that the nurse's first commitment always remains with the patient; in an environment where healthcare decisions are increasingly based on economic considerations before clinical rationale and insurance companies and government agencies meddle in the healthcare process itself, nurses have a responsibility to filter out the distractions and take care of their patient's needs (Fowler, 2010, p. 11, 13). By respecting this principle above all else, nurses can then broaden out and begin to engage with interdisciplinary colleagues in an engaged effort to provide meaningful healthcare solutions.

References

Burkhardt, M. A., & Nathaniel, A. K. (2010). Ethics & issues in contemporary nursing (4th ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.

Fernandez, R., Tran, D. T., Johnson, M., & Jones, S. (2010). Interdisciplinary communication in general medical and surgical wards using two different models of nursing care delivery. Journal of Nursing Management, 18(3), 265-274.

Fowler, M. D. (2010). Guide to the code of ethics for nurses: interpretation and application. Silver Spring, MD: American Nurses Association. (Original work published 2008)

Paget, L., Han, P., Nedza, S., Hurtz, P., Racine, E., Russell, S., et al. (2011, June 1). Patient-clinician communication: Basic principles and expectations. Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. Retrieved from http://www.iom.edu/~/media/Files/Perspectives-Files/2012/Discussion-Papers/VSRT-Patient%20Clinician.pdf