Reflective Account of Interprofessional Collaboration in Healthcare

Running head: REFLECTION
Reflection
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

1REFLECTION
Introduction:
Interprofessional collaboration involves the process of coming together of health care
professionals from different field of expertise to engage in shared decision making and
coordinated delivery of care. The key advantage of a cohesive interprofessional team is that it
facilitates collaboration with different health professionals with diverse skills and talent and
engage in timely communication and decision making to achieve optimal health care outcomes
for patient (Scaria 2016).Bosch and Mansell (2015) argues that collaboration in healthcare is
associated with several positive patient outcomes such as reduction in preventable adverse
events, decrease in morbidity and mortality rate, reduction in length of hospital stay and
optimization of medication dosage. Hence, medical students or nursing students aspiring to
become a health care professional must focus on interprofessional learning. Interprofessioal
learning and education can help to enhance the collective capability and support students to learn
about ways to work together. It helps in the development of key competencies to meet complex
patient needs such as effective communication, team work and interprofessional collaboration.
The advantage of interprofessional education is that is that it is associated with increase in
mutual respect, increase in job satisfaction, improved understanding of professional
responsibility and positive effect on patient outcomes (Homeyer et al. 2018).
While taking lessons on development of core competencies for health care practice,
development of reflection skills can also help to evaluate practice and develop self-awareness
about personal capabilities in relation to care delivery and team work. It enables identification of
strengths and weakness, engage in self-directed learning and improving the quality of care
(Koshy et al., 2017). The main purpose of this essay is to provide a reflective account of an
episode of care and the experience of working as an interprofessional team. The key lessons

2REFLECTION
learnt during interprofessional team work will be discussed by the use of Gibb’s model of
reflection. The main rationale for using this tool for reflection is that it enables evaluation of
actions in a way to inform future practice and take necessary actions to improve skills for future
practice (Bass, Fenwick and Sidebotham 2017). Hence, the steps of the Gibb’s model will be
used to structure the reflective account related to experience of working as an interprofessional
team for patient care.
Description:
During my first placement as a student work, I was involved in working with inter-
professional team in a cardiovascular ward. This placement gave me the opportunity to work
with health care professionals from diverse fields like physiotherapist, vascular nurse specialist,
occupational therapist, pharmacist, cardio team members, vascular team doctors and
physiotherapists. I was also assigned to a mentor and came in contact with many patients and
their family members during the care experience. As per my mentor’s direction, I got the
opportunity to work with a vascular consultant and did many routine nursing care activities like
leg dressing and changing the vac pump. The name of the vascular consultant has not been
revealed because of the NMC code of respecting people’s right to privacy and confidentiality.
The identity or any personal information about individuals in care needs to be kept private and
confidential (Nursing and Midwifery Council 2015). Hence, throughout my reflective account,
the name of any patient or health care professionals will not be revealed.
Throughout my experience of working with the vascular consultant, I was very focussed
and I believe that I got very good team based support, which enabled me to complete my care
activities without any adverse events or complications for patient. No notable challenges took

3REFLECTION
place which required urgent interventions. My attentiveness, active communication process and
team based values enabled me to have an enriching learning experience at the cardiovascular
ward. As health care delivery processes involve numerous interfaces, the constant support of
senior health care professionals like accurate communication about critical information plays a
vital role in effective clinical practice (Reeves et al. 2017). It was possible for me to complete
my assigned duty effectively because of the consultant’s approach of communicating me about
critical patient information and taking regular feedback from me regarding any care issues.
Feelings:
Reflecting on my experience of providing care to patient and working with the
interprofessional team at the cardiovascular ward, I can recall that that I was very nervous
initially when my mentor introduced me to cardiovascular consultant. I had the apprehension that
the due to power and seniority, she may not be patient with me and I would have to handle the
workload on my own. However, after working with the consultant, I realized that I was very
fortunate that during my first day of work, as I got the support of a senior health care
professional who was not only very competent in her skills but also had many significance team
based values. The consultant’s action of regularly asking me about patient’s status and any
concern that I face made me feel honoured and part of the team. Her communication style
enhanced my confidence in my work and I moved forwards with a positive approach. The initial
rapport building process and the preference to involve me in care worked for me and I was
motivated to carry out all care routines like dressing change and vital signs assessment in an
effective manner. Her easy going style and relaxed communication process encouraged me to
inquire about any issues without any fear.