The Impact of Teamwork on Healthcare

This assignment delves into the critical role of teamwork in the healthcare field. It analyzes various aspects of teamwork, including frameworks for measuring it, the effectiveness of training programs, and the challenges faced by healthcare professionals in fostering collaborative environments. The assignment also explores the link between effective teamwork and positive patient outcomes, highlighting its significance for improving quality of care.

Running head: BAIN’S REFLECTIVE FRAMEWORK
BAIN’S REFLECTIVE FRAMEWORK
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Reflective practice is essential in health and social care as it gives scopes to the
Healthcare professionals to identify different positive and negative aspects from an
experience. It thereby helps to apply strategies so that the negative aspects do not take place
in future (Shrader et al., 2013). It can be defined as the procedure of making sense of
different events, situations and actions and then learning from those situations so that
mistakes made once are not repeated in next time when similar situations arise (van Veen-
Berkx et al., 2015). It gives scope to nurses to develop their knowledge as well as skills and
also help them to become more responsible in the future. In the present assignment, Bain’s 5
R Framework would be used as it acts as a systematic approach to the description of events
and the different reflections and knowledge learn from it.
The first step of the reflection Framework is called reporting. In this step a brief description
of the situation of the issue is provided. While I was placed as a graduate registered nurse in
XYZ Healthcare Centre, I experienced issues in multidisciplinary team work where I was
assigned .in the very first month an old lady was admitted to the ward when she faced a
stroke following which she had fell down on the floor. This had caused her several bruises
and skin tear. She was obese with a basal metabolic rate above 30. She also faced serious
issues with Arthritis which has affected her few years ago. After her treatments in the
emergency ward she was shifted to the general ward as the doctor has prescribed of proper
rehabilitation for a week before being discharged to rehabilitation centre. She was facing
issues with her speech and was not able to swallow properly and the right side of the body
was also not functioning well although paralyses had not taken place. While working in the
ward, a large number of issues were noticed by me. The first issue which I noticed was that
there was no proper care coordinator who would be maintaining the leadership of the team
and performing the evaluation of the work done by different experts in the team. As there was

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no proper coordinator in the team all the experts were working individually which affected
the main goal of the team work (Reeves et al., 2013). Moreover I saw that also the
communication between the different experts of the team was not cordial. They usually
avoided each other and did not have proper communication skills which are very important
for maintaining a strong bond among the team members. While some members are rude,
some are escapist. There were many team members who did not follow their own work
responsibly and always played a blame game whenever confronted. Inter disciplinary
communication was completely absent. All the members conducted their own diagnosis and
treatment and jotted down the information in the documentation sheet. There were no proper
meeting that were held between the team members and therefore the perceptions of the
experts about the development of the health of the old patient could not be analysed.
Moreover I also noticed intense tension and stress among the different experts as they were
involved into power struggles with each other. As a result of this they were not ready to
provide effective feedback and always blamed each other when any negative sequences
arose.
The second step is the responding stage where the feeling of the individual is discussed. The
continuous blame game that I noticed in the working environment of the team made me quite
stressed. I became quite apprehensive because I knew that even if I did my job perfectly I can
be blamed by anyone in the team which affected me. I gradually started feeling low on the
ward and my enthusiasm with which I started the first day, gradually began to decline. The
work which I used to enjoy previously made me felt burdened and therefore I easily become
burnt out. No one provided me with effective feedback. I was gradually losing my motivation
and this affected the care it was provided to the patient from my end point. I started
developing a feeling of apathy towards my work and did not feel like going to the team. Not

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only that many of the team members acted rudely with me there by showing the power of the
position and were not ready to accept any kind of suggestions from me. All this affected
myself respect and self image. Moreover no one was accountable for their work and therefore
these created a stressful environment in the department. I was also not getting proper
guidance from any of the senior members and often made mistakes. However I was seriously
criticized whenever I made mistakes and this affected my zeal to continue work in the tensed
work environment. However I realised from the entire situation that if all these activities
continued in the ward, the health of the patient would ultimately be compromised and
therefore I took a decision to report it to the senior authorities so that our ultimate goal of
saving the life of the patient and giving her quality life can be achieved.
The next step of the reflective Framework is called the relating step. In this case the personal
or theoretical understanding of an individual to a particular situation needs to be discussed.
From the various theories that we have studied in the university years, I came to understand
that the main issue of the ineffective teamwork in the general ward are mainly lack of proper
communication skill among the different experts. They were not properly communicating
among themselves and were only jotting down information in the documentation sheet. This
absence of face to face communication has not allowed them to engage in different formal
and informal discussions and therefore they were not able to develop strong relationships and
Bond among themselves (Muller-Juge et al., 2014). Absence of a friendly approach towards
Each Other has been the main reason of tensions as well as blame game among the different
members. Researchers are also of the opinion that power struggles often hamper the main
motto of health care of providing effective care to patients and prevents proper collaborative
approach. Most of the team members were affected by the power struggles and they felt that
their expertise and dedication are not respected by the experts of the higher rank. Mainly a

