Running head: TEAM NURSING 1

TEAM NURSING

Gorgina Kareem

Madonna University

ESL 4230 – Informative Paper (D1)

February 20, 2017

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Team Nursing

What is it like to work as a team in a nursing field? Working as a team means working

together to accomplish a goal that could lead to better care. Team work could also lead to a better

benefit to people or patients who talk of the medical field. While working as a team, there will

always be something interesting to learn about from the team members. When nurses work as a

part of the team and functions as a part of the unit, the job becomes easier and patient care

becomes better. The goal of working as a part of the team is to enhance the patients care and

meet their needs to make them feel better. Nurses working as a team leads to a better outcome of

the patients.

Nurses working as a team is considered more as a patient-oriented field. Like how it is

stated on an article “Nurses working in team nursing situations described team nursing as

patient-oriented, facilitating accountability encouraging collaboration, enabling better coverage

of patients and providing better access to more experienced nurses as a reference point for their

decision making.” (Cioffi & Ferguson, 2009, n.p.). When nurses work as a team, they provide

better care for the patient by helping each and make things easier on the team and the patients.

The benefits of team nursing are described in six different categories including team

effectiveness, responsibility, support, experience and team approach. (Cioffi & Ferguson, 2009,

n.p.). Nurses working as a team are more effective due to the sharing responsibility, supporting

each other, and most importantly experiencing or learning new things from the other team

members. The members on a team situations are more helpful to collaborate and make decisions

on what needs to be done. When working as a part of a team it is also very beneficial for the new

graduates because they could ask questions, get assistance and experience things differently.

(Contributor, 2013,n.p.). Team nursing is simply designed for nurses to work together for a

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better care for the patient. According to what Dr. Val Gokengach stated, “Every member of the

team that touches the patient in some way makes a valuable contribution to the care of the

patient.” (Gokengch, 2013, n.p.). All the team members focus on the patients’ quality of life

before all else. Also, all the team members should focus on a patient’s goals and make their care

designed to accomplish those goals.

In nursing team, all members work together to meet with their patients’ needs and

improve the patient’s outcome. The effectiveness of team nursing was influenced by nurses

working together, such as assisting the team and offering help. (Cioffi, Jane, Ferguson, Lorraine,

2009, n.p.). Nurses working together has brought a better patient care due to assisting each other.

When the team members help each other, the job becomes easier because when they get someone

else helping them, it will reduce the pressure on them and make them feel safe as helping the

parents’. “Nursing is the only clinical profession whose members are trained to understand the

roles of other care providers”, says Louise Weadock, MPH, RN, CEO of Access Nursing (2016,

n.p.). All team nurses are well trained to provide care for the patient. Their role is very important

in the hospital due to their ability to help the patients not just physically, but also mentally. “The

nurse’s ability to comprehensively assess the patient’s clinical, emotional and social situation

and draw upon the available resources to create a patient-centric care plan can help in playing an

important part in collaborative care” (ANA, 2016, n.p.). The training that nurses get, sets them

up to be effective players in a collaborative care environment, Weadock says. “Their

adaptability, empathy, communication skills and commitment to follow through on care make

them strong leaders on a care team and key team players” (Weadock, 2016. n.p). Their role of

adaptability and good communication skills makes them a strong leaders and team players.

One of the most important skills a team work requires is a communication skill.

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Communication is an outright part of life, without it, the people would not be able to go all the

way to reach their goals. The communication is desired due to the patient’s outcome and to

achieve team goals successfully and efficiently. (Gluyas, 2015, n.p.). Using some effective

communication strategies by the nurses’ team members, may reduce stress, promotes wellness

and improve quality of life. (Vertino, 2014, n.p.). It is very important for the team members to

communicate with each other due to the patient’s safety and improving their quality of life. As of

professional role of nursing, the nurses are responsible to care for their patients, as an ill person

cannot speak, they will need someone to speak for them. According to Dr. Vertino, who has an

MS in Nurse Practitioner, stated that “Due to our constant exposure to other human beings who

are suffering, nurses are perfectly positioned to utilize effective interpersonal communication,

and in doing so, support our own emotional, psychological, and spiritual development” (Vertino,

2014, n.p.). Poor team communication could lead to medical errors that could cause someone’s

death. It could become more difficult with the team working together without communication.

