Introduction
Models of nursing care delivery characterize skills, leadership concepts, decision-making procedures, quality improvement methods, outcome measures, and initiatives used in a particular nursing care setting to address patients’ needs. This assignment will focus on reviewing the literature on existing nursing care models, analyzing observations of the nursing environment for determining the model of care, and recommending approaches to care for the setting to improve patient outcomes, enhance the quality of care, and address the needs of the staff.
Review of Literature Related to the Nursing Care Model
According to the study conducted by Mahdizadeh, Heydari, and Moonaghi (2015), interdisciplinary collaboration has shown to directly affect the satisfaction levels of patients with their care. The consequences of such collaboration included the improvement of care, satisfaction of doctors and nurses with the reduction of clinical costs and errors. Communication between nurses and physicians was a core variable of working together towards the common goal of providing the patient with high-quality care (Mahdizadeh et al., 2015). Outcomes of such collaboration included the improved quality of care, satisfaction of both healthcare providers and patients, as well as better learning and controlling costs. Importantly, the collaborative model of nursing care can be considered as relatively patient-centered because procedures performed by healthcare providers are targeted at achieving the best possible outcomes for patients (but without their involvement). Through the exchange of information and knowledge, team members address patients’ needs and contribute to the improvement of their health outcomes.
Johnson (2013) also explored interprofessional collaboration as a means for acting in the best interest of patients. The researcher found that interdisciplinary teams predominantly consisted of nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and physician assistants who all worked together regarding skill sets required for providing adequate primary care. High-performing interdisciplinary teams share certain characteristics that include the following:
- Recognition of contributions by team members;
- Effective communication;
- Shared decision-making;
- Share vision and values (Johnson, 2013).
To summarize, collaborative efforts of interdisciplinary teams in the nursing settings are more likely to improve patients’ health outcomes, boost their satisfaction with the quality of care while helping nurses and doctors to minimize errors in care and reduce the costs that account for their mistakes.
Review of Literature Related to the Different Nursing Care Model
Orem’s self-care deficit model implies that patients have a natural ability for self-care; therefore, nursing should focus on affecting that ability (Simmons, 2009). This model of care is different from the collaborative model because it is less centered on the efforts of nurses and other healthcare providers and focuses on educating patients on the most appropriate and effective self-management procedures for improving their quality of life.
In Orem’s theory, collaboration occurs between nurses and patients rather than between nurses, physicians, assistants, and so on. Under this nursing care model, the individual needs of patients are addressed with regards to self-care actions provided by nurses to sustain life and health as well as recovery from disease (Shah, 2015). In this case, the goal of nursing is overcoming human limitations instead of overcoming the complex nature of relationships within interdisciplinary teams. On the other hand, Orem’s model is similar to the collaborative model because both of them imply communication and unifying efforts for achieving improved health outcomes for patients.
Collaborative Care in a Nursing Setting
In the chosen nursing environment, the collaborative nursing care model was the most prominent. Most importantly, the interdisciplinary collaboration model prevailed in the setting. It is characterized by continuous communication, coordination, and teamwork between two or more professionals from various fields for achieving the common goal of providing the patient with adequate care (Mahdizadeh et al., 2015). Because there is no unified approach towards the collaborative nursing model, it is important to discuss the specific actions and procedures nurses in the facility implemented for efficient collaboration with other team members.
Upon the analysis of the chosen healthcare setting, it was discovered that each person within the interdisciplinary team had a particular job to perform independently. What brought all team members together was communication. Nursing assistants communicated with nurses in cases when problems with patients arose. For example, if the blood pressure increased unexpectedly, the nursing assistant immediately contacted the nurse for instructions for further actions. Upon providing emergency care, the nurse then contacted the physician and the cardiologist to discuss options for the management of the sudden blood pressure increase. It is noteworthy that the communication was well-developed, nurses reacted immediately to incoming inquiries; if there were too many of them, the inquiries were managed as soon as possible.
The most prominent examples of interdisciplinary collaboration in the observed nursing setting were seen when patients had experienced severe mental stress associated with their health condition. To manage such problems, nurses communicated with mental health specialists and referred patients to them when needed. It was interesting to see how professionals from different spheres of expertise were developing both physical and psychological treatment plans for improving patient outcomes in the facility. Both nurses and mental health specialists indicated that their mutual efforts to address patients’ physical and mental needs provided them with new experiences and knowledge, especially with regards to the spheres of specialization that were quite far from their current practice.
Recommendation of a Different Nursing Care Model
While the Orem’s model of care can be integrated into the existing collaborative model and enhance it, it is beneficial to recommend an entirely different nursing care model that will contribute with innovative insight into the approach to care. The nursing competency model can become useful in the current practice setting because it combines a range of competencies (education, communication, ethics, environmental health, leadership, resource utilization, etc.) targeted at providing patients with the highest quality of care and the improvement of clinical outcomes. The competency model is associated with the application of tools that capture both subjective and objective data about the actual performance of nurses as applied to specific situations and desired outcomes (ANA, 2013).
It is recommended to introduce the competency care model in the nursing setting because it combines three key components that include quality, safety, and evidence. Competencies included in the model are all-encompassing and range from vision and strategy to self-awareness, which all can be incorporated into the nursing care procedures for improving patient outcomes. Importantly, there is no necessity to replace the collaboration model with the competency model since both of them can be used interchangeably and complement one another. Also, the application of Orem’s model will be useful for the practice setting because it will provide nurses with a basis for educating patients to care for themselves through collaboration with healthcare providers. Overall, combining several approaches to care in one nursing setting is more likely to increase patient satisfaction, train nurses on how to address the needs of different patients, improve the efforts of collaboration, and identify challenges that still require addressing, especially with regards to interdisciplinary teamwork.
It is also important to mention that the competency model of care will address nurses’ safety because it combines efforts of problem-solving, decision-making, project management, and change. Nurses can collaborate to determine what aspects of their safety require improvement and then communicate to the higher management what change can be implemented.
Conclusion
The analysis of the nursing setting practices allowed identifying what specific practices were linked to a particular model of care. It was concluded that the collaborative nursing model was implemented in the facility to address the needs of patients and provide an all-encompassing approach towards care and health management. Importantly, interdisciplinary collaboration was especially evident when patients experienced both physical and psychological issues. Nurses communicated the needs of the patients to mental health specialists and discussed plans for further care provision.
Orem’s model of self-care was compared to the collaborative model; it was found that Orem’s model was more patient-oriented since it implied educating patients on how to manage their condition through appropriate practices. The collaborative model, on the other hand, involved communication between team members for developing care plans to cater to patients’ needs. It was recommended to introduce the competency model of care to enhance the existing practices within the practice setting. The competency model of care will become highly beneficial for the practice setting because it combines different approaches to care and addresses the needs of the patients as well as the requirements of nurses.
References
ANA. (2013). Competency model. Web.
Johnson, J. (2013). Working together in the best interest of patients. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 26, 241-243.
Mahdizadeh, M., Heydari, A., & Moonaghi, H. (2015). Clinical interdisciplinary collaboration models and frameworks from similarities to differences: A systematic review. Global Journal of Health Science, 7(6), 170-180.
Shah, M. (2015). Compare and contrast of grand theories: Orem’s self-care deficit theory and Roy’s adaptation model. International Journal of Nursing Didactics, 5(1), 39-42.
Simmons, L. (2009). Dorothea Orem’s self-care theory as related to nursing practice in hemodialysis. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 36(4), 419-421.