Effective Interprofessional Teamwork It is estimated by the Center for Disease Control

Effective Interprofessional Teamwork It is estimated by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that in 2015 there were currently fifteen thousand six hundred skilled rehab facilities in the United States. In 2015, one million three hundred thousand patients were receiving care by professional nurses in this atmosphere (Nursing Home Care, 2016). Patients who are ready to transition from the hospital, but not ready to go home transfer to rehab facilities to re-gain strength after a hospitalization. In this setting they work on physical therapy (PT), occupational therapy (OT), and speech therapy (ST) until they are strong enough to go home on their own, with a loved one, or with a home health nurse. In this environment nurses work alongside many different teams in order for patients to receive the best outcome. In the building at any given time nurses are working with doctors, PT, OT, ST, social services, certified nursing assistants, lab technicians, and nutritionist. One area that can always use improvement on is communication. An interprofessional team may be present in skilled rehab facilities, but if communication between specialties is not present it is the patients who suffer. This paper is going to discuss how certain nursing actions in a skilled rehab facility lead to better compassion, advocacy, resilience, and evidence-based practice (EBP) among peers and patient. Compassion Professional nurses are described frequently as being empathetic. Nurses know how to understand patients’ pain and suffering. By being compassionate nurses’ patients are more comfortable whether it is dealing with pain or emotional stress. This type of care should also be extended to peers. The professional nurse can show compassion to a fellow peer by helping a team member who has a heavy case load. By lending a helping hand to co-workers it boosts morale among colleagues. This helps the culture on the unit because it shows that it is a team effort. Once there is understanding among peers that no one gets left behind it allows for a more enjoyable work environment. This positive work environment transcends into patient care, so patients receive the same compassion and better out comes. Advocacy Furthermore, it is the duty of every nurse to voice concerns for better outcomes not only for the patients that are receiving care, but also themselves and co-workers. Advocacy is when a professional health care worker invokes changes to a policy or programs that are in place at a skilled rehab facility. These policies or programs could be deemed not safe for the patient or care providers. One action that a professional nurse can advocate while working in an interprofessional team is making sure doctors write out their verbal orders. In a skill rehab facility, there are multiple patients that one nurse cares for. This action will help decrease errors that happen from receiving multiple verbal orders at once. This will help build a stronger bond between doctors and nurses. Decreased errors in the facility directly impacts patient care. By physicians writing out their orders it will be easier to share with patients and family the plan of care set forth by the medical doctor. ResilienceTo continue, nurses’ complete multiple tasks a day while advocating for their patients and them self. This can cause nurses to feel overwhelmed while they are working in high level stress environments. According to The Joint Commission (2019), 15.6 percent of nurses feel burnt out from these working conditions. When nurses feel burnt out it is a response from working in a chronic emotional and interpersonal stress environment characterized by exhaustion and inefficiency. Research shows that nurses who know how to be resilience in their work have lower chances of feeling burnt out. Resilience allows nurses to adapt to changing circumstances and keep a sense of personal fulfilment (Developing Resilience, 2019). In skilled rehab facilities, management could put into place resilience training for all staff. By having employees complete this training would change the culture on the unit tremendously. This would increase employee retention and reduce performance issues. This would help increase patient satisfaction by having team members who are proficient when changes happen quickly on the unit. Evidence-Based Practice Evidence-based practice is the foundation that nurse base their work on. EBP allows professional nurse to build their skills and knowledge. Every intervention that is completed at a skilled rehab facility has EBP to support that intervention. According to Hone (2019), it is through EBP that nurses can give the best care. It is also the professional nurse’s job to always accept change that is supported by EBP. Through using an interprofessional team approach a new fall program could be set in place for patients in receiving rehab. With every team member weighing in on different issues it could help promote safety in the whole building. This could improve the culture surrounding a fall because everyone was allowed to voice their concerns. SummaryEvery day there is new research that is provided on how to promote safer patient outcomes. For a professional nurse to give excellent care they also need to know how to show compassion, advocacy, resilience, and use EBP among their peers. The components of this paper support interprofessional teams because it helps strengthen communication between every level. Once an interprofessional team works well together it is the patient who reap all the benefits. The components of iCARE can be implemented at skilled rehab facilities to help with high turn over between all levels of care.