Inter Professional Essay

A reflective essay on the skills acquired from collaborative learning and how they may be applied in practice. According to Donald A.Schon (1983) reflective practice is a formation within which all health care professions can work and is a model framework or learning structure that represent the purposes of a profession and is very crucial to health related professions. Inter-professional education(IPE) module had a learning understanding that is universal to all health care professionals, that enables different professional groups to learn together for a particular reason with general contented of learning and achieving a goal (CAIPE, 2002). The module, however focuses on learning from each other to be able to improve teamwork and therefore provides the quality of care. My essay will analyse what I have learnt on this module which are: communication, safeguarding, ethics, professionalism, consent, reflection and equal opportunities. As a health care professional all these learning are important to me which I believe it will help me during my practice in my specified field as a Professional Mental Health Nursing .I will be using Rolfe et al (2001) reflective model using What ? , So what ? and Now What ? to guide my discussions and analysis. According to Barr (2002) Interprofessional education learning in health care is currently measured as a very importance aspect about patient safety. The module enhanced my confidence in working with other health professional discipline, it is a way I found very advantageous in improving my communication skills among the teams, building trust, respecting other member of team and learning from different culture background and other health care discipline which I find quite useful and forwarding because it is a good experience that I will be building on and working with throughout my professional career. The different health care professional discipline in my group such as: social work, adult nurse, pharmacy, midwife, diagnostic radiography and mental health nurse which gives me and my team a privilege to be able to interpret a variety of scenario which will need to cover in the tutorial class like the effectiveness of communication, ethics, consent, safeguarding, diversity, equal oppor tunities and professionalism within the health environment. My role in the group was to look at things in the aspect of psychological or behavioural pattern that is generally associated with distress or disability according to the scenario given and suggest a solution which might be of help and each member of the team gives their own contribution and the outcome was positive for me and my team when sharing it with the whole class. The NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework (Department of Health, 2004) prompted a set of communication skills that individuals must develop before registration. This included effective communication with fellow professionals and other healthcare staff, having the ability to identify one’s own limitations in communication and being committed to personal development in such areas. In the NHS Plan (Department of Health, 2000) enquire that undergraduate must demonstrate the aptitude to proficiently communicate with their service users before qualifying. However, IPE has clarifies the effectiveness of communication, consent, professionalism safeguarding and equal opportunities which has many characteristics in health care professional career, it is a fundamental to practice and a skill that can be learned and continually improved. These developments require devoted observation, the motivation to be reflective, and the commitment to listen and learn. In nursing, communication is a sharing of health-related information between a patient and a nurse, with both participants as sources and receivers in which the information may be verbal or nonverbal, written or spoken, personal or impersonal, issue-specific, or even relationship-oriented (Sheldon 2004, p. 4). According to Hope el al (2008) ethics is based on how an individual must think and act. Ethics provides me with the tools to determine whether or not I should do a certain action and the extent to which a past action should have been done. However, Seale, C (2010) sees ethics that can be based on social, religious and cultural beliefs. The NMC Code of Conduct (2008) provides a directive to ethical decision making and the standards of professionalism that is essential by the nurses. The use of models of ethical decision making to reinforce codes of ethics is also part of the educational content for all health care professionals, and ability to conduct an evaluation and clarification of a variety of variables such as ethical principles, personal values or beliefs is essential when caring for patients and I believed the purpose of this is to prepared me to act and then review my behaviour in order to carry forward lessons learned in IPE. Referring to a scenario which was given in class about an elderly patient who has senile dementia, severe heart problems, immobile, is permanently in a nursing home and who has come into hospital for an operation to correct her current hip fracture. She has a current DNR order attached to her notes. A service user right to treatment is essential, but the right to decline treatment is much stronger. A patient always has the perfect motive to turn down treatment. RCN, (2011) states that consent to treatment is vital to the provision of healthcare service and patient or Service users have a fundamental, legal and ethical right to determine what happens to their own bodies. Legal consent to treatment is subsequently very fundamental in all areas of healthcare, from the delivering of personal care to undertaking major surgery. Seeking consent is also an issue of broad consideration between health professionals and service users. Furthermore, as health care professionals it is my responsibility to protect people whose circumstances make them particularly vulnerable to abuse, neglect or harm, this term simply refers to safeguarding them. Safeguarding means protecting people’s health, wellbeing and human rights, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. And as health care professionals contributing to these is a fundamental of creating a vision of high-quality in health and social care which must be treated in professional basis according to the code of conducts and confidentially must be respected at all times . (Mandelstam,M.2008). Additionally, It is my professional responsibility, roles and actions to contribute positively in protecting children and vulnerable adult by following the national safeguarding policies and making recommendations, getting involved in multi-agency children’s safeguarding inspections to get a picture people’s experiences and how well they are being safeguarded and consulting them about their views and experiences of care they are receiving and equal opportunities must be respected at all times when given care to patients. I have learnt the importance of communication skills to enhance patient care and improves patient outcomes and satisfaction which will prepare me for my professional practice which will be of help in my career to be actively involved in communication and use the principles of communication within the health care professional team . I have also learnt that it is a best practice as a health care professional to ask for consent before commencing treatment to a patient by describing to patients what treatment needs to be carried out and I must provide with sufficient information to ensure they understand the nature of the proposed treatment and any alternatives, risks, benefits and anticipated outcomes of treatment before they give their consent to it, and that the patient-clinician discussion and agreement is clearly documented. I have also learnt the importance of safeguarding and the risks that might be involve if a necessary action not taken and I have also learnt to explore the implication of the equality Act (2010) and how it promotes diversity equal opportunities and helps in prevent discrimination. Having good understanding about all I have learnt in IPE I will always applied it my practice and in my future career, I would make sure that I knew the ward protocol before commencing any care, especially when caring for patients. In any new circumstances I would try to learn as much as I could about particular field to gain confidence. I would use questioning to improve my knowledge in my learning area thereby improve my understanding. I would take into account other peoples weaknesses. I would restore confidence for my service users if I were not directly involved in the urgent situation. In accord with UKCC guidelines (1998) I would only take part in practices for which I had appropriate training. Overall, this module has been a rewarding ways of improving my framework in the aspect of health care professionals .Using Rolfe et.al (2001) for my reflective model allows me to reflect on communication, consent, professionalism, diversity and ethics has increased my understanding of necessary skills, and development needs which was required of me as health care professional which was delivered in the IPE module and also I have a foundation knowledge from the module that enthusiasm and commitment from me as a member of the team in the planning and delivering of an inter professional initiative are essentials component in practice and in my future career as mental health nursing.