Step # 2 Students need to respond to one peers’ initial posting and answer their peers’ postulated question and postulate a second peer postulated question to be answered in module 7

Ste # 3 Students need to respond to one peer’s second response posting and answer their peers’ second postulated question

the student response :

The role of the nursing team leader consists of overseeing a team of nurses. Nurse leaders focus on improving the quality of patient care, as well as improvements in the workplace for fellow nurses and other health care providers. The role of the registered nurse in the interprofessional healthcare team is a position that offers expertise in the area of nursing. The registered nurse can help with creating appropriate schedules centered around the clients needs between medical procedures and therapy sessions and identify patient need for referral to other disciplines. The RN provides direct patient care and aids in managing the clients physical needs to prevent health issues and treat health conditions.

The interprofessional team is comprised of all disciplines that are needed to implement quality care to a single patient. The team collaborates to meet the needs of the client based on their specific disciplines. This model helps to improve patient outcomes and utilizes a holistic approach to patient care. The interprofessional team for this client includes the nursing team leader, the LVN, UAP, medical residents, and pharmacists. Because there is conflict arising over the role of the nursing team leader role, as perceived by the medical residents, pharmacist, and physical therapist, all these members should be included. The LVN, and UAP should also be included, so they are able to gain understanding of their responsibilities, as well as the responsibilities of the RN to collaborate on ways that the clients care can go smoother.

The nurse leader possesses many roles and responsibilities, therefore delegation of tasks is essential so that the RN may contribute time to more skilled tasks, such as rounding with the pharmacist, and medical residents. Since performing blood glucose checks and administering insulin to 3 clients would require more time than administering a pain medication to one client, the RN should delegate these tasks. One task that the RN can delegate to the UAP would be performing blood glucose checks on the client and reporting the results to the LVN.  It is within the scope of practice for the UAP to perform blood glucose finger sticks. One task that the RN could delegate to the LVN would be administering insulin to the clients. It is within the scope of practice of the LVN to administer subcutaneous insulin injections.

Three items that should be addressed at the meeting includes, effective communication, clear definition of roles, and improving patient care. The nurse leader was unaware of that members of the interprofessional team perceived her as abrupt and uncooperative. Therefore, effective communication should be discussed to include proper communication with the nurse about concerns related to patient care. In addition to effective communication, clear definition of each team members roles can help the team understand responsibilities of each discipline. Also, the ultimate goal is to improve patient care, therefore the meeting should address how the situation could have been handled differently, and appropriately to improve the care of the patients. In this incident, rounds needed to be conducted, pain medication needed to be administered for a therapy session, and insulin and glucose monitoring needed to be performed before breakfast. If there is effective communication, clear role definition, and proper delegation of tasks, patient care can be greatly improved.

An example of a conflict resolution involves the subject of role definition. The UAP refused to empty colostomy bag for a client with a colostomy. The colostomy has been In place for over a year, and the UAP insists that this task is specific to the nurse. After collaboration with the wound care nurse, DON, and charge nurse, roles were clearly defined and informed the UAP that this was within her scope of practice. During this collaboration, the UAP voiced concerns about her inexperience with colostomy care and was able to be properly trained on colostomy care. This interprofessional team collaboration helped improve communication, and knowledge amongst the health care team.

One question that can be postulated regarding the use of conflict resolution techniques is how does the technique of avoiding contribute to negative patient outcomes?