Teamwork in Nursing

Teamwork and Collaboration A large part of working in the healthcare field is being able to work cooperatively and efficiently with not only co-workers, but also any other people that the nurse may have to interact with on a day to day basis. This includes patients, patient’s families, physicians and professionals in many different fields of specialties. Teamwork and collaboration includes the ability to work directly or indirectly with others and accurately communicate information among a few or many different people. The more obvious need for teamwork and collaboration is for the relationship between co-workers. Not necessarily just with nurses, but also nurse’s aides, certified nursing assistants (CNA’s) or anyone else helping with everyday patient care, like nursing students. There are a lot of responsibilities that come with caring for patients and it can take a toll if everyone is not helping each other. As with any other situation where there are multiple “hands stirring the pot,” care must be taken to ensure that accurate communication is happening so that everyone knows what has been and what has to be done. The nurse also must be sure that delegated duties are within another person’s scope and ability. A nurse’s first priority is his/her patient. In order to meet their needs, the nurse must work as a team with the patient. Goals and chief concerns must be understood by everyone involved, but especially the nurse and patient to achieve optimal outcomes. The patient must be on board with the plan of care in order to make it effective. The nurse must find out what end result the patient is working for, if at all. If everyone is working together and collaborating, miscommunication and errors are minimized.
With most patients, a nurse also has to have a healthy relationship with their families. This is especially true when the family will take on the responsibility of being the main caregivers after discharge. The nurse and family being able to