FPX 4010 Assessment 1: Collaboration and Leadership Reflection

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nurswriting.com

Collaboration and Leadership Reflection

In the healthcare environment which is always in a state of change, collaboration and leadership are the two most crucial factors that ensure patients are always provided with the best care. The healthcare professionals perform as a joint team of doctors, nurses and other health workers, which constitute a priceless ability to get through difficult situations, for problem solving and adaptation. Teammates feel empowered by the joint activities that are designed to facilitate the linkage between departments, effective communication channels, and error reporting systems. However, an able leadership is the one that is accountable, inspiring and directional which is the one that provide guidance, motivation and a shared objective which can be used steer an organization. Such a collaboration among medical professionals as well as leadership allows to produce an appealing therapy and results that are trusted by a patient, in addition, it improves satisfaction levels and efficiency in healthcare spending. This as the audience scrutinizes and envisions the magnitude of teamwork and a leadership model that is effective in the achievement of the objectives amidst the crisis of a busy urban hospital emergency department.

Challenges and Collaboration

During one shift I was the charge nurse in urban emergency department during the mass casualty incident that was a result of a natural disaster and as the main character of the crisis. We suddenly had multiple critical patients that we had to take care of in a very short time, and this was the problem that quickly exceeded the limits of our department and brought up the questions of how well we could collaborate and how much we can be resilient under the stress. In our team, we had emergency physicians, trauma surgeons, radiologists, and nurses who were specializing in different areas of patient care. We, therefore, faced the most difficult task of sorting and treating patients with different levels of severity.

In the process, we were evaluated. In addition to a scarce number of resources and the highest ever influx of people, we faced quite enormous challenge and we had to act really fast and ensure that our actions were the smartest so that we could get the best results possible for our patients. While it resulted in a workload increase and staff shortage (due to sick calls and family emergencies), and added to the deficit in our staffing, we were there for each other, and utilized our skills and knowledge to ensure that the target care was provided on time.

Teamwork and communication was the most important thing we should do, but the vastness of the event was the most difficult thing to do it. It was the lack of staff and the increased workload that worsened the tension on our already scarce resources and made logistics very difficult, delaying patient care even further. Nevertheless, on the basis of our communication channels and common goal, which is a good health of the patients, we may overcome the difficulties and make sure that the patients will be given the best care.

At this very moment of crisis, we could be stronger and united than ever before. We might see the power of teamwork and leadership in this particular emergency. With the collective power of unity, by combining our strengths and building a communication channel, we became the ones leading the entire endeavor and more than just carrying out our duty of care; we did actually provide the best care to those who needed it the most. This real time experience only accentuates the significance of cooperation and the most important role it play in healthcare delivery, especially in those critical situations when a teamwork acts like a life saver.

The Importance of Interdisciplinary Collaboration

In the emergency when everything is going at high speed, collaboration among the different disciplines is of great importance. It was mass casualty event of natural disaster, I witnessed personally how the cooperation of healthcare professionals could be the only way to success of our patients.

The ED is a team building place, not just with enthusiastic slogans but real life practices. Every member of the healthcare team, from the emergency physicians and the trauma surgeons to the radiologists and the nurses, who all have their own area of specialization, is a core part of the healthcare team and therefore, we are able to offer the patients with holistic care. The department is subdivided into specialized sections, with each nurse being an expert in a particular area, and therefore, attending to their designated area. The patient is, therefore, guaranteed specialized and efficient care.

Yet this situation still remained on the grounds that the staffing shortage had additional negative impact on the already existing problems. There were the only few medical personnel who were supposed to be responsible for the tremendous number of those who were about to lose their lives were working under immense pressure. Nevertheless, as you may well know barriers only exist in our minds, so teamwork was the name of the game and by using our trans-disciplinary approach patients got the care they needed at the right time.

Balancing efficient interdisciplinary work meant that processes were quickened to prioritize patients and lessen the effects of staffing shortages. We applied our energies to create synergies and together as a team, we overcame the many challenges of the crisis, and we provided healthcare of the highest quality comparable to any healthcare institution.

In crisis situation, interdisciplinary collaboration plays a vital role. However, it is not the only function. It is a core aspect of every healthcare delivery model. Shortening the gap between different healthcare professionals and patient centric care will help us to reach these goals. If, finally, we compare our ED experiences, we may notice that there is much more than a useful principle in the interdisciplinary cooperation. Indeed, it is a necessity in the process of providing quality patient care.