The communication between each other is the cause of a better patients’ outcome. Without the

communication, some tasks could not be completed, which it would lead to errors and poor

caring of the patient. According to my experience with nursing, the lack of communication was

the main cause of medical errors. Additionally, Ward, 2009, an RN-BSN, stated on her article,

“Effective communication is an art, but in today’s fast-paced patient care arena, it is essential.

Each member of the care team plays an integral role in patient outcomes, and building a

comprehensive care plan demands that each discipline communicates her recommendations. No

member acts in isolation and the patient trusts that her team is working as a whole to help her to

achieve the best outcome”. (Ward, 2009, n.p.). The communication is essential in team work to

achieve the best outcome for the patient care.

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Team nursing has an important collaboration for the development of nursing experience

and knowledge. For example, skill mix, where registered nurses, enrolled nurses and students

that delivers a different way of patients care within the team model. The experiment study

investigated the experience of team nursing and their patients including their level of satisfaction.

(Cioffi & Ferguson, 2009, n.p.). The way nursing team is composed had a secondary effect on

the team learning activities. Nursing team attempts different team nursing activities to develop

different types of information that helps to develop a better team learning. “Team learning

included processes to gather, process and store information from different innovations within the

nursing team.” (Timmermans, Linge, Petegem, Denekens, 2012, n.p.). Throughout the team

learning, nursing team can build up or strengthen their implementation effectiveness of different

types of innovations and increase patient safety. (Timmermans, Linge, Petegem, Denekens,

2012, n.p.).

Figure 1. A table explaining how a team learning reveal in nursing team. From “Team learning

and innovation in nursing team,” 2012, November, Journal of Nursing Education and Practice.

Retrieved from: www.sciedu.ca/jnep

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The research project promoted the explanation of nursing team on innovations by experiencing a

conceptual model on team learning activities. To perform a successful team, nurses in teams

worked toward team-learning activities to gather, process and store information that is needed to

perform in both production-oriented and innovation- oriented tasks. (Timmermans, Linge,

Petegem, Denekens, 2012, n.p.). As a team, all members worked together to learn new thigs and

gain more knowledge.

Team work is a model designed for everyone to work together. For a better future for

nursing team, it is important for all members to work as a part of the team and communicate

efficiently. In the nursing field, working as a team has impacted a lot of people due to the

patients care and team members’ effectiveness on each other. Team work is the fundamental of a

lot of professions, when working as a team, there will always be someone to help you to function

correctly to avoid mistakes. When nurses work as a part of the team and functions as a part of the

unit, the job becomes easier and patients’ outcome becomes better. Nurses reported the job

satisfaction and patients’ outcome are enhanced into better. The goal of working as a part of the

team is to enhance patients’ quality of life and meet their needs to make them feel better.

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References

Cioffi, J., & Ferguson, L. (2009). Team nursing in acute care settings: nurses' experiences.

Contemporary Nurse

Contributor, N. (2013). 5 Reasons Why Nurses Should Build a Social Support Relationship.

Gokenbach, V. (2013). Teamwork and Patient Care Go Hand in Hand in Nursing.

Cioffi, J., & Ferguson, L., A.M. (2009). Team nursing in acute care settings: Nurses'

experiences. Contemporary Nurse : A Journal for the Australian Nursing Profession

American Nurses Association . (2016). Collaborative Health Care: How Nurses Work in

Team-Based Settings. N.p.: ANA Staff.

Gluyas, H. (2015). Effective communication and teamwork promotes patient safety.

Vertino, K. (2014). "Effective Interpersonal Communication: A Practical Guide to Improve Your

Life" OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing Vol. 19, No. 3, Manuscript 1.

Ward, J. (2013). The Importance of Teamwork in Nursing.

Timmermans, Linge, Petegem, Denekens (2012). Team learning and innovation in nursing

teams: Results of a comprehensive research project