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Personal Situation

Personal Situation

Although there is a lot of literature surrounding patient centred care many articles reviewed do not appear to discuss and indeed neglect to mention the role of the patient as part of the confrontation team. Tomey (2006) see interprofessional working as crossing occupational boundaries and setting aside rightness of ones' views of health care so that we may listen to what other professionals say.

However I have discovered evidence to support my opinion that central to the theme of confrontation practice is the relationship between professionals and patients. An illustration is that interprofessional working is practitioners making a commitment to work with each other across boundaries for the benefit of the patient. Barr (2009)has also remarked that partnership between client and Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) should be regarded as part of the confrontation framework as well as in a team context.

Poor communication and ineffective documentation can lead to a breakdown and is a major source of problems between disciplines. For example whilst on placement I visited a client who needed a phosphate enema. The client's wife advised that it was prescribed by the doctor in his notes. The RPN I was with was unable to locate these details and much to the client's annoyance was unable to administer the treatment. This situation involved embarrassment for the RPN and added to prolonged discomfort for the client. Yet Making a Difference found that one of the easiest ways for healthcare workers to demonstrate confrontation is to share documentation.

Tomey (2006) states in a confrontation there is a team concept, with all professionals sharing in the partnership of care. Because authority is shared, this effort results in more integrated and comprehensive care. To promote confrontation practice, RPN need to be aware of the range of teams and agencies involved in health promotion and acknowledge the client as an equal member of the team. It is also the belief of Barr (2009)that each member of the team has a special contribution towards the goal of the team. I agree that each discipline must have a knowledge of others' roles to ensure each is aware of what the other can contribute. Nevertheless, no one group should take on a dominant role and each group must value the contribution of the others because otherwise this will lead to the creation of adverse interprofessional attitudes and the formation of barriers to clinical effectiveness (Dowswell 1999).

Tomey (2006)found nursing attempts to enhance quality of life. In support of this it is acknowledged that multidisciplinary health care will increase the quality of care to all recipients. On my recent primary care placement I was based in a medical centre working with district RPN. This placement allowed me to experience confrontation in action with; the opportunity to spend time with other professional teams. I spent a morning with the RPN administering childhood immunisations. The health visitor was also running a baby drop-in clinic. So when a child attended for his vaccinations and his mother had concerns about his health he ...