One area in healthcare I am interested in is emergency care. Emergency care is an essential part of healthcare that serves as the first point of contact and supports the development of timely emergency care. The key task in the emergency depart is the transformation of patients with indistinguishable emergent conditions into sufficient stable individuals for discharge. The patient may also be transferred to inpatient service for further specific care. The purpose of this paper is to explore the emergency care healthcare setting, its employees, issues affecting stakeholders, strategies leading to collaboration among the health team, and dynamics within the emergency care setting.
Health Care setting and Employees
Usually a large number of health professionals are involved in the provision off care in emergency departments. They vary based on different symptoms the patients have and the stages of treatment stages. Most U.S emergency medical services (EMS) have the majority of the staff being paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMTs). A wide range of health professionals are involved in the provision of care in emergency departments and such include physicians, multiple specialties, nurses and physician assistants, social workers, pharmacists, and emergency medical technicians. The physicians usually make evaluations on the problem presented by the patient, make diagnoses, and initiate treatment.
Issues within Setting and Effect on Stakeholders
Many issues may occur in the emergency department which affects dynamics within the setting. For instance, different roles such as internists, triagist, orthopedic specialists, visiting room nurses can transform the kind of intellectual tasks that someone has to undertake. Since cognitive work is based on time, the new team has to make decisions about the patient who has been inspected by the earlier shift team.
Also, the manner in which information is recorded in the previous steps usually transforms the errands performed by others in other events. Cognitive work in an emergency department is also distributed across artifacts which include computerized medical records and screenshots which provide support and efficiency in the reorganization of tasks (Gilardi et al, 2014).
Communication and collaborative strategies that lead to respectful interactions
Various communication and cooperative approaches can be applied to ensure dutiful interactions and avert issues in emergency care. For example, generic educational programs can be used to create awareness and promote effective communication. These educational programs should focus on issues such as stress management, assertiveness training, phone etiquette, diversity training, conflict management, and communication skills. These skills are necessary for fostering more effective team functioning in emergency care as well as communication flow. Another strategy is having a medical champion who energetically promotes the importance of courteous behavior as well as team collaboration (Hughes, 2008).
Communication flow in emergency care should be geared towards fostering an environment of respect and trust, accountability, shared decision-making, and assertiveness. A very crucial strategy is to enhance competency training at different levels within the health care team. This is important in addressing potential issues because it affects respect and trust by inserting a strong influence on team collaboration. Also, for emergency care to avoid potential issues there is a need to encourage the health professional to report unruly behaviors. The emergency care organization requirements to address issues associated with fear of retaliation and make the reporting process to be easy and supported by non-punitive behavior. Developing and implementing standards of behavior policies can also play a role in promoting respect among emergency care health workers. Such policies should then be made part of the staff bylaws with agreements to abide by each time an appointment and credentialing takes place (Hughes, 2008).
Issues that may affect dynamics within the setting for health care workers, patients, and their families
Poor or lack of communication creates a situation that may lead to the occurrence of medical errors. The errors may cause severe injury and even death of the patient. Medical errors particularly those which occur due to communication hurdles are a persistent problem in the present-day health care systems. Disrespect and lack of communication may also cause a lack of confidence and trust in the decision of others, perceived loss of autonomy, inharmonious perceptions, and lack of awareness of one provider of knowledge. Physicians’ unruly behaviors such as confrontation such as physical and sexual harassment will affect patient outcomes of care as it compromises patient safety and links to escapable patient mortality. Effective teamwork and lack of collaboration also lead to poor quality of care. Also poor communication among the emergency health care team, patient, family members can lead to confusion particularly in medications and follow-up care. This may lead to malpractice litigation and redundant readmissions (Merlino, 2017).
Attributes of a healthy culture to Encourage Team Performance
For emergency physicians to work as a team various attributes of a healthy culture are crucial. These attributes include effective teamwork which is an indispensable tool in the development of a patient-centered health care delivery system. Another attribute is honesty which involves being transparent about decisions, aims, mistakes, and uncertainties. This attribute is essential for maintaining trust in an emergency care team. It is also a prerequisite for a high-operational team. Discipline enables emergency members to adhere to their standards and conventions even as they find ways to improve. Creativity is an attribute in a healthy culture that allows emergency team members to tackle emerging problems creatively. This attribute allows the physicians to see errors including some unforeseen debauched outcomes as probable opportunities for improvement. Humility allows emergency team health workers to realize they are human and will make mistakes. This attribute helps members to recognize and avert failures. Curiosity is an attribute in a healthy culture that is essential in continuous professional development as well as the functioning of the team.
Qualities and Styles for effective communication
Qualities of effective communication are essential in the emergency health care system. They include clarity enables a health worker to makes ideas and to be easily identified and understood. Conciseness allows one to get the point of view without unnecessary words. Effective communication should be concrete that is to provide explanations, complete with enough information to allow the audience to understand. Courteous is another quality that means being polite and using a professional tone. Effective communication should also be coherent. This means that information should be presented in a logical sequence. Effective communication should be correct that is based on the information and word choice.
