Team nursing is a model where a group of healthcare professionals such as nurses are collaboratively involved in caring for a group of patients in the inpatient or acute care. These patients are in critical care confronting life threatening complications. Team nursing came to exist in response to the shortage of nurses during the Second World War. It comprises of a team leader, nurses and assistant nurses, where the team leader assigns patients to the team members (Booyens, 2008). Team nursing is critical in the provision of care because nurses are able to help one another and patients are given a comprehensive care.
Firstly, team nursing and collaborative care leads to nurses helping one another more readily. For instance, if one nurse is caring a patient while assigned to three others, another nurse will automatically step in to cover. A nurse will assist the other nurse because the delegation of duties to team members is based on their skill and knowledge. The team members know the state of all the assigned patients, and this makes it easier to assist a patient or answer a question even when a nurse is not the primary nurse. Zimbudzi (2013) notes that the members of the team gain more knowledge by working as a group which provides opportunities for professional growth, thereby fostering progressive changes.
Additionally, patients are accorded the most comprehensive care through the contribution and decisions made by each member of the team. Patient satisfaction and outcomes are improved because each patient receives individualized care as the nurse can execute their excellent skills and strengths leading to improved patient safety and job satisfaction. Borrill, West, Shapiro, and Rees (2000) agree that when there is a diverse collaboration between the different groups in an organization, diverse, compelling viewpoints are discussed carefully leading to quality decisions and implementation of more innovations about the care of the patient.
In conclusion, team nursing and collaborative care are the model ways of achieving excellent patient care. The diverse professional groups can assist each other readily resulting in the attainment of good patient care. Also, each member of the team can make skilled contribution pertaining the patients safety. This nurtures progressive changes in medical care because the patient receives quality decisions and innovations from the members of the team.
References
Booyens, S. W. (Ed.). (2008). Introduction to health services management. Juta and Company Ltd.
Borrill, C., West, M., Shapiro, D., & Rees, A. (2000). Team working and effectiveness in health care. British Journal of Healthcare Management, 6(8), 364-371.
Zimbudzi, E. (2013). Discovering the untapped benefits of team nursing in an acute haemodialysis unit of a major teaching hospital. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 3(8), 149.
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