As a healthcare provider there are several ways I can help establish a helping hand and healing relationship with my patients and their families. One way is by applying the Circle of Caring Model to my practice. This model focuses on having a more holistic nursing assessment and learning more about the patient’s situation as well as their life, strengths and weaknesses, a view of outcomes based on the patient and their family, while looking at costs of care (Dunphy, Winland-Brown, Porter & Thomas, 2015). By using this model, it will help me have a more in-depth understanding of my patient and their life which can help me provide holistic care and a helping hand. This model not only involves taking care of the patient but also including the patient’s family. It is essential to listen to the patient and their story and what health means to them in order to establish a healthy relationship. I will also establish a helping