Teams and Communication in the Health Care Settings - Article Example

? Teams and Communication in the Health Care Settings Teams and Communication in the Health Care Settings The contemporary environment has seen developments in different fields and one of them is the healthcare industry. This industry is one of the most important and the reason for this is that for a well working and coordinated environment, it is vital to have the healthcare of the region’s inhabitants as a priority. Any industry with the aim of succeeding ought to have a well-coordinated team working together and ensuring effective communication regardless of their levels. The article focused on by the paper reviews a case of negligence in the healthcare setting arising from poor communication and lack of teamwork by the medical practitioners in the stated hospitals and it is important to go through the various aspects focused on. Tharun Umashankar, a toddle aged two, died from internal bleeding of his stomach lining at Barnsley District Hospital. The cause of this death came from the lack of effective communication between the various medical units in the hospital. In the previous afternoon, the parents of the young boy had rushed him to hospital after he complained of constant pain in his stomach and vomiting of blood. The main doctor in the hospital, having worked on Tharun the previous night, was absent but had left a message that in the case of Tharun returning to hospital, he receives an alert so that he can get to hospital and deal with the kid (Daniels, 2013). The nurses at the hospital attempted to administer different drugs to the kid in an effort to stabilize his condition. The efforts that they made seemed effective as the kid stopped complaining a lot. However, after sometime, the mother noticed that the kid’s diaper was full of blood. The doctors calmed her by stating that this was positive because the kid was not emanating blood through vomit that is critical. The situation changed however at around four in the morning when Tharun vomited blood again and started crying. At around 6.30, the nurses in the hospital were confused as they waited for the chief doctor to get into work. The doctor arrived at around eight but the kid had already lost a lot of blood and died at around nine in the morning. Lack of effective communication between the surgeons and gastro-enterologists was the main reason as to why this otherwise preventable catastrophe took place (Daniels, 2013). The type of team presented in the article is a Cross-functional one. This kind of team is one where different people in an organization with different career backgrounds despite being in the same field, work together to ensure that a certain cause is achieved (Burns, Bradley & Weiner, 2011). In this case, the surgeon who is the doctor did not work together with the nurses who are mostly gastro- enterologists with the aim of having the kid treated immediately for the issue. A cross-functional team is effective despite the differences that these members have. In many organizations, these two teams may not work effectively citing the fact that the inferior group in terms of salary may bear jealousy for the other group while the superior group in terms of salary may condescend upon the other team. This rarely happens in the healthcare field and the fact that this form of negligence took place at this hospital is a matter that should receive serious attention. The main purpose of a team in this case is for passage of messages from one end to another. As the main doctor stated after further questioning, no message got to him requiring that he get to the hospital after the kid went back for the second time. The nurses on the other hand state that they had not received any notice requiring them to notify the doctor when the kid gets back to the hospital. This clearly shows lack of an effective message system or rather communication system in the hospital that is very vital as it endangers the lives of many as noticed. If the nurses and the doctor worked together as a team, the appropriate receptionists would have delivered the message to the nurses requiring that they notify the doctor when the patient went back to the hospital. After the nurses got the message, they would have consequently alerted the doctor who would have delegated duties or rather instructions to the most suitable nurse in the case that he was away from town. This would have proved effective because the kid would not have bled as much as he did and consequently his condition would get back stable and lead on a healthy life. Lack of the coordination by these team members is what led to the demise of this young kid. The proving of this is achievable by looking at previous visits that this kid had paid to the medical institution. After visiting the hospital in previous days, the doctor would always have time for the patient and thus schedule surgery for Tharun as soon as possible. In many hospital institutions, teamwork does not only come when messages are to get from one point to another. Teamwork involves the doctors and nurses working together even at the operating table (Salas, 2012). It is important to have nurses by the side of doctors in order to ensure that when the doctor requires certain equipment, they receive it in time because some operations such as the one in this case are urgent as an individual might bleed and die. This kind of teamwork builds a stronger relationship between nurses and doctors. It is important to note that it would have proved effective if the doctor had received communication. Healthcare is a sector that remains of optimal importance and does not change regardless of the varying issues that may come up in society. The health of an individual is a primal factor that society should consider and observe and thus should receive respect when dealing with it. Regardless of the differences or issues that the various workers in a healthcare setting may have, they should have a clear line of communication through which they can get to each other with the intent of ensuring that they assist people in need of their help at all times. With this, the state of society will improve drastically and the number of healthcare negligence cases will reduce significantly. References Burns, L., Bradley, E & Weiner, B. (2011). Health Care Management Organization Design & Behavior 6th Edition. New York: Cengage Learning. Daniels, F. (2013). Boy, Two, Bled to Death in Hospital after a Complete Failure of Communication between Doctors, Inquest Hears: Mail Online. Retrieved on 19th August 2013 from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2286012/Toddler-bleeds-death-complete-failure-communication-doctors.html Salas, E. (2012). Improving Patient Safety through Teamwork and Team Training. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Read More