Introduction
In hospital settings, interdisciplinary teams (IPTs) are an alternative to single profession physician practices. Even though IPTs are associated with improved patient outcomes, satisfaction, and team collaborations, the present paper focuses on hospital settings are not introduced. The clinic can benefit from the introduction of an IPT concentrate on preventative care due to a recently increased burden of chronic conditions. ICARE is a reasonable concept, which can be taken as the basis for the introduced IPT. The present paper overviews what contributions can nurses make to the IPT based on iCARE principles.
Compassion
The first component of iCARE is compassion, which is vital for the nursing profession. According to Su, Masika, Paguio, and Redding (2019), compassion is understood as empathy related to nurses’ willingness to attain to patients’ individual needs, use therapeutic communication, and promote mutual benefits with patients. Nurses are mediators of care delivery, and patients spend most of the time communicating with nurses. Therefore, nurses’ role in promoting compassionate care is central because their empathy can improve patients’ adherence to preventative procedures due to trustful relationships.
Advocacy
Nurses’ role as patients’ advocates is widely discussed in scholarly literature. However, most nurses take advocacy for paternalistic protection from harm, which may be associated with decreased patient satisfaction (Choi, 2015). Advocacy is not only protection from suffering but also preserving human dignity and promoting patient equality (Choi, 2015). Nurses should provide autonomy for patients and let them make informed decisions about the course of their treatment (Choi, 2015). At the same time, while communicating with other members of the IPT, nurses should make sure that all the stakeholders are aware of patients’ preferences and conditions that may influence the care provision process. In short, patient advocacy is the nurses’ primary concern as a member of an interdisciplinary team.
Resilience
Resilience is a critical nurses’ competence since their work is associated with much stress. According to Delgado, Upton, Ranse, Furness, and Foster (2017), nurses’ emotional labor is related to managing the emotional demands of patients, families, and colleagues. The ability to recover from stress is associated with decreased burnout of nurses and their colleagues, which is vital in the situation of shortage of front-line medical personal (Delgado et al., 2017). Moreover, patients can benefit from nurses’ resilience since emotionally stable personnel can attain to patients’ health needs more efficiently.
Evidence-Based Practice
The provision of evidence-based practice (EBP) is central to the improved performance of the healthcare system. Nurses contribute to the matter by maintaining EBP culture in hospital settings (Bianchi et al., 2018). Nurses are also a valuable source of information since they provide firs-hand experience and feedback for adopted practices (Bianchi et al., 2018). The promotion of EBP by nurses is also associated with improved patient outcomes and satisfaction while improving the cost-efficiency of a healthcare facility (Bianchi et al., 2018). Therefore, the role of nurses in the promotion of EBP as part of IPTs should not be underestimated.
Summary
IPTs are a healthy alternative to traditional single profession physician practices in hospital settings. IPTs based on iCARE principles can improve the quality of care. The role of the nurse in the promotion of the iCARE concept is critical since nurses need to be resilient to express compassion, focus on patient advocacy, and promote EBP. Nurses’ active participation in IPTs is associated with improved patient outcomes, customer satisfaction, and boosted hospital performance.
References
Bianchi, M., Bagnasco, A., Bressan, V., Barisone, M., Timmins, F., Rossi, S.,… & Sasso, L. (2018). A review of the role of nurse leadership in promoting and sustaining evidence‐based practice. Journal of nursing management, 26(8), 918-932.
Choi, P. P. (2015). Patient advocacy: The role of the nurse. Nursing Standard (2014+), 29(41), 52-57.
Delgado, C., Upton, D., Ranse, K., Furness, T., & Foster, K. (2017). Nurses’ resilience and the emotional labour of nursing work: An integrative review of empirical literature. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 70, 71-88.
Su, J., Masika, G., Paguio, J., & Redding, S. (2019). Defining compassionate nursing care. Nursing Ethics. Web.