Leadership Strategies for Crisis Management

While leading in an emergency department of a mass casualty incident caused by a natural disaster is a very challenging task, good leadership can mitigate the crisis and help deliver top-notch care on time. Leading the charge nurse team as the charge nurse tasked with supervising operations during those complicated times, I had to deal with a lot of management challenges. I used different strategies to navigate the crisis.

There is one very important thing about the leadership role in the crisis management- to bring together healthcare professionals of different specialties. Through cultivating a setting of cooperation and teamwork, leaders are able to utilize the accumulated wisdom of the healthcare team as a way of overcoming the issues presented by the crisis. As a part of ED staff, I have introduced the free flow of information between emergency physicians, trauma surgeons, radiologists, and nurses and ensured that all of them are working in line with the goals of giving priority to patient care (Bornman & Louw, 2023; Keith & Askin, 2008).

Besides, good leadership coordination is critical for implementing the processes and improving the competence of the resource management. In the course of the crisis I aided the team to develop an algorithm which we used to classify patients based on the severity of their illness. Utilizing qualified nurses to perform triage duties beyond their regular duties which include ordering diagnostic tests and prescribing medications was very beneficial. This enabled us to quickly assess and treat patients, thereby reducing delays and increasing the chances of good health outcomes (Richter, 2024).

Meetings on a regular basis prior to the shift or at the start of the day served as a platform to discuss the volumes of patients, their numbers, and any other significant information that were relevant in identifying and breaking down any bottlenecks. The flexible utilization of staff and resources allowed us to promptly respond to the changing environment and to ensure that patients received proper care in this challenging period (Stanley, 2022).

Furthermore, technology, electronic health records and automated medications dispensers, were used in order to relieve nurses of some workloads and improve patient safety by avoiding medication errors. Adopting cutting-edge solutions helped us not only improve our efficiency and effectiveness, but also deal effectively with the chaos of the crisis (Richter, 2024).

The leadership approaches that are of a high quality are the ones that are priceless when it comes to crisis management in the ED. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, streamlining the processes and leveraging technology, the leaders will be able to manage the challenges of natural disasters so as to offer quality care to patients who need the assistance. These leadership strategies, on the basis of research and backed by evidence, and informed by best practices, are critical in protecting patient outcomes and ensuring the resilience of healthcare systems during crises.

Linking Leadership with Reflection and Action

Leadership should practice reflection and action after the critical incident management in the ED, for additional learning and improvements of the future crisis management. In other words, the leadership through reflection is the ability for someone to look into their self by assessing their actions and decisions during the crisis and discover what their strong points as well as the areas they need to improve on. In the course of identifying challenges and appreciating the milestones, leaders can get vital lessons on the efficiency of the leadership methods they apply and the response of the healthcare staff.

Leaders must act on what is being learnt from this analysis to fix what needs fixing and increase their preparedness and response capabilities so as to be better placed to deal with the next crisis. Such measures might be as elaborate as revising the policies and regulations, organizing more trainings and drills or allocating more resources and technology to enhance the ability to deal with crises (Marcu, 2016). Healthcare entities that link leadership to reflection and action could have more chances in improving their crisis response skills and achieving the maximum possible performance for their patients and staff.

Promoting Collaborative Reflection

ED critical care incidents are never the good days for health care workers. Somehow, they symbolize the period when these healthcare workers should be tearing down some barriers that may be standing in the way and building a culture of communication and the reflective learning. The disintegration of several departments in their own worlds could be the cause of lack of communication and cooperation, which further continues with others to be ineffective and missing out on the opportunities of learning and advancement. (Marcu, 2016). The formation of interdisciplinary teams comprising of medical staff such as doctors and nurses that constantly bring their beliefs and knowledge to the team is one way through which the healthcare organizations could develop a learning and collaboration-friendly environment.

For instance, the team members might find themselves in the shoes of other team members, when they are sharing their reflection. As indicated by (Last & Lillyman, 2023), they will be able to excel in this task by establishing the real systematic issues and by collaborating as a team to refine the crisis management capabilities. Communication is the number one tool to tear down walls that may be raised between emergency department nursing staff and other healthcare professionals. It will ensure that the transfer of the practical knowledge and teamwork skills to solve crises continue.

