Healthcare professionals who work effectively as a team and are skilled and competent are essential to providing high-quality patient care. To thrive in the healthcare industry, medical students must engage in inter professional learning from an early age. Inter professional education (IPE), a crucial pedagogical technique, must be provided to healthcare professionals in order for them to give the safest, best and most effective patient care possible.
IPE is the involvement of multiple healthcare providers in a group learning setting with the aim of improving health. IPE encourages inter professional collaboration, which is commonly recognized for encouraging a collaborative team approach. It results in improved patient care, shorter hospital stays, cheaper healthcare costs and fewer medical errors.
Collaboration in nursing is extremely important as nurses will often work as part of many multidisciplinary teams. If nurses do not have the proper training or education that emphasizes the importance of team building in nursing, then it will be very challenging for them to provide high-quality care for their patients. Spring Arbor University provides an excellent base for nurses where they are taught how to work in a team, a skill that they can transfer into their careers after graduating. Spring Arbor University’s online Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) course focuses on making nurses adaptable so that they can become a part of the various medical teams in hospital and community settings.
In this article, we will discuss all the different kinds of higher education pathways that nurses can pursue to work within different medical teams. As nurses have become a strong pillar for providing quality patient care, it is important for them to continue getting education that will enable them to work within different medical teams in a hospital.
Importance of practice in nursing higher education
Nurses are essential to the reform of healthcare and health systems. A nursing degree indicates that a nurse is qualified to provide high-quality care. It also gives them the knowledge and abilities needed for leadership, judgment and the planning of health service delivery. The healthcare demands of communities are becoming more complex in today’s society. As people live longer, they may have several long-term problems. There is a movement toward providing treatment closer to home and keeping individuals with long-term diseases out of hospitals, all of which call for multidisciplinary care.
Nurses serve patients and groups in a variety of locations and situations, including homes, offices, clinics, jails, field hospitals and shopping malls. They offer both physical and virtual treatment. Due to the changing environment, practitioners will either provide treatment individually or as a member of a well-organized multidisciplinary team, and they will need to have a greater understanding of psychological well-being, child health and learning difficulties.
The ‘basics’ that nurses now need to be aware of include physiology and anatomy, sociology, psychology, pharmacology, research techniques and economics in order to deliver and coordinate high-quality care. They provide interpreting services, navigational assistance and emotional support to patients and their families during challenging situations. They offer care to a wide range of people. To provide this wealth of information, nurses must at least hold a bachelor’s degree.
The development of specific skills, knowledge, resources and a persistent commitment to the pursuit of best practice are necessary for each area of nursing practice growth. One may quickly get overwhelmed by the competing demands for offering customer care and services. It might be challenging to comprehend how practical applications of excellent ideas, relevant medical concerns and professionally motivated objectives can be made. Continuous professional development activities, such as professional educational programs, can have an impact on a staff member’s ability to take on practice development efforts. Far too often, educational programs are thought to have little real influence on clinical practice. However, one of the objectives that universities and healthcare providers have in common is the advancement of nursing practice, and work-based learning, a relatively new approach to higher education, presents opportunities for cooperation.
Various medical teams that nurses will be taught about and work with
Speech and language team
Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and registered nurses (RNs) both play active roles in the treatment of patients and caregivers. RNs and SLPs frequently work together to provide care for patients with communication and swallowing problems, such as those who have tracheostomies, strokes and dysphagia, in hospital and rehabilitation settings. A variety of medical and educational institutions can benefit from the unique set of abilities that each sector offers. The first step in developing a productive, patient-centered collaborative practice is to acknowledge the value and contribution of each profession, as well as cooperation, respect, mutual trust, open communication and shared decision-making. Learning about each profession’s norms and scope of practice is the best approach to do this. Nurses can easily become a part of this team by either completing an advanced degree with a major in speech and language or an associate diploma in the field.
Audiology team
Audiologists are medical professionals who identify, examine and treat nervous system issues that impact the hearing, balance and other neurologic systems. An audiologist is a specialist in the diagnosis and treatment of hearing problems in both adults and children. A hearing expert has an extensive understanding of the human vestibular and auditory systems. In order to operate correctly, a person must be able to hear everything clearly. Aspiring audiologists will learn how to communicate these difficulties with nurses. Nurses will learn how to provide excellent patient care while remaining medically and ethically considerate of a person’s hearing impediment. Nurses can also pursue higher education programs in the field to become a part of the audiologist medical team, and those who desire to become clinical audiologists will need to complete speech and audiology courses are required.
Acute stroke unit team
A stroke can be deadly and have a significant impact on one’s quality of life. However, prompt detection and treatment can reduce mortality and disability while enhancing the prospects of recovery and rehabilitation for survivors. RNs might not need any additional education to become a team member of the acute stroke unit team. The duties of nurses working in acute stroke services are extensive and include evaluation, timely recognition of red flags, and monitoring, in addition to rehabilitation, emotional support and end-of-life care. Care transitions are frequently ineffective and inefficient in the existing delivery system, leading to unmet requirements, high rates of needless consequences, and preventable hospital readmissions. Therefore, nurses in the acute stroke unit team are responsible for helping patients transition from these units to recovery and rehabilitation and to hospital discharge.
Orthopedic team
Just like other patients, orthopedic patients also require a lot of care and observation by a nurse who has specialized in the field. Along with other professionals in an orthopedic team, nurses can play a key role in improving patient outcomes. The majority of orthopedic patients get discharged from the hospital the day after surgery. Therefore, there is a lot that has to be done quickly. Achieving all of this in the limited amount of time allotted to orthopedic nurses would be impossible without proper higher education. Due to this, they must pursue advanced degrees and certifications. One of the key responsibilities of orthopedic nurses is to help patients move safely to a chair, the restroom or the hospital halls. Orthopedic nurses also provide ongoing instructions to patients along with their loved ones on how to properly take care of themselves throughout the process of healing.
Pediatric care team
Pediatric nurses frequently work in interdisciplinary teams with other medical experts to provide the best care for children. They play a critical role in monitoring the health of young patients and providing them with care and support during their therapies. Pediatric nurses provide healthcare and medical attention to infants, children and teenagers. They may converse with children and inquire about their health, particularly when the children are frightened and unable to express their issues adequately.
They could provide children with vaccinations and see to it that they get their shots according to the timetable advised. A pediatric nurse will explain the child’s health and the various phases of treatment to their families. A pediatric nurse could actively engage in teaching the public or other medical specialists about problems relating to children’s health. Additionally, they may help with clinical studies on child health problems and the most effective ways to treat them.
Conclusion
Once graduated, nurses have a wealth of opportunities, both in the field and through further education. Postgraduate courses are always an excellent choice for nurses who want to learn more about other medical specializations, such as audiology, speech and language, and pediatric, and how nursing staff can fit into these various teams. Without good collaboration, a team cannot hope to succeed. Similarly, nursing teams and other medical departments must learn top-quality interdepartmental collaboration so that a patient has the best possible medical care from the start of their medical journey through to the end.
