Inter-Professional Practices in Healthcare

This report provides a detailed analysis of inter-professional practices in healthcare, including policies, frameworks, and ethical issues. It discusses the impact on stakeholders, users, and carers within the context of a case study. The report also explores the advantages and disadvantages of inter-professional practice and its impact on personal and professional self-awareness.

Running head: Inter- Professional Practices in Healthcare
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Inter-Professional Practices in Healthcare
STUDENTS NAME:
12/28/2018

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Contents
Part A: A personal reflective account of your learning arising from the meeting and the
module........................................................................................................................................3
Part B: A critical review of relevant theory, policy and ethical issues in relation to the given
report title covering organisational frameworks and inter-professional practice.......................4
Introduction............................................................................................................................4
The central concepts of inter-professional practice................................................................4
What is Inter-professional Practice (IPP)?..........................................................................4
Key partners and organisational relationship- Multidisciplinary teams (Community base)
............................................................................................................................................5
Evaluation of how different policies, professional codes, organisational frameworks and
approaches impact on inter-professional practice with stakeholders, users and carers within
a context of policy change......................................................................................................6
Policy and legislation..........................................................................................................6
Frameworks and standards..................................................................................................7
How these policies, legislations, frameworks and standards impacts stakeholders, users
and carers with respect to the context of the case in this report?........................................8
Advantages and Disadvantages of inter-professional practice...............................................9
Advantages of inter-professional practice..........................................................................9
Disadvantages of inter-professional practice......................................................................9
Reflection on personal and professional self-awareness and critical analysis of my practice
and assumptions (Latrobe University, 2018)........................................................................10
Reflection on personal self-awareness..............................................................................10
Reflection on professional self-awareness........................................................................11
Critical analysis of my practice and assumptions.............................................................11
Conclusion............................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................12

Inter- Professional Practices in Healthcare 3

Inter- Professional Practices in Healthcare 4
Part A: A personal reflective account of your learning arising from the meeting and the
module
In this George a 79 years old man who had dementia suddenly fell down and broke his right
arm. His neighbour discovered the situation and called the ambulance. He was extremely
malnourished.
George was in the hospital for 4 weeks and was discharged after his surgery. His General
practitioner suggested the involvement of an inter-professional team consisting of Social
Worker, Domiciliary Care Manager, District Nurse, and Physiotherapist.
I was appointed for the role of the district nurse for this case. In this case the old injured man
required a group of people to take care of him outside the hospital to make sure that he
recovers properly in the safety of his home.
Some rationales that were followed during the inter-professional and associated justifications
are:
 To make sure that George is physically handled with utmost care by all the involved
members due to the severity of his health condition.
 All governmental guidelines concerned with healthcare that might be related to this
scenario are followed strictly during the process to avoid any violation of rules.
 Making sure that he himself is made aware of his state and educated about what he
needs to do in order to recover.
 Ensure that along with physical wellbeing his mental wellbeing is taken care of and he
is never left to feel lonely and unwanted.
 The environment of the hospital is extremely depressing as well as sickening specially
for a man of age but the absence of any medical care could prove to be life
threatening to him and thus this process proved to be very helpful and beneficial.
 This case also educated people around about the presence of such practices and this
enables them to get access of it if ever required in future.
Policies, organisational frameworks, approaches and professional codes are made and
implemented by people associated with health care and these put an impact on inter-
professional practice because it provides a detailed guideline to be followed while being a
part of such a practice to make sure that the patient receives adequate and high quality