Streamlining Healthcare Administration through Collaboration

Healthcare system management or administration effectiveness in general as well as in crises can be seen as of the most critical and this is especially true in emergency department as well. The involvement of health care professionals is crucial if we are to achieve effective management of all the administrative processes and the flow of the work (Richter et al., 2024). The integration approach enables the simplification of those processes, which include the registration of the patients, allocation of resources as well as documentation.

Communication between the administrators, nurse, physicians, and core players as well as the proper coordination during treatment are the main components of the health care administration reform process (Keith & Askin, 2008). Through colloborations among healthcare organizations, innovative practices and implementing advanced technologies as well as automation of traditionally repetitive work are achieved to reduce the level of administrative work and enhancing efficiency. On the one hand, encouraging the sense of team work and shared responsibility to take the center stage in the culture of emergency room employees while innovating and changing with the new surrounding environment.

Effective Communication Strategies for Interdisciplinary Collaboration

The effectiveness of an emergency room team heavily depends on the orientation of the different disciplines’ technicians to each other as it guarantees appropriate and punctual care provision to every patient. By making use of different forms of communication such as verbal, written, electronically and text messages, information transfer becomes a faster process thus helping in information dissemination (Marcu, 2016). The easiest way to not run into misunderstanding is to go around in the circle of using plain and brief words for communication unless the terms of medical vocabulary are used for better understanding and participation in the decisions regarding the patient’s treatment plan.

For a hospice care team, the huddles and briefings are as critical as the life support systems, nursing care, and pharmacotherapy. The synergy can be attributed to the fact that several workers sit together to report their updates, prepare treatment plans, and as a team, they put out fires when they happen (Richter, 2025). Apart from this, a setting where everyone is allowed to say what their feelings exactly are will only make the members listen, be there for one another when there is stress and they will be able to talk about personal concerns, and even offer suggestions on what to do. Through the use of a globally recognized communication process, the efficiency of the team work will be increased, errors will be reduced and ultimately leading to patient safety and satisfaction.

Conclusion

During the crises, we must be creative in the way we collaborate and leadership skills become a crystal clear must. Team-based and leaders’s proficiency is what make healthcare professionals in constant struggle with complex difficulties to reach the best patient care outcomes with minimal adverse outcome consequences, the characteristics of healthcare professionals. After the collaborative process, reflection allows people and teams to recognize what has the negative and positive impacts. It also lets them understand what should be prepared in the next instance for this problem. One the most fundamental aspects of culture in healthcare organizations is continuous learning and adapting to the unpredictable situations. This way organizations can be resilient enough to respond professionally in case of crisis and consequently save patients’ lives as well as health care staff. The health sector leaders must first design their priorities such as the partnership and people management to help build the resilient healthcare systems that handle crisis.

References

Bornman, J., & Louw, B. (2023). Leadership development strategies in interprofessional healthcare collaboration: A rapid review. Journal of Healthcare Leadership, 15, 175-192. https://doi.org/10.2147/jhl.s405983

GÜZEL, Ş. (2018). Implicit leadership concept and reflection to health institutions. Journal of Healthcare Management and Leadership, (1), 27-33. https://doi.org/10.35345/johmal.519613

Keith, K., & Askin, D. (2008). Effective collaboration: The key to better healthcare. Nursing Leadership, 21(2), 51-61. https://doi.org/10.12927/cjnl.2008.19875

Last, R., & Lillyman, S. (2023). Linking leadership with reflection, reflexivity and action, putting our values into practice. Reflective Leadership in Healthcare, 39-59. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003324560-3

Marcu, G. (2016). Breaking down silos to promote collaborative reflection in healthcare. 2016 International Conference on Collaboration Technologies and Systems (CTS). https://doi.org/10.1109/cts.2016.0116

Richter, E. (2024). Collaboration is key: How to streamline and automate healthcare administration. Healthcare Administration Leadership & Management Journal, 2(2), 53-54. https://doi.org/10.55834/halmj.1371849300

Stanley, D. (2022). Reflection and emotional intelligence. Clinical Leadership in Nursing and Healthcare, 323-336. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119869375.ch15