Interviewing a Professional Nurse

 Interviewing a Professional Nurse

Introduction

Health care is instrumental in any community setting. The industry is changing as technology advances. The use of technology has thus become essential in health care practice. As technology advances, so does health care practice. Health care professionals, such as nurses, need to keep abreast of the changes to realize efficiency and quality service. These two attributes ultimately lead to positive patient outcomes. As more people access health care through the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, health care services are in higher demand. Giving quality service is hence essential now than it has ever been. The life expectancy of the aged population has equally increased. It translates to health care services for the elderly being increasingly on-demand.

All of these factors directly affect health care service delivery. Several factors affect service delivery, which include; patient care adaptability, time management, communication style, motivation, and core values. To better understand the impact of these attributes in a professional health care setting, a nurse with over eight years of experience was interviewed. The following insight was given as pertains to the aspects mentioned.

Team Work

Nurses have to work together to attend to patient needs and fulfill organizational goals. Working together requires teamwork and team spirit. Teamwork is not always easily achievable. It is important to note that nurses have different personalities and behavioral characteristics. These affect nurse thinking and way of doing things. Different beliefs and values also determine how nurses do things. Bearing this in mind, it is, therefore, crucial for a team leader to understand and factor in all the mentioned aspects. The success or failure of a team is thus significantly dependent on the team leader. It is equally important to note that just as team members have varying personalities, team leaders also have different personality traits. Some personality traits make teamwork challenging, while some make teamwork easy. Compassionate and people-oriented people, for example, are more likely to thrive in a team. Selfish and competitive people, on the other hand, are likely to fail in teamwork. A leader in any of the two categories would equally affect the team positively or negatively.

Impacts of Team Work   

Teamwork realizes varying results in a health care setting. Nurse effectiveness and efficiency are likely to increase in a teamwork setting (Alexander et al., 2017, p7). Nurses working as a team are more likely to complete tasks on time. Shifts are also more likely to be seamless, with nurses clocking in and out on time. The flow of information is also more likely to have little to no flaws. Accurate patient information and records play a significant role in the achievement of positive patient outcomes. Patients are keen on determining situations where nurses work as a team and where there are strained relationships. In this regard, patient trust is reduced where teamwork is low and increased where cooperation is high. Patient trust as concerns nurses is essential in health care service delivery. Performance is also likely to go up, which impacts the organization positively. Teamwork thus affects the employees, patients, and organization in general.

Barriers to Team Work

Teamwork not only involves nurses but other professionals such as pharmacists and physicians as well. Leadership plays a considerable role in collaboration and performance (MacDonald, 2020). Leadership that promotes competition in search of rewards is likely to hamper teamwork efforts. Bad leadership achieves strained partnership, which is likely to result in errors being made. Mistakes lead to adverse patient outcomes such as wrongful medication, and hospital acquired infections and even loss of life, for example. The reduction of errors is directly related to teamwork. Bad leadership thus involves a leadership style that is authoritative and does not promote open communication. Motivation is also low. Good leadership is, therefore, instrumental as far as teamwork is concerned. Good leadership, in this case, refers to a leadership style that is inclusive and promotes communication and is overall motivating.

Patient Care Adaptability

Adaptability is necessary for any health care setting. Changes in technology, for example, require versatility. The use of technology in the health care industry has, for example, necessitated the emergence of nursing informaticists. In previous years the profession did not have nursing informaticists. However, in recent years it has become inevitable for health care facilities to function without the services of informaticists effectively. These individuals are crucial in information/data collection, storage, retrieval, and communication (“What is Nursing Informatics?”, 2019). Nurses have thus had to familiarize themselves with different technology systems in use today. The entire patient process from consultation, diagnosis, treatment, medication, and follow up has taken on a technological approach. The use of electronic medical records, medical charts, and diagnosis machines, for example, has necessitated adaptability.

It is important to note that technology evolves hence necessitating the need for health care professionals to stay abreast of the changes. As a nurse, education and knowledge on emerging technology, medication, disease, and treatment trends are paramount.  Evidence-based research plays a significant role in developing health care trends. It is in this regard that a nurse has to be knowledgeable about these changes. A nurse can, in this regard, improve education level, join a nursing organization, and conduct research to remain knowledgeable and relevant in the industry.

