Interprofessional Collaboration and Professional Practice in Nursing

Running head: NURSING
Nursing
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

NURSING
1. Interprofessional health care team collaboration has been regarded as a necessary
professional requirement for health care professionals to achieve positive patient outcome
and reduce adverse drug events (Kaini, 2017). The Registered nurse standards for
practice also states participation in collaborative practice as one of the professional duties
for registered nurse. They need to work collaboratively to develop nursing plan, care
priorities and actions (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia 2016). The main skills
and attribute that is required for interprofessional and collaborative practice includes
accountability, communication mutual trust and respect, coordination and responsibility
(Kaini, 2017).
During my nursing placement, I have demonstrated these skills while taking care of patient
with knee replacement surgery. I used my collaborative practice skills to reduce adverse drug
event for patient. While reviewing the patient’s chart and medication, I found that the patient has
been given increased dosage of medication. As this would lead to adverse side-effect in patient, I
immediately informed this to the physician and my nurse leader. Instead of fearing about
consequence, I regarded directly sharing the information to the team to avoid additional risk for
patient. After sharing of this information, the physician and team leader were able to modify the
medication chart and provide me with certain notes to monitor any complications in patient. I
closely monitored the patient and communicated about the health status of patient after every one
hour. By this approach of interprofessional team collaboration, I could improve health outcome
and reduce complications for patient.
Another situation during which I got the opportunity to demonstrate interprofessional
collaboration skill was when our health care professional team had to develop an individualized
care plan for a patient. The patient was a diabetic patient with uncontrolled blood sugar level. As

NURSING
the patient was admitted to the hospital from the past 15 days, I had all information regarding
medical history, current health status and interest of patient. Hence, while developing the care
plan, I could give any inputs to the team. My team respected my ideas and views and by taking
vital information about patient’s interest and his current health status, we were able to develop a
patient-centred care plan for him.
2. According to the concept of clinical governance, being committed to identify hazards or
risk for patient and contribute to a safe and health work environment is an important
professional duty for nurses. The Registered Nurse Standards for Practice also
emphasizes on providing safe and responsive nursing care. They are required to identify
any risk related system issues and report it to the concerned authority. During my nursing
placement, I encountered two occasions where I identified risk for patient and used my
critical thinking skills to provide a safe environment for patient. The first situation was
when I had to look after an elderly patient admitted to hospital for a surgery. As the
patient had mobility issues, I took the responsibility to monitor the environment around
patient and remove all things that could lead to fall for him. However, I noticed that the
area near the washroom was always wet and no one took attention to keep it clean and
dry. As this could lead to risk of fall, I immediately reported about this to the hospital
manager as this would increase complications for patient as they fall. Reporting about the
risk issue resulted in prompt action and cleaning staffs were immediately deployed to
keep the area dry.
I also got the opportunity to create a safe environment for patient while conducting pre-
operative assessment for a patient. While conducting the assessment, I matched each information
given in the chart by confirming it from patient. This form of assessment helped me to detect a