Inter-Professional Communication, Delegation, and the Theory of Practice Gap in Nursing - Essay Example

? Identification of the Issues At a nursing forum, there arose a number of issues rocking the nursing profession which aided in making decisions to transition into the professional nursing sector. The three issues included inter-professional communication, delegation and the well known theory of practice gap. This paper seeks to highlight on these particular issues one after the other. Inter-professional Communication Task 1: Description Interprofessional communication is the type of communication between individual from different professions who happen to be in the same working environment for instance a doctor and a nurse. In other words it is the relationship that exists pertaining to doctors and nurses, regarding the method, nature and level of communication between them. However, not all nurses possess the appropriate qualities of communication. Interprofessional communication issue is brought about by lack of good communication skills between the nurses and doctors, which eventually results in violence, hostility and/or sexual harassment (Raising the SBAR, 42). The effect that results in these circumstances results in mainly inefficiencies in the provision of healthcare to the public. In the forum, there was emphasis put predominantly on the issue of interprofessional communication. Many nurses face the rage of uncouth supervision, which ends in the detriment of many in the nursing profession, engraving a bad reputation to the nursing industry leading to repulsion of many new entrants into the nursing profession. Other issues arising in this discussion concerning the hurdle of inter-professional communication were the use of abusive language between doctors and nurses, discrimination due to professional standards, sexual harassment and sometimes harshness (Dorschner, 43, 2010). According to Raising the SBAR (41) the president of American Nurses Association of California put forward possible remedies that could aid in reformation of the nursing sector. He urged those in the nursing industry to pick a leaf from their counterparts in other professions and endeavor towards a coherent relationship in the workplace. Some departments in the health profession have been known to encourage a favorable environment for their workers and patients: mental disability departments, analgesic care and hospices. This has been influenced primarily by the rise in awareness campaigns towards teaching graduates on the need for holding proper communication skills. Personally, enhanced interprofessional communication will assist me to easily get used to the new working environment. This will be attributed to the efficient communication with my colleagues who will be on different professional levels. Task 2: Relevance to a Graduate Nurse The reason for my entry into the healthcare industry is that I hold a personal interest to render a helping hand to the less fortunate, the sick and the elderly. I however have a challenge of expressing myself especially in times of crisis. Currently, many learning institutions are trying to bridge the gap by providing extra education course units to be covered which include linguistic course units. The relationship evident between the doctors and nurses and between the nurses directly attributes to the numbers of patients that show up at the health facilities (Fero, Witsberger, Wesmiller, Zullo &, Hoffman, 142, 2009). For those institutions that do not hold these privileges, it is important that graduates take a step and strive to curb the language barrier, as it will also make it easier for them to fit in the professional registered nurse field. Emphasis was put particularly on the issues that arise regarding inter-professional communication. Due to the rise in the number of graduate nurses in the field, some limelight has been shed on the issue of inter-professional communication and many nurses and doctors have taken up the ideology that many other fields of professions employ. There is a sense of hope that reforms will take effect and there will be a revamp in the administration of healthcare in the industry. Raising the SBAR (43) reveals that this will result in an adequacy of healthcare providers and it will lead to an overall efficiency in the healthcare service provision. It is important for graduate nurses and those pursuing the course to acquire the interprofessional communication skills as it will help them relate better with each other, and help in the overall provision of healthcare services. The effect of acquiring these skills is that healthcare centers will have an efficient flow of services while rendering their services. There will therefore be better turn up of patients at the healthcare center. As a nurse, there are guidelines that outline how to relate with other employs of a health facility and how to relate with patients. A graduate nurse has the knowhow to relate with other nurses and also how to relate with doctors in their workplace. A transition from a graduate nurse to a practicing nurse will enable me to employ the hospitality and communication skills that I have learnt both in university and in life experiences. Task 3: Solution to the Problem The skills that I have gotten in communication will help in having a contrite relationship with colleagues. As a graduate nurse who has taken up communication skills as a course unit in the university, I think that employing these skills in the field will help me in making a transition to be a good decision-maker, through critical and creative thinking techniques I will try bridge the gap by employing these skills to help me communicate well with my colleagues try