Inter- Professional Practices in Healthcare 5
treatment to ensure fast and efficient recovery and also make sure no law is being violated
during the process. It also helps the associated people and educates them about things
associated with the practice which they might not already be informed about. In my personal
experience for this particular case these proved to be extremely helpful.
This case has provided me strength with respect to both knowledge and skill and made me
feel grateful. The case has educated me to handle such kind of situations in my personal life
and take care of people who are close to me in order to ensure their overall wellbeing. The
case has made me more flexible and educate in my professional life as taking care of a person
personally in a medical manner has sharpened my skills more as a nurse.
Part B: A critical review of relevant theory, policy and ethical issues in relation to the
given report title covering organisational frameworks and inter-professional practice
Introduction
This report will provide a detailed analysis of the concept of inter professional practices along
with the description of my role in it as a district nurse highlighting my experience and
learning. The report will present a brief explanation of all the policies, legislations,
frameworks and standards associated with this practice and will state how it impacts
stakeholders, users, carers with respect to this context. All the advantages and disadvantages
of inter-professional practices will be discussed in detail and in the end of this report a
detailed statement will be given as to how this practice enhances personal and professional
self awareness.
The central concepts of inter-professional practice
What is Inter-professional Practice (IPP)?
Inter-professional Practice (IPP) is a collective practice which takes place when healthcare
providers work in association with people who are a part of their own profession, with
people who are not directly associated with their profession, with patients involved and
their families as well (Reeves et al., 2017).
When healthcare providers work together they try to achieve a common goal and are
efficiently able to analyze and resolve any problems that might arise. When all these
people work together they use of their skills and knowledge more effectively and provide

Inter- Professional Practices in Healthcare 6
care according to the requirements of the patient. This enables patients to obtain higher
quality health care. This practice also provides increased job satisfaction for the healthcare
providers associated (Weller, Barrow and Gasquoine, 2011).
Inter-professional collaboration is one among the biggest trademarks of many highly
successful health care organisations. Such kind of a collaboration associated with the
provision of high quality and particular patient focussed health care enables the application of
both individual as well collective skills and experience of all the team members to work
together for enabling better outcomes.
An example of the merit of such an association is:
A nurse personally knows everything related to a patient he/she is treating related to the
patient’s medical history and present and also up to a certain personal extent. The nurse can
because of which share these collective information with the others involved in the process as
well which will enable them to function more efficiently focussing on the particular patient
for whom the process is carried on. The nurse’s knowledge can be used to also to formulate a
suitable plan for the treatment of the patient.
The concept of inter-professional practice can be commonly defined with the help of five
underlying concepts which are, sharing, interdependency, power, partnership and process.
Key partners and organisational relationship- Multidisciplinary teams
(Community base)
 Psychology – For ensuring that the patient is not victimised by any mental deformity
or stress as a result of the physical pain and illness he/she has been going through. If
also such situation is seen the involvement of a Psychologist will enable the fast
treatment of the patient on time to prevent any severe mental illness (CARKHUFF,
2017).
 District Nurse – For taking medical care of the patient by forming a personal bond
with him/her. Responsibilities include ensuring medication intake of correct dosage
and on correct time, be present at all times in order to able to inform the doctor in case
of any emergency, provide assistance in performing basic survival activities such as
using the washroom and eating etc. (Arnold and Boggs, 2015)
 Social worker – For ensuring that the patient is being taken care of in accordance to
all of his/her moral and civil rights and is treated with love, care and respect. The
social worker also educates others people of what to do and expect when they face

Inter- Professional Practices in Healthcare 7
any problem like this in the future. The worker educates the patient as well as people
around.
 Care Manager – The care manager ensures that the patient is being taken care of
efficiently and all the rules and regulations according to law and morality are
obligated. The care manager also supervises the work of other members and insures
they are performing efficiently and correctly.
 Physiotherapist – The physiotherapist helps the patient to perform light physical
exercises to recover any body part that has been damaged due to the patient’s illness.
Evaluation of how different policies, professional codes, organisational frameworks and
approaches impact on inter-professional practice with stakeholders, users and carers
within a context of policy change
Policy and legislation
 Care Act (2014)
The Care Act emphasises care and support legislation. This Act changes the method
of work of care providers, councils and user organisations. It also changes peoples’
roles in the delivery of care (Government of UK, 2018a).
 Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination that takes place in the
workplace and society. It provides different policies to state and object that it is
unlawful to treat someone unequally (Government of UK, 2018b).
 Mental Capacity Act (2005)
The primary goal of the MCA is promotion and protection of decision-making within
a legal framework. This is done by encouraging and empowering people to make their
own decisions and by allowing them to pre plan about decisions for times they think
that they might lack the capability to do so (Government of UK, 2018g).
 NHS (2015)
It consists of a set of guiding principles of the NHS and rights of a patient associated
with it (Government of UK, 2018d).
 Public Services Social Value Act (2012)
This Act requires people who are associated with public services to think about ways
to secure more economic, social and environmental advantages (Government of UK,
2018c).
 Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs)