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lack of feedback providing and receiving skills was responsible for this situation (Al-Sayah et
al. 2014). The senior should have provided effective feedback by properly encouraging them
whenever they performed in a better way. Moreover when they would have conducted any
mistake, they should be provided with the correct strategies in place of severe criticism.
Besides absence of communication skills and power struggle there was also lack of a sense of
accountability among the different experts as they were not accountable for their own work.
They try to put the Blame on others and tried to escape the entire situation. All these affected
the main Team Spirit of the multidisciplinary skills. Moreover the absence of a proper leader
or care coordinator at the main reason for which all the activities conducted by the experts
were taking place in an undisciplined way and no evaluation was made about the Quality of
work conducted by the experts (Bookey-Bassett et al. 2017). All these had created workload
and stress on different Healthcare professionals for which they have lost their enthusiasm as
well as motivation to perform better. They are also no scope of continuous professional
development in the ward as no training sessions were conducted for the effective teamwork
(Wade, 2014). Therefore, organisation was also to some extent responsible for contribution to
the tensed situation in the workplace.
The next step of the reflective Framework is called reasoning. This mainly describes
the rationale behind providing the comments in the previous step of the reflective framework.
Effective communication helps the members of a team to communicate effectively. It reduces
the chance for misinterpretation and miscommunication. The message which is delivered by
proper communication is effective and brings successful results (Sawyer et al., 2016).
Moreover effective communication also helps in the development of proper relationship
among the different members. Development of both a formal and informal relationship is
very important for maintaining harmony in relationship and also in different team work
(Komer et al., 2016). Effective communication also helps in development of an

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understanding of each other’s perspectives of Work and thereby helps people to respect each
other in the team. I also believe that power struggles hampers the smooth workflow in the
workplace and affects the self respect of different individuals. This may result in
development of negative feelings, anger and disappointment against other members of the
team for which the ultimate goal might be affected. Therefore it is very much important for
each and every team members to understand the disadvantages of the power used by them
and thereby modify their Behaviour for the betterment of the team performance (West &
Lynbovinikova, 2013). The senior should use their experience to help the junior nurses 2
develop their skills and enhance their knowledge. They should also provide effective
feedback to them so that they feel motivated and encouraged at workplace (Weller et al.,
2014). On the other hand the juniors should also develop collaborating and accommodating
styles of work where they should be receptive of the feedback of the senior and work
accordingly to develop the skills (Schaik et al. 2014). I have gone through different journal
articles where researchers have placed and importance of accountability in nursing and health
care feels. They are of the opinion that being accountable of one's own work is very much
essential for patient advocacy and continuity of care. They also help in lifelong learning and
being accountable to colleague the patient as well as to nursing profession and organisations
can in turn help the individuals to serve the main motto of social contribution (Thomson et
al., 2015). This value should be developed by every professional from the core of the heart.
These would help to prevent the development of an environment where blame game and
cursing each other or providing negative feedback to each other can be prevented. This would
automatically reduce stress and workload on nurses as well as make them feels respected and
loved by the team members and the organisation (Salas & Rosen, 2013). Moreover an
effective leadership by the care coordinator is very important who would help in maintaining
unity among the different team members, develop their communication skills, overcome any

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barriers faced by the team members while developing relationship among themselves and
many others. They would also analyse the different situations and provide suggestions for the
scopes of development for effective teamwork (Deneckers et al. 2013).
The last step of the reflective cycle is called the reconstructing state. The reconstructing state
mainly includes drawing conclusions from the above Steps and thereby developing a future
Action Plan. The step mainly helps in proposing strategies which would help in overcoming
the barriers of the situation. After the condition if the ward revealed by me to the senior
authority about the present scenario going in the general ward of the rehabilitation
department, the first strategy that was taken by them was assigning a proper care coordinator.
He was to be the main leader of the entire multidisciplinary team. He was assigned with the
duty of fixing proper meetings, assigning time slots for each of the expert so there that there
are no clashes, evaluating the care provided by each of the expert and to see that no blame
game arises in the future. Proper leadership would help in the development of an ethical
teamwork (Weaver et al., 2014).
In order to develop the communication skills of the different team members as well as of
myself, I requested the senior authority to take important steps. For this they conducted
communication workshops at the different healthcare professionals for about twice a week.
This helps in the development of the communication skills (Rosen et al., 2014). I also
arranged for meeting twice of week where all the members are requested to attend and
describe about the case of the patient with transparency. This helps each other to know about
the perception of the other members of the team about the health of the patient and thereby
develop for the care plan for the patient (Valentino et al., 2015).
I also arranged for meetings on the weekends where all members would come forward and
express their views and feedback of each other. Both negative and positive feedbacks were

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expected from them in such a way so that the help in the development of skills of the other
members. This usually helps in the development of relationship among the members and also
helps to maintain a transparency in workplace.
The senior authority also arranged for continuous professional development courses for the
experts so that the virtues of accountability and the negative aspects of power struggles could
be discussed effectively. Moreover the different strategies to maintain an effective teamwork
would also be taught in the training classes (Casimiro et al., 2015). All the above mentioned
strategies are believed by me would help in changing the present scenario of the situation
With the help of the reflective Framework provided by Bain, the issues in the team work
which I faced in the first month of my placement were properly accessed by me. Following
this, I tried to relate them with the theory that I studied in my University years. Then I tried to
reconstruct the situation by implementing proper Strategies and helping the authorities of the
organisation to implement different courses which help in developing the condition of the
rehabilitation ward. This ensured effective teamwork which helped in maintaining a quality
care to the patient and improving Patient Safety.

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