Time Management

Patient care involves timely job execution. Physician visits, feeding, and medication, for example, take place within scheduled timelines. It thus means that for these activities to take place promptly, time management becomes a vital aspect. An organization culture that is disorganized and lacks accountability is likely to have time management challenges. A culture that promotes organization and responsibility is more likely to practice time management effectively. Both cultures are, however, dependent on the leadership style and leadership skills executed. It is important to note that there is no one particular leadership style recommended as regards effectiveness. Different leadership styles can achieve the same result, which in this case is positive patient outcomes.

Leadership adaptability is thus essential as different situations require different leadership styles. The leadership style used in an emergency surgical procedure, for example, may not be used in a nurse meeting. The former may require a technique that gives direction without question, while the latter may require an inclusive, open communication leadership style. The authoritarian leadership style in the first instance would result in time management as far as saving the patient life is concerned hence achieving positive patient outcomes. Time management also involves a real-time update of patient data, which frees up time for nurses to focus on patients more. Time management significantly increases positive patient outcomes; hence it is an essential factor to be considered in a health care environment.

Communication Style

Communication is essential in any work environment. Communication can be exclusive or inclusive and can achieve varying results. Communication style is greatly influenced by leadership style. A nurse leader’s leadership style determines the culture and climate of a working environment (MacDonald, 2020). An authoritarian and transactional leadership style, for example, promotes a vertical type of communication. The information comes from the highest level and trickles down to the lowest level. Any issue raised has to follow the same channel from the bottom up. It is important to note that this kind of communication would achieve positive patient outcomes depending on the skills of the leader. A democratic and transformational leadership style, on the other hand, promotes a horizontal type of communication as it seeks to coach and mentor other leaders. It is equally likely to succeed or fail, depending on leader skills.

In this regard, both vertical and horizontal communication styles can succeed if the leader has excellent skills such as compassion, kindness, strength, critical thinking, adaptability, just to name a few. A communication style that enhances openness and inclusiveness is likely to achieve better patient outcomes. Employee performance is also expected to increase, which ultimately positively affects patient outcomes and organizational goals. Communication is especially significant in the health care setting, as it directly impacts patient outcomes. A lack of communication as concerns patients’ change of medication and medication can result in complications and hospital-acquired illnesses, for example. Open and timely communication between nurses and physicians is thus paramount for efficient and quality service.

Motivation and Core Values

The working environment and culture of an organization affect employee motivation. Employees working in an unfriendly work environment are likely not to be motivated. A hostile work environment, in this case, refers to one that focuses on punish and reward type of leadership system. Nurses in this situation feel pressured to deliver results and sometimes work under fear of being punished. Competition is thus high in such an environment, which acts as a barrier to teamwork. To achieve motivation, factors such as leadership style and leadership skills have to be considered. Style and abilities play a significant role in motivation. It is, however, essential to note that leadership skills play an even more substantial role than leadership style. It thus means that different leadership styles achieve the desired result based on skills possessed by the leader. Appreciation highly contributes to motivation. Regardless of the leadership style, appreciation is likely to motivate employees.

Different individuals have different values and beliefs. It is thus vital for a health care organization to have values that are geared towards positive patient outcomes. Individual values must, therefore, be synchronized to match those of the organization through an inclusive management approach.

Conclusion

The primary goal of any health care organization is to offer quality and efficient patient services. All the factors mentioned above greatly influence patient outcomes. It is thus essential to note that positive results greatly depend on the services offered by professionals such as nurses. Having a working environment that promotes teamwork, communication, motivation, adaptability, and time management is thus essential. Resources that support these aspects, such as funds, equipment, and personnel, should be availed to ensure positive patient outcomes. Nurse leaders, on the other hand, have a duty to adapt excellent leadership styles and skills pertinent to their work environment to promote a fulfilling organizational culture.

References

Alexander, G., Bashore, L., & Jackson, L. (2017). “Adaptable to Unexpected Situations”:

Nursing and Social Work Students Reflect on Interprofessional Communication and Teamwork. Health And Interprofessional Practice, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.7710/2159-1253.1134

MacDonald, L. (2020). The Effects of a Manager’s Leadership Style. Smallbusiness.chron.com.

Retrieved 19 March 2020, from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/effects-managers-leadership-style-15328.html.

What is Nursing Informatics?. HIMSS. (2019). Retrieved 19 March 2020, from

https://www.himss.org/resources-what-nursing-informatics.