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These are five year plans for the future of health care services in local areas. NHS
organisations, local authorities and other partners together have developed the plans in
44 areas of the country.
Frameworks and standards
 Accessible Information Standard (NHS England)
This aims to ensure that people with any sort of disability are provided access to
information that they are easily able to read and understand (NHS England, 2018a).
 Care Navigation
This describes the central competencies for people who provide care navigation (NHS
England, 2018b).
 Care Quality Commission
Enlists the CQC fundamental standards that are the standards under which care must
not fall (Care Quality Commission, 2018).
 Community Development National Occupational Standards
This provides standards for the definition of knowledge, skills and understanding
required for undertaking and functioning of community development practitioner
(Government of UK, 2018f).
 GMC generic professional capabilities
It comprises of skills like communication and team work a doctor must have (General
Medical Council, 2018).
 Health Coaching
This aims for the development of conversational skills in order to support person-
centred care for patients.
 Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) standards
These are the standards for all professionals who are a part of the HCPC Register
(HCPC, 2018).
 NHS England and Local Government Association, Personalised Health and Care
Framework
This provides suggestion and realistic guides for organisations to support growth with
Integrated Personal Commissioning and personal health budgets.
 NHS Leadership Academy: Health Care Leadership Model
The model consists of nine leadership dimensions.
 NHS Improvement (2016), Developing People – Improving Care

Inter- Professional Practices in Healthcare 9
This aims for improvement of skill-building, talent management and leadership.
 NMC standards
These provide the nurses and midwives professional standards that they must follow
must in order to be registered to be able to practise in the United Kingdom (NMC,
2018).
 Skills for Health: Core Skills Education and Training Frameworks (CSTF)
This provides guidance and standards for delivering education as well as training in
health care (Super User, 2018).
How these policies, legislations, frameworks and standards impacts stakeholders, users
and carers with respect to the context of the case in this report?
Impacts on stakeholders
o Provides them guidelines to function efficiently even outside of their organisational
premises.
o Helps in ensuring that all participating members function ethically which provides
them security against risks they might encounter due to their workers unethical
behaviour.
o Makes their performance easy and smooth.
Impacts on users
o Educates them about their rights as a consumer of health care.
o Enables them to take the most out of the services for extra benefit.
o Enables them to raise voice against any person or event involved in the care process
in case of any unethical or even threatening activity.
o Helps them to establish a better bond with health care providers for fast, efficient and
happy recovery.
Impacts on carers
o Provides them a set of rules to work under making their work process easier and more
efficient.
o Provides them certain rights to exercise in order to have flexibility in required
situations.
o Helps formulation of bond with patients to make and makes their overall work easier.

Inter- Professional Practices in Healthcare 10
Advantages and Disadvantages of inter-professional practice
Advantages of inter-professional practice
o Enables provision of Person centred care.
o Accumulation and association of the skills and knowledge of so many people enables
faster and more efficient care process that will result in fast and efficient recovery of a
patient (Huxham and Vangen, 2005).
o Allows patient to live independently. Provides faster and more efficient health
recovery.
o Being in the hospital in a close association to its depressing environment witnessing
sick and dying people is mostly mentally frustrating to any patient and thus such a
practice is extremely beneficial as it allows a patient to recover effectively in the safe
and happy place of his/her house away from the negativity of the hospital (Payne and
May, 2009).
o Involvement of social workers and increased social interaction helps patient to feel
more self confident and allows them to befriend their care provider.
o Continues care is provided and regular medical and medication reviews enable better
and faster recovery (IPE, 2018).
o Provides a wider vision to the world of health care and opens new ways and paths for
development of services and facilities.
o Removes cultural barriers due to involvement of diverse people, both carer and user in
the process.
o Similar groups can be used to take care of patients with extremely similar medical
issues.
o Risk is minimised due to constant supervision and care.
o Enhances job satisfaction for carers and allows more comfort in their job along with
better pay and learning.
Disadvantages of inter-professional practice
o Difficulty in communication may arise due to participation of people with diverse
background and also diverse age group and economical background which may come
across as a challenge.
o Direct supervision at all times must seem as a barrier to organise regular group
meetings.

