Nursing 108

N108: Transition to the Registered Professional Nurse Role Study Guide formulated general standards and guidelines for nursing practice. These standards and guidelines were revised in 1991 and again in 2004. These standards apply across the nation, are broad and general in nature, and have the purpose of establishing the best practice and eliminating as much variation as possible. Some agencies may develop standards of care for patients with selected healthcare problems. These are more detailed, and specific standards may take the form of standard nursing care plans. Some standards are incorporated into documents termed care pathways, critical pathways, or clinical pathways, which are intended to serve as guides to direct the healthcare team in daily care. The individual standard organizes and sequences the care and describes the care required for a patient at specific times in the treatment. It involves a multidisciplinary approach and identifies both the care activities and the outcomes for each 24-hour period of hospitalization. These specific standards of care become the basis for evaluation of care, quality improvement within the organization, and cost analysis. 3.7 The Inter-Professional Health Team In the late 1980s and 1990s, the concept of team building began to receive a great deal of attention in business environments, as well as in healthcare. Today the concept of team building, especially inter- professional (previously referred to interdisciplinary), is being added to the curricula of helping professions. Team building is a concept where a group of people are working together toward a shared goal. The teamworks together toward goals in ways that maximize the individual skills of each member and for which they all share responsibility. The goal of team building is to create a type of synergy, in which the effect of everyone working together toward the shared goal results in a greater total effect than could be achieved by the sum of the efforts of everyone working individually. Team building begins with involving all members of the team in identifying the goal and establishing the steps to be taken to achieve the goal. Through the process of goal setting, members of the team recognize their contribution and its importance in the work of the team, and all members of the team have ownership in the process and in the product. Composition of Inter-Professional Health Team Teams are composed of a diverse membership, with a variety of skills and abilities represented. On the interdisciplinary healthcare team, some have special knowledge of pharmacy medicine, respiratory therapy, and some of nursing, with each member contributing to the patient’s recovery. There are formal and informal roles of the team members: • Formal roles are related to an individual’s contribution to the team goal or purpose and relates to the individual’s job preparation (e.g. physician, nurse, therapist, or pharmacist). • Informal roles are defined by natural skills and talents (e.g. some individuals are good with detail, others are creative). An inter-professional team is composed of members from different health professions who have specialized knowledge, skills, and abilities. The goal of an inter-professional team is to provide patient-centered care in a collaborative manner. The team establishes a common goal and using their individual expertise, works together to achieve that patient-centered goal. Teammembers synthesize

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