Introduction
In the environment of an Operating Room (operating theater – OT), the threat of making a fatal error increases exponentially due to the tension, the rise in stress, and the need to coordinate an interdisciplinary team of staff. Therefore, introducing shared leadership (SL) as the means of addressing patients’ needs and increasing their safety should be explored as the strategy that may allow improving the outcomes of a substantial percentage of surgeries.
The goal of this paper is to consider the effects of using the principles of SL in the OT environment. Namely, the effects of using SL on the efficacy of managing tasks in the OT environment and compliance with the set guidelines for performing surgeries and carrying out key tasks in a cross-disciplinary team will be tested.
Project Description: SL in the OT
The problem of leadership in the OT environment might seem minor compared to other issues such as the presence of motor skills and the ability to notice the slightest details and changes in how a patient’s body reacts to specific changes made during the surgery. However, leadership has a crucial effect on the outcomes of surgeries since it defines the success of communication as an act of transferring data from one participant to another. In addition, as a leader, one has to coordinate the actions of an interdisciplinary team (Barling, Akers, & Beiko, 2018). Given the range and amount of information that needs to be processed and the unique tasks that each of the team members has to carry out during surgery, making a single error in managing the said team may lead to tragic consequences (Barling et al., 2018). In turn, recent studies have shown that the use of the traditional leadership framework has proven to have decreasingly little effect on the success of the surgical performance of a team (Barling et al., 2018). Therefore, the current approach toward leadership, especially in regard to managing a cross-disciplinary team, has to be revisited.
Project Development: Issues and SL Application
Developing the project in question implied balancing between the needs of patients and those of nurses, to keep both target groups satisfied. Specifically, as a leader, one had to increase the probability of positive outcomes in patients in the OT setting, while keeping nurses motivated and engaged. The application of the SR framework served as the main premise for accomplishing the specified goal since it became the main tool for guiding nurses toward a change in their attitudes toward learning, as well as the development of individual learning techniques. Finally, the SR strategy allowed to ensure that nurses could cooperate in the OT setting.
Project Development: SL Exploration
In addition, the connection between the application of the SL framework and the professional development of a nurse will have to be considered during the project. Specifically, this research will explore the context in which the said development occurs and the factors that contribute to it. Namely, the presence of opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration and the prevention of confrontations in the OT environment will be considered during the study. With the focus on the management of patients needs and compliance with the set guidelines, one will be able to adjust the existing standards for managing a multidisciplinary team in an OT environment
Project Development: Building an Understanding
In hindsight, the development of the project has led to the understanding of how a leader can guide nurses to building the skills for data management and developing the abilities to gain new skills. However, by far the most challenging aspect of the specified task included helping nurses to transfer their newly developed understanding of a specific OR-related issue to the solution of practical issues observed in the OT environment.
Project Value: Professional
It is believed that the project under analysis will have a huge value for the future management of patients’ needs and the implementation of key tasks in the OT setting. Namely, the project will allow increasing the quality of communication within an interdisciplinary team, leading to fewer errors made in the target setting. As a result, the quality of services and the general patient outcome will improve. In addition, the efficacy of decision-making in the OT context will arise since nurses will be able to avoid conflicts in the workplace and, instead, focus on the common goal of addressing a patient’s needs.
Project Value: Career
Another critical aspect of the project value lies in the opportunities that it provides for career development. Indeed, with the application of the SL principles in the OT environment, each of the parties involved receives a powerful career boost that will propel them to the top of their hierarchy. Namely, surgeons will gain the leadership skills that will allow maximizing the utility of team members. The latter will also be able to advance in their career since they will gain a chance to acquire new skills that will turn them into more valuable professionals. However, it is the ability to cooperate in a multidisciplinary setting and share leadership tasks that will have the greatest impact on the professional development and value of the team.
Project Value: Nursing
By increasing a team’s ability to cooperate in the OT setting, one introduces staff members to the ability to cope with stress and make critical decisions in the environment that is the least favorable to them. Specifically, the lack of time and the drastic effects of an error made in the process require extraordinarily coordinated work and the presence of a joined effort, which the SL framework will provide. In turn, the specified skills will allow a nurse to improve their ability to manage complex tasks in a demanding environment, which will increase their value as an expert. Therefore, the introduction of the SL principles will have a tremendously positive effect on a nurse’s career by encouraging them to develop crucial cross-disciplinary skills.
Professional Relationships Developed: General
During the project described above, my professional relationships have been expanded and improved significantly. Namely, the ability to assume the role of a nurse coordinator and, thus, create a rapport with other team members by applying appropriate communication skills needs to be mentioned as a critical skill that has been developing in the course of the project. Another essential aspect of building professional relationships that this project has prompted includes conflict management. Due to the rise in the levels of tension in the OT setting, the probability of mishandling the process of communicating and developing a conflict increases sharply. In turn, the skills developed during this project, including the ability to promote responsibility with the help of SL, have allowed me to reduce the probability of the specified threat.
Developing Interdisciplinary Collaboration
The ability to create a shared purpose and follow it when implementing the tasks in the OT setting can be considered one of the primary skills gained in the course of the project. The specified ability allowed to create the relationships aimed at collaboration and alignment of a team’s actions toward the accomplishment of the common goal.
Professional Relationships
The experience obtained during the practicum stage and especially the application of the SL technique in the OT setting has shown that the importance of assigning each team member with a specific set of responsibilities and tasks is crucial. Moreover, it is important for team members to realize how the tasks that they are about to accomplish will influence the project, in general. In other words, the practicum has helped to recognize the crucial role of keeping the elves of general awareness about the goals of the project and the needs of patients high in the target setting. As long as each nurse realizes what effects their contribution to the process entails, their efforts are likely to be more focused and considerably more impressive.
Conclusion: SL in the OT Context
Creating a framework for addressing the needs of patients in the OT setting might seem extraordinarily difficult due to the presence of multiple obstacles, yet the use of SL will help to guide the team toward a common goal. The objective of improving the management of projects and, particularly, the performance of staff members in the OT setting, can be attained by using the principles of the SL, which guides nurses to more effective management of tasks in the OT environment. Moreover, the specified strategy encourages interdisciplinary collaboration and reduces the number of conflicts occurring in the OT environment. Therefore, it is highly recommended to deploy SL as a strategy for managing OT-related issues and nursing projects, in general. Thus, the quality of care will rise considerably
The effects of using Shared Leadership on the efficacy of managing tasks in the operating room environment and compliance with the set guidelines for performing surgeries tested..
Reference
Barling, J., Akers, A., & Beiko, D. (2018). The impact of positive and negative intraoperative surgeons’ leadership behaviors on surgical team performance. The American Journal of Surgery, 215(1), 14-18. Web.