Clinical Exemplar: Appreciating Inter-professional Collaboration - Essay Example

A clinical exemplar is a narration of a clinical experience, which has lessons regarding the practice. It described meaningful events that have the effect of enlightening an individual and improving their competency at work. That is through the lessons learned through the experience. The clinical exemplars are in various categories. In this case, the one used is under collaboration, where the role of collaboration among peer groups is appreciated. Inter-professional collaboration occurs when parties from different professionals work together to achieve a predetermined goal (Green & Johnson, 2015). It is essential in nursing because the satisfaction of clients depends on collaboration among peers. The collaboration between nurses and other professionals has always been hampered by multiple challenges like poor communication, unclear definitions of roles and disrespect. That creates challenges in the achievement of objectives as the professionals work together. Collaboration between, for example, nurses and physicians is essential for better results in a healthcare setting (Edwards et al., 2017). There should be support among the parties as they work, which increases the chance of proper care for patients. Therefore, the purpose of an exemplar is to highlight a lesson, highlight a situation and create a theme supporting a lesson.

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When an individual is working in a new environment, there are various issues they need to familiarize themselves with. In this case, I was new in a hospital, which was part of my routine to gain competency in various practical nursing activities. I was allocated the night shift, where I was supposed to take care of patients, under the supervision of other nurses. I was taken through the routines that I was to follow as I worked in the organization. That was an interesting undertaking because it promised to expose me to various practical aspects of my career. I was introduced to various people that I would be working with, which would streamline my reporting and responsibilities. Apart from nurses, there were various people that I would be working with. That included physicians, a mechanical engineer, an operations manager, an accountant among other people. That was proving to be an interesting undertaking because of how vibrant the team was.

From the information I was given, it was evident that the institution was young, with less than a year in operation. Therefore, although I was new, I would easily fit in, because the bond among the other workers was not that strong, from their communication and body language. Furthermore, the head of operations was new, too, because he replaced the previous one who was proceeding on study leave. Therefore, most of the operations would be rescheduled to fit his preferences. I was to be part of the change, given that I was new, and I was being oriented in the operating schedules. The first day was not busy, because I was under instruction on various activities. I was taken through the preferred standard procedures, familiarized with the systems, and sought clarification on multiple issues. When my supervisor was contented with the orientation I was taken through; I was instructed to report the next day to start my official duty. I was excited because that proved to be a valuable opportunity because of the responsibilities that had been delegated to me.

I went home and went through the standard operating procedures, most importantly, the reporting and responsibility mechanisms instituted in the organization. That was because there were multiple individuals that I was to report to in short time intervals; therefore, they relied on me to be effective in serving my roles. On the day I reported on duty for the first time, I was confident that all would be well, because of how I had mastered the internal reporting mechanisms. I reported on duty, and started my work earlier than usual, to bridge the gap between staff on the previous duty with mine. That was meant to streamline the transition; because they had more experience than I did. From my predecessor's body language, I could read discomfort, which I thought was fatigue because of long working hours. However, that did not bother me because I was sure I had mastered the standard operating procedures.

When the shift ended, I resumed full responsibility for the operations that were under my job description. I collected reports from multiple parties, analyzed them and forwarded them to the relevant senior employees. The undertaking was harder than it had been earlier explained to me by the supervisor. That I realized, was because of a problem from the staff, and had nothing to do with me. Being new, I had not bonded quite well with the other employees. Therefore, most of them had cold responses when I inquired about their reports. I thought it was because they did not trust me. After all, I was new to the organization. However, I was determined to serve in my role in the best way I could. I was to collect reports in one-hour intervals, while for some, it was a shorter interval. That was forecasted to be an easy undertaking because it was simply collecting information from one department, sorting it for relevance and forwarding it to the next individual. However, that proved to be a hard task because of a lack of cooperation among the different professionals. For example, the other nurses rarely had their material acquisition forms on time. One even preferred to have an oral report; I wrote down the details for myself and forwarded it to the relevant department.

Therefore, sourcing information was inconvenient for the various parties that I was working with. That was caused by a lack of collaboration between them and the other parties responsible for furnishing them with the relevant documents. Therefore, there was no specific individual that was responsible for the failed system. The responsibility of communication was meant to be based on all the people. However, that proved to be a great challenge among all the professionals in the organization. The chain of communication was broken; you could not rely on any person to furnish you with any reliable information regarding operations. That was because there was a party that was letting them down in performing their duties. At the end of the shift, there were a lot of pending records that were not filed. Therefore, I had to work for extra time to collect information outside the scope of my job description. When my supervisor reported, she was surprised that I was still around, yet my shift was over. On inquiry, I explained the inconveniences I had faced during my shift.

Later, the supervisor convened a meeting of all stakeholders in the organization to highlight the inconveniences caused by poor peer collaboration. As a novice registered nurse, I had no idea that collaboration had such an essential part to play in the success of operations in healthcare. I associate with being a novice because of the limited practical experience I had at that time. However, that was highlighted by the supervisor, who promised to put in place strict measures to ensure there was efficiency and collaboration. Furthermore, a series of disciplinary measures were instituted, which were meant to enhance proper collaboration among the various parties in the organization. Everyone was to be respectful of one another, despite their rank or job description in the organization. Furthermore, everyone was required to have their reports on time, in the prescribed form, to enable smooth operations in the organization. When the changes were instituted in the organization, all staff enjoyed their work. That was because of the effective collaboration that was achieved in the organization.

Conclusion

Collaboration is an essential undertaking in any profession, because of the interdependence it has in an organization. There is a need for reporting, which highlights the essential aspect of collaboration. There should be systems in place for there to be a collaboration, which supports the desired collaboration. There should be a great reporting mechanism in an organization, enabling parties to furnish one another with information that they should use in their operations. As seen in this case, with great collaboration, the nurses, physicians and other supporting staff enjoyed their work. The result is adequate satisfaction by the patients served in the healthcare organizations. In the absence of collaboration, there were a lot of inconveniences, which would have been simply avoided trough commitment to collaboration among the employees. Therefore, the major takeaway from my experience is the importance of collaboration among various parties in a healthcare setting.

References

Edwards, P. B., Rea, J. B., Oermann, M. H., Hegarty, E. J., Prewitt, J. R., Rudd, M., ... & DeMeo, S. D. (2017). Effect of peer-to-peer nurse–physician collaboration on attitudes toward the nurse–physician relationship. Journal for Nurses in Professional Development, 33(1), 13-18. https://nursing.ceconnection.com/ovidfiles/01709760-201701000-00003.pdf

Green, B. N., & Johnson, C. D. (2015). Interprofessional collaboration in research, education, and clinical practice: working together for a better future. Journal of Chiropractic Education, 29(1), 1-10. https://meridian.allenpress.com/jce/article/29/1/1/131206/Interprofessional-collaboration-in-research