giving a quick and lasting solution to this problem. (Young, 500, 2006). On top of these qualities, the model also exerts some leadership qualities upon the graduate and also presses on the individual to have some responsibility on ethical issues that surround the nursing and medical profession. As a graduate therefore, perpetually in my practice as a graduate nurse, I will take a step to control this problem and create a good communication relationship with my colleagues while at the same time providing a serene environment for my future juniors, avoiding harassing and making a conducive environment for the purposes of healthcare services provision (Graduate Capabilities, 254, 2009). Delegation Task 1: Description Delegation is the assigning of responsibility to a subordinate to carry out a task, while awarding them the authority to exercise in such capacities. There arises an issue when it comes to the level and method of delegation that is assigned especially in the nursing profession. During the forum, there was a discussion into what constitutes a bad delegation exercise. There are hurdles that surround the delegation powers assigned in nursing: over delegation, under delegation and inappropriate delegation (Day, 270, 2006). Many supervisors share the notion that they cannot delegate work as they feel that they can do the task at hand better than the rest can. Sometimes they may hold personal vendettas against some of their subordinates and they may therefore feel the need to suppress them and delegate unmanageable activities or patients. One particular one that came up in the forum was indistinct job description from the supervisor to the young that eventually results in doing the wrong activity. On the other hand, the subordinates may be reluctant in taking up tasks or patients (Pope, Rodzen, & Spross, 176, 2008). Such will act as a hindrance to good delegation that is favorable in a healthcare environment. In general, the basic idea behind taking the authority in delegating is to gain experience and do develop a sense of responsibility which I will later find useful in my administration of health services (Clark, 226, 2009). Moreover, it is advisable for supervisors to delegate manageable tasks when it comes to matters such as internship. Personally, delegation is important since the tasks that will be assigned to me will offer a good opportunity to learn. Task 2: Relevance to a Graduate Nurse The purpose of delegation in the nursing profession normally involves the administering of authority to a subordinate by a supervising nurse. However, there are rules that regulate the scope of delegation and that give a guideline to the criterion by which to delegate authority. Firstly, the task has to be one that is delegable to the subordinate, the circumstance of which has to be allowable by the management. The person to whom the work is delegated has to qualify as a person with the skill required for undertaking the responsibility (Crisp & Taylor, 171, 2005). A major hurdle for me is that I do not have the confidence to respond to delegation from my supervisors and I get very scared of failure after a responsibility is awarded to me. I share that there should be ample training for graduate students that are about to join the registered nursing profession before they are assigned any delegating powers. This way I think I will be able to improve my confidence and my overall performance. . The head should find a lasting solution when it comes to conflict solving and they should look beyond their personal interests and eliminate any personal feelings that if not dealt with would otherwise lead to the detriment of the entire healthcare service provision (Lehman, 144, 2004). At the university, the importance of delegation was expressed. As a group leader at a function, I got an exposure which entailed delegating authority to a member of a group. The experience helped me learn that delegating helps the supervisor have a chance to do something else, and it leads to time management and an increase in efficiency. As a practicing nurse, the experience will help me be able to delegate to my subordinates. It will help me embrace any delegation assigned to me by my superiors. This will lead to better time consciousness and gaining experience. Task 3: Solution to the Problem Hospitals are cultivating a learning culture which aids in promoting a good relationship within the organization. They are attempting to provide education seminars and programs inside the institutions, which will enhance and revive the components of the tasks at hand that had been taught earlier in the learning institution, the effect of which enhances better assimilation into the practice part of nursing during transition (Suter, et al., 46, 2009). They also take initiative in promoting the life-long application that keeps reminding nurses of their earlier encounters before registration as practicing nurses. Taking up such measures will ensure that the nurses’ transition is eased and furthered into the advanced nursing practice (Chang & Daly, 254, 2008). The effect of delegation will help in the overall practice of transitioning and my future practice as a registered nurse, as mentioned above. Theory Practice Gap Task 1: Description The knowledge gap refers to the big difference which lies between what is learnt in school and what is laid down on practice in the nursing profession. It is also important to note that there exists a big difference between what doctors learn and what nurses learn. Normally, nursing is presumed to have four major components: management, exploration, learning and practice (Louann & Deborah, 25, 2009). The four major components of nursing all go hand in hand and that