Exploring Interdisciplinary Healthcare Teams and Patient Safety in a Geriatric Setting

In this assignment we will discuss about healthcare and below are the summaries point:- Roles of interdisciplinary team members: Physiotherapist provides physical exercise training, nutritionist monitors food intake, psychiatric nurse conducts mental evaluations and counseling. Inter-professional communication improves patient safety, quality of care, and decision-making. Transference and countertransference are important in group processes for understanding and addressing emotional dynamics.

Running head: HEALTHCARE ASSIGNMENT
HEALTHCARE ASSIGNMENT
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1HEALTHCARE ASSIGNMENT
Activity 1:
Consider your clinical placement and the interdisciplinary team. Choose two disciplines
and list three aspects of the professional role of each discipline in addition to the role of
psychiatric nursing. Compare and contrast.
I am working as a RN in the Geriatric unit of the (ABC) healthcare organization. As a
care professional in the Gerontology Unit, my primary duty is to provide care to the old age
patients. The care process for the senior adults is laden with critical challenges as it involves
caring for patients with chronic health conditions. In general, I work with a team of care
professionals that comprise of allied healthcare professionals specializing in diverse domain.
However, I feel that the care process majorly involves the collective working of the
nutritionist, the psychiatric nurse and the physiotherapist.
The three important roles of the physiotherapist in relation to caring for elderly
patients can be mentioned as, imparting mild physical exercise training to strengthen
muscular functioning, imparting essential education to the family members of the patient to
avoid risks related to fall and identify pain and administer treatment in Dementia patients
who find it difficult to express the sensation of pain.
The three important roles of the nutritionist in relation to old age care can be
mentioned as monitoring the food and water intake of the patients, drafting an appropriate
balanced diet for the patients and devising the correct mode of food administration in
accordance to the physical health condition of the patients.
The three important roles of a psychiatric nurse in relation to old age care involves
conducting mental state evaluation to determine cognitive score, devising appropriate

2HEALTHCARE ASSIGNMENT
intervention strategies such as counselling to treat depression and anxiety and providing
family counselling to assist family members about the patient’s mental health status.
What is the relationship between patient safety, quality of care and inter-professional
communication?
According to Fuertes et al. (2013), inter-professional communication can be defined
as the exchange of information between the healthcare professionals, patients and their
families in an open and responsible manner. This form of communication builds patient trust
and facilitates a positive care environment. The inter-professional communication process
ensures collective decision making that improves patient care delivery (Webster, 2014). The
shared decision making process and honest interaction assures patient safety and quality in
terms of service delivery.
Activity 2:
What is the importance of transference and counter-transference in the group process?
Transference can be defined as the unconscious emotional conflict that is experienced
by the patients in their day to day life that limits their ability to express (Marken et al., 2013).
It critically covers the process of transferring information from the past experience to the
present. On the other hand, countertransference is the reaction of the therapist to the
transference presented by the subject. In a group process, it is important to understand the
emotional perception of the group (transference) to devise an appropriate intervention. In the
same way, countertransference plays an important role in engaging the subjects with the
therapist so as to foster a strong therapeutic relationship (Kourkouta & Papathanasiou, 2014).
What are some approaches for transference resolution within the therapeutic group?

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Transference typically evokes certain emotions within the therapist that significantly
demands the therapist to tune and adjust the intervention strategy in relation to the emotions
of the client (Keltner, 2013). Some approaches that could be utilized for transference
resolution within a therapeutic group would include the following:
The therapist disregards the affective reaction and perceives it objectively
The therapist recognises the affective state of the client
The therapist comprehends the significance of the group’s messages or actions
The therapist devises an intervention
Provide some strategies to assist with a problem solving framework in the group setting.
Within a group setting the following strategies could be undertaken to assist with
problem solving (Bell & Robinson, 2013):
 Identification of the issues
 Being aware of everyone’s interest
 Listing possible options
 Evaluation
 Selection of an appropriate option
 Documenting agreements/disagreements
 Monitoring and evaluation

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Activity 3:
Reflective Response:
While dealing with a group of patients who heavily depended upon substance-abuse, I
had experienced an instance of transference. On one occasion, I had asked the group about
the first time they had smoked marijuana and what was the reason behind their experiment.
The respondents involved themselves in a group discussion and collectively replied that
bullying and peer pressure back in school was one reason why they had tried it for the first
time. The participants represented low mood and affect on recollecting experiences of
childhood. I strategically addressed the problem by involving the participants in a therapeutic
counselling session to promote positive recovery.

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References:
Bell, C., & Robinson, E. (2013). Shared trauma in counseling: Information and implications
for counselors. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 35(4), 310-323.
Fuertes, J. N., Gelso, C. J., Owen, J. J., & Cheng, D. (2013). Real relationship, working
alliance, transference/countertransference and outcome in time-limited counseling and
psychotherapy. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 26(3-4), 294-312.
Keltner, N. L. (2013). Psychiatric nursing. Elsevier Health Sciences.pp.111
Kourkouta, L., & Papathanasiou, I. V. (2014). Communication in nursing practice. Materia
socio-medica, 26(1), 65.
Markin, R. D., McCarthy, K. S., & Barber, J. P. (2013). Transference, countertransference,
emotional expression, and session quality over the course of supportive expressive
therapy: The raters' perspective. Psychotherapy Research, 23(2), 152-168.
Webster, D. (2014). Using standardized patients to teach therapeutic communication in
psychiatric nursing. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 10(2), e81-e86.