Exploring Interdisciplinary Healthcare Teams and Patient Safety in a Geriatric Setting

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?