The success of patient care efforts is inextricably connected with the effective selection and use of the models of nursing care delivery. Such models describe the basic principles used to organize care and distribute responsibilities. If I were the manager of the ICU where I work, I would advocate for the implementation of the team model due to its advantages linked to care outcomes and collaboration.
Transitions between care models are stressful for all participants of the care process. To counterweight the struggle to change, decision-makers are encouraged to select economically viable models that help to address problems peculiar to specific hospital units (Rhéaume et al., 2015). From my experience, the risks of care mistakes and the inability to coordinate different specialists’ efforts can be detrimental to ICU patients’ condition. The team nursing model involves the creation of teams whose members work together and are responsible for a limited number of patients (Fernandes & Mathai, 2019). Given that care mistakes are costly in critical care, the team model can be beneficial since it enables different specialists to exchange experiences through constant collaborative work.
Using this model, care professionals are encouraged to unite their strengths. In particular, the team model allows working on the provision of individualized care associated with positive treatment outcomes (Fernandes & Mathai, 2019). Moreover, when working in a collaborative environment, nurses tend to have higher job satisfaction levels, especially when it comes to individuals who lack experience in some aspects of care (Fernandes & Mathai, 2019). Since the provision of mutual support is emphasized in the discussed approach to care organization, team nursing is a promising strategy for ICU specialists.
In summary, if I were my unit manager, I would support the implementation of the team nursing model. By encouraging interprofessional collaboration, this approach to care provision enables specialists to make treatment more individualized. As for other reasons to choose it, team nursing also helps to reduce the risks of poor outcomes since it emphasizes the need for mutual support among professionals, thus preventing errors.
References
Fernandes, M. J. V., & Mathai, M. A. (2019). Effectiveness of team nursing care model on satisfaction of nursing care among patients and nurses – A pre-experimental study. Paripex – Indian Journal of Research, 8(4), 51-52.
Rhéaume, A., Dionne, S., Gaudet, D., Allain, M., Belliveau, E., Boudreau, L., & Brown, L. (2015). The changing boundaries of nursing: A qualitative study of the transition to a new nursing care delivery model. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 24(17-18), 2529-2537. Web.