Productive communication may be facilitated through the application of various communication styles. Such communication styles include passive-aggressive communication styles. The communicators who use this kind of communication style manipulate situations into the one that benefits them. The passive-aggressive communication style facilitates productive communication because it helps individuals make clear requests to avoid misinterpretations or confusion. It also helps to confront negative behavior and elicits honest communication through one-on-one situations. The assertive communication style is one of the most courteous and productive types of communication in healthcare because it allows individuals to share their ideas confidently while being respectful and polite. Another style is the aggressive communication style which allows communicators to express their feelings and thoughts but in a way likely to dominate conversations. This style is essential where there is a need to command respect in certain leadership situations. Passive communicators are quiet and don’t seek attention. Passive communications encourage good working relationships by allowing individuals to ask for a direct approach, ask for opinions and use broad language.
Boundary-Spanning Activity to support Collaboration and Communication
There are several boundary-spanning activities I could incorporate as a leader of a healthcare emergency team that would support a cooperative culture and improve communication. One of such is connecting and mobilizing tactics that create a common ground through clarifying strategies. Another way is to experiment and modify suggestions including making up own tactics. The other activity would be starting with an approach that feels easy to acquaint with and execute. As a leader, it is wise to avoid launching a boundary-spanning campaign. I would also facilitate cross-functional collaboration (Centre or Creative Leadership, 2022).
Walk-and-talk activity is another easy way to enhance collaboration among the health care team (Centre or Creative Leadership, 2022). It is usually recommended that people from different groups within a team such as the emergency care team should pair up for a few minutes talk and walk. During this activity they can ask themselves questions such as what brought them to the profession, what motivate them in work, and what they would like to spend their time when not in work. Another activity is lobbying for auspicious impressions. Coordination which is an intergroup activity is essential in the facilitation of effective decision making. There is also the general information search activity. This is also referred to as scouting and involves scanning of the outward group environment to gain the relevant information. This activity is essential for gaining access to the relevant knowledge and expertise.
Effect of employee satisfaction and Professional Communication on Patient Care
Employee satisfaction greatly impacts patient care. For instance, job satisfaction among emergency healthcare professionals would lead to better patient care. Based on the American Nurses Association Database of Nursing Quality Indicators, found that a 25% increase in nurse enjoyment for a period of 2 years was associated with an overall improvement in quality of care between 5% and 20% (Hughes, 2008). Employee satisfaction creates a better work environment and fewer errors. Researchers have also found that employee satisfaction was correlated with an increase in patient communication as well as other quality care indicators. For example, there was increased productivity and better results.
There is quite a number ofqualities of professional communication that lead to good interactions with sick individuals, their families, and other healthcare specialists. Such include being honest, open, and compassionate. These qualities are crucial competency skills for delivering value-based and enhancing patient-centered care (Hughes, 2008). These qualities lead to safe work environments and decreased adverse effects. They are effective from administrative, clinical, and interpersonal perspectives.
The role of a healthcare leader in facilitating collaboration and promoting flawless communication is to encourage effective teamwork and foster continuity in a patient care team. A good healthcare leader should encourage collaboration and good communication. The leader should also foster teamwork and prevent errors. A healthcare leader should be able to bring initiatives for the development of health cooperatives (Hughes, 2008).
References
Babiker, A., El Husseini, M., Al Neri, A., Al Frayh, A., Al Juryyan, N., Faki, M. O., … & Al Zamil, F. (2014). Health care professional development: Working as a team to improve patient care. Sudanese journal of pediatrics, 14(2), 9.
Gilardi, S., Guglielmetti, C., & Pravettoni, G. (2014). Interprofessional team dynamics and information flow management in emergency departments. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 70(6), 1299-1309.
Hughes, R. (Ed.). (2008). Patient safety and quality: An evidence-based handbook for nurses.
Main Communication Styles You’ll Find in the Workplace Retrieved from, https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/communication-styles
Merlino, J. (2017).Communication: A Critical Healthcare Competency, https://www.psqh.com/analysis/communication-critical-healthcare-competency/#:~:text=To%20be%20effective%20from%20clinical,open%2C%20honest%2C%20and%20compassionate.
Nursing Satisfaction Impacts Patient Outcomes, Mortality Retrieved from, https://nurse.org/articles/nursing-satisfaction-patient-results/#:~:text=One%20case%20study%20found%20a,employee%20satisfaction%20and%20patient%20care.&text=There%20was%20an%20increase%20in,90%20percent%20to%2099%20percent.
Centre or Creative Leadership (2022). Why You Should Collaborate Across Boundaries Retrieved from, https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/boundary-spanning-the-leadership-advantage/
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