Inter- Professional Practices in Healthcare 11
o Social care services funding that are provided by local authorities might get
minimised or cut completely after knowing about the presence of such facility.
o Might initiate in the formation of distance between the user and his/ her family due to
such close involvement and presence of service providers.
o Might lead to decrease in the Power of Anthony and advocate due to involvement of
all the service providers.
o Involvement of such ethnically and economically diverse people might often lead to
activities that promote the justification of acts of inequality and even ill behaviour at
times.
o Flow of personal information is common when so many people are involved in a
process that might lead to the violation of privacy of the user or might expose any
highly secretive information that might be even dangerous if gone to the wrong
person (Edwards, Lunt and Stamou, 2010).
o Involvement of so many unknown people and their right to visit a patient in their
private space might sound risky. The ill behaviour or practice of a particular member
might result in risk for the entire organisation they are a part of (Li, 2008).
o Inefficiency of one member might negatively influence the entire process and
eventually affect the results.
Reflection on personal and professional self-awareness and critical analysis of my
practice and assumptions (Latrobe University, 2018)
Reflection on personal self-awareness
My personal self awareness has obviously increased by participating in this inter professional
practice because of the establishment of personal connectivity with the patient involved as
well as my work. When working in a hospital my responsibilities include the supervision of a
huge number of patients but in this case my entire time and effort was entirely dedicated to
one single patient. This experience enabled me to enhance my care taking skills as this
required a lot more work than I usually did. Only due to homely comfort and personal
association with the patient my work was eased up to a little extent. This experience has
made me more aware of my capabilities as a human and as a care provider to a person and as
this work is measured my personal caretaking capabilities were able to be judged in this case.

Inter- Professional Practices in Healthcare 12
Reflection on professional self-awareness
My professional duties and particular works were similar in this case up to a certain extent
but this case demanded more association with the particular patient involved. This enabled
me to possess skills more than just the medical aspect of nursing. This experience enhanced
my knowledge, skill capability of providing medication, health care and also assistance
provision abilities (Government of UK, 2018e). This particular experience has obviously
made me more aware of my professional work and made me attain more and wider perfection
in it. The involvement of the description of the fact that I was associated with such a group, in
my resume will prove to be an advantage for me in my career as it will serve as a statement to
the recruiter of my enhanced nursing and caretaking abilities. This experience also provided
me with enhanced job satisfaction as it pleased me in both professional and personal level
and provided me to work and learn more but more comfortably and in a friendly manner.
Critical analysis of my practice and assumptions
I was involved in this case as a district nurse and so I was one of the most active members of
the group. I was responsible for the provision of direct health care of the patient and assist
him to carry on his day to day activities. My responsibilities involved:
o Providing medication in the right dose, method and time to the patient.
o Assisting the patient to do basic activities such as using the washroom, eating and
other basic activities.
o Being a friend and a caretaker to the patient all times of the day.
o Assisting the patient while visit with other members of the group who are providing
him health care.
This experience has educated me about inter- professional practices and how it is carried on.
This has helped me in my career as well as personally. This practice in my opinion is hugely
beneficial for the patients who are critically ill and require constant care even outside the
hospital. This is also beneficial for widening the work efficiency and spectrum of the health
care organisation and carers like me.
Conclusion
Inter-professional practices in health care are the involvement of many people or the
formation of association among the health care organisation for the treatment and care of a
patient who is in critical state health wise. This helps in provision of health care outside
hospital premises for more efficient and faster recovery of patient .A definite amount of

Inter- Professional Practices in Healthcare 13
policies, legislations, frameworks and standards have been laid to ensure its ethical and
efficient functioning. Along with the huge number of benefits it comprises of it also have
certain disadvantages. This experience allowed me to enhance my skills and abilities as a
nurse.
References
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