Collaborations in a Medical Team - Essay Example

Collaborations in a medical team Graham (2001) explains that mental health care services are a distinctive form of activity that needs special skills. It places lots of demand to health care experts therefore stressing on precise interpersonal skills for the purposes of administering to the patients (p, 19). The patient is the principal figure in this procedure and there are various steps to be followed in the recovery of the patient which must be to the satisfaction of the patient’s needs (Gorske and Smith, 2009).This essay gives an account of the primary and the secondary care of patients with mental illness. It outlines the various roles of doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers and the patient as members of the primary and secondary team and how various government trusts assist in the provision of health and social services for the treatment of a person with mental illness. This essay analyzes how collaborations in a medical team involving the treatment, and care of a person with mental illness is possible through relationship building and care planning. The paper outlines the practices and procedures of mental nursing in relation to service user partnerships. It analyzes the relationships that exist between mental patients, nurses and whether the mentioned relationship is a partnership. On most occasions the relationship between the medical teams involved and the patients is full of tension. Partnership is as a process where two or more individual, or bodies come together to jointly work for the benefit of one another.Heller et al, (1996), observe that the relationship between medical practioners and a patient is an example of a partnership (p.32). The aspect of user partnership means the provision of care services by the patient in collaboration with the medical staff, and the main aim is to achieve a common goal which is recovery of the patient. In a mental institution, user partnership takes an example of a collaboration of a nurse with a person with mental illness. It also involves the collaboration of the medical team in providing care services to the patient which can be primary or secondary care. Acheson (1999) observes that primary health care is the first contact of a mental patient with treatment of his/her condition since it brings care to the locality of the patient minimizing expenses involving hospital care (p.28). Primary care increases the recovery of the mental patient and reduces the chances of separating the patient from his family due to involuntary admission to mental hospitals. The care leads to better utilization of the available human resource facilities and reduction of stigma associated with terminal illness. Provision of primary health care in England is through public and private sector, and the following are the teams involved in the provision of such services. Doctors, health visitors, support staff, nurses/assistant practitioners, psychologists, counselors and social workers. The roles of these people are different but related. For instance the roles of the doctor is to diagnose the nature of the mental illness, however, he can’t perform this duty effectively without the assistance of a nurse. The role of the medical doctors is to perform diagnosis, while the duty of nurses and social workers is to make follow ups. From this analysis, doctors and nurses require each other’s services for effective care in the primary health care system. Psychologists and counselors play an important role in the care of a terminally ill person, and a counselor has a duty to build the confidence of the patient which is low due to stigma. These people cannot effectively utilize their services without the help of social workers and the support staff (Acheson, 1999). They assist a patient in understanding their mental condition and the help in offer. The patient is a member of the primary health team, and he has the responsibility of cooperating with the medical team for his/her recovery. My argument is that there is no superior role of the medical officers in a team. All their services are important, and they need each other for the care and treatment of a person with a mental illness. The difference is the level of qualification, with the doctor having a superior qualification than the other members of the team. To properly manage primary health care, the government has the primary health care trust. This trust is responsible in provision of health care management and treatment to a person with mental illness in his own locality. Through this trust, the primary care team is able to access facilities and equipment’s necessary for diagnosing and treating the mental condition of the patient. The trust provides logistical and financial support in case of a public primary care system. It facilitates communication between the doctors, nurses, psychologists and other members of the primary care team concerned with the care of the patient. It is from the trust that information concerning certain drugs can be found and the pharmaceutical companies manufacturing them. The works of the primary health care team is supplemented by the ambulance trust and this come during emergency where the services of an ambulance are sought (Department of health, 2008). When the services of an ambulance are sought, the patient is most likely to be in a critical position and therefore admission will be necessary. This is an aspect of secondary care in the treatment of a mentally ill person. In 2000, the ministry of health developed a policy that outlined the necessity of primary health care and among its provision includes, recognition of the patient as a member of the team, establishing objectives of the primary health care system, establishment of a common purpose among the health care team and ways and means of improving communication in the team. These policies were depicted on the document called Forum on Team working in Primary Health Care 2000 (Department of health, 2004). Care to a person with mental illness can be secondary and this is defined as delivery of specific technical, diagnostic and therapeutic services. It involves consultations with highly qualified individuals and admissions into the mental institution. The teams involved in this system are medical practitioners, nurses, patients, pharmacists, social workers, counselors and clerical and support staff. Just as in the primary care, it is the role of the doctor is to diagnose the nature of the mental illness and provide treatment. Nurses are involved in administering the prescribed drugs and making follow ups on the patient. The roles of the doctors and nurses are related in this aspect and none can do without another. It is the responsibility of the social workers to take care of the general cleanliness of the mental patient and a counselor restores confidence to the patient due to stigma associated with their mental condition. The patient as a member has to collaborate with the medical team in this process, but trust must be built to ensure the patient collaborates effectively with the medical team. To supplement the development of secondary care, the government has developed the mental health trust foundation and it has the responsibility of providing specialist care to patients of mental illness. It provides high level psychological treatment and counseling services resulting to effective treatment of the patient. The mental trust is therefore a pillar of secondary care on the treatment of mentally ill persons. For the treatment to be effective, the patient must be considered as part of the team, and a collaborative process developed. Communication is an essential aspect of developing relationships between members of a secondary medical team. Gorske and Smith (2009), explain that where there is no communication in a collaborative process, tensions are likely to occur between the medical practitioners and patients. For example a doctor may fail to communicate effectively to the nurses concerning a prescribed drug, and in administration of the drug, the nurse fails to give the correct prescriptions resulting to failure of the treatment or the patient being affected due to misuse of the drug. This may create tension between a doctor and a nurse, with each other accusing the other of negligence. To a patient, communication is essential so that he/she may know the roles of the medical team concerned with his/her care. Graham (2001) notes that a medical team, and specifically the clerical officers have to explain to the patient the various roles each member of the secondary team will play in his care (p.25). This will minimize tensions between the patient and the team as concerning particular aspects of his care. For example mental patients might feel that they are able to direct their care, but the nursing staff, due to their extensive experience will be reluctant to let the patients direct their care, and have the right of administration of medicine.This automatically leads to tensions between the medical staff and the patients. In case patients are unstable mentally, the medical staffs have a right to care for them and this is a source of chaos. From this example, user participation depends on the degree of the mental illness, the nursing and social knowledge the medical staff has and the organizational structure of the mental institution (Naidoo, 2005). The level of knowledge a patient has determines the success or failure of a collaborative relationship. The government through NHS has sought ways and means in which patients can have a greater say in their health care management, and currently it has produced a proposal on how to make a shared decision making between the patients and nurses possible (Department of health, 2008). This model outlines a shared decision making process relevant to patients with acute mental disability, and what stage they are supposed to influence decisions about their primary care. Through consultations, the government seeks to know whether the proposals are achievable and the right areas identified in the collaborative process. The government is concerned with the ways of implementing the proposal and whether the right issues are addressed. This essay has noted that the best way to encourage partnerships between members of a medical team is through effective communication. It has also identified the patient as a core member of the primary and secondary care teams and therefore his/her suggestion should not be ignored as this will accelerate their recovery process. However, in reality, patients are ignored in the collaborative process of care teams in the primary and secondary system. This is because of their mental conditions and stigma in such people face in the society. These factors obstruct the facilitation and development of a collaborative relationship and it requires patience and good inter-personal skills for any medical staff to recognize these people as members of a primary and secondary care teams. 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