there is no way that one can do nursing without all the components. The rise of the theory-practice gap arises with the assumption that theory is part and parcel of the practice part of nursing. However, there was a clear explanation of the notion behind this and the untrue nature of this assumption. This being the case, it was rather important to respect the claim that was made regarding this assumption. Many argue that whatever it is that practice teaches could not be taught as such if in the case there was only the theory component that was employed. The theory part of nursing is of much relevance, but it does not limit the scope that nursing encompasses. Nursing is practical and there are many terms of nursing that cannot be expressed in theory but rather by practice only (Careers and Development Program, 2009). It is important therefore to embrace the practice part of nursing in the healthcare service provision. Nursing has a major component of therapeutic practices which would otherwise not be taught in theory in entirety (Australian Nursing & Midwifery Council, 578, 2000). There being a research based part of nursing involving theoretical approaches, there too is a practical part of it which requires a lot of attention. During the forum, issues were raised to advocate for nursing’s practicing fundamental part of it and to make a distinction between the two contradicting aspects of it. The major objective of nursing research is to discover a level of knowledge that will make the nursing profession dynamic. “Nursing knowledge refers to knowledge warranted as useful and significant to nurses and patients in understanding and facilitating human health processes” (Reed & Lawrence, 423, 2008). Personally, this issue has assisted me to understand the importance of theory and practice which need to go together despite the significant gap between them. There is therefore need to apply the learnt theory in practice thus the importance of the issue. Task 2: Relevance to a Graduate Nurse My major knowledge gap experience is that I think I still lack in so many things when it comes to the practices of nursing. I feel that the idea of studying in the health institutions should be enhanced as to allow for those who lack in the profession world and those who may have little confidence in carrying out the tasks of a registered practicing nurse. In my transition to the practicing work, I think it would help if I went into the centers with the aim of providing my freshly learnt skill; my commitment to new learning from the more experienced and enhances the same practice in my future nursing practices. Another more common argument as to the knowledge gap exists whereby scholars remark that there is no use for all the theory and research involved in nursing. They call it irrelevant and of little significance to the practice of nursing in general. However, a transition into the practice part of nursing reveals that as important as practice part of nursing is, so is the theory part. A debate as to the significance of theory part of learning arose during the forum. As a nursing student, I beg to differ with Reed and Lawrence’s (430) argument that there exists a relevance gap in nursing. Some of the most basic elements of nursing, such as the study of importance of some therapeutic exercises and diet part of treatment for patients require a lot of theoretical significance. The importance of bridging the knowledge gap is that the differences that come up between the transitioning and the practicing nurses will lead to a better and contrite learning of the entire nursing profession. This issue is important to students leaving the university and going to work as they will work very hard using appropriate methods to bridge the gap. It is important that all nurses have the same knowledge and obliterate the mistakes that come with the practice gap. It will help in solving the other two issues stated above. It is also important to note that both positive and negative experiences would occur as a result of how well I will be able to apply the knowledge learnt in class into real life practice. Task 3: Solution to the Problem When graduates take the transition into the professional practice world, they face a very tough challenge of truncating the information they have acquired into practice. They acquire their knowledge through the passage through school but end up having a hard time making the transition. Another translation of the knowledge gap is when what the graduates learn is not fully put into practice and the graduate have a hard time expressing and translating their education to practice (Australian Nursing & Midwifery Council, 542, 2003). I find a great significance in the theoretical part of nursing and I find that much of the things studied in theory help a great deal in the transition into the practice registered nurse stage of the profession. Health facilities should aim at bridging the knowledge gap by enhancing higher learning in their institutions. Institution providing these health service provision skills should also provide additional skills into the crashing opposite professional skills in order to curb spread of the existing knowledge gap. Having such forums will aid in my transition to the practicing exercise of nursing and it will help me in gaining further knowledge into the dynamic study and practice of the nursing profession. Reference Australian Nursing & Midwifery Council (2000). ANMC National Competency Standards for the Registered Nurse. Australia: Dickson.pp. 234-887. Australian Nursing & Midwifery Council (2002). ANMC Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia.Australia: Dickson. 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