MY ROLE IN THE MULTI-PROFESSIONAL TEAM.
Healthcare is not simply about curing patients of illness and disease, but about integrating multiple aspects of care to bring about health in individuals and communities. This task explores the role of the multi-professional team in comprehensive healthcare at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. The roles of several multi-professional team members, including those of nurses, psychologists and my role as a future integrated health professional, are discussed with reference to competence. My thoughts and feelings around these roles are reflected, especially with regard to experiences from recent visits to several healthcare facilities.
Comprehensive care is a fundamental holistic aspect of healthcare
…show more content…
Nurses are at the core of multi-professional teams as they collaborate with multiple other medical and non-medical role-players (Jones, 2006:20). While doctors generally head-up multi-disciplinary groups, it is often nurses, who have direct contact with both patients and other professionals, who are in a better position to manage healthcare teams (Kosinska & Niebroj, 2003:71; King, 2000:63). An example of effective nurse leadership was evident at my CHC visit, where the clinic manager is a nurse who collaborates with all team players. I particularly noted that she did not give orders, but mentioned how she called meetings with staff members, presented them with objectives and lead them to suggest solutions. She acknowledged that certain members, especially doctors, were not always happy with her leadership, but that she solved these challenges by suggesting compromises that best served the patients’ …show more content…
An IHP is a practitioner with the ability to observe and respond to subjective and objective aspects of his/her professional life, as well as those of other professionals through the use of the reflective, empathic and knowing dimensions (Olckers et al, 2007:2). The reflective dimension involves a professional considering his/her actions and reactions in response to personal and interpersonal experiences, while the empathic dimension develops skills in understanding and being sensitive to another person’s situation. The knowing dimension refers to life-long learning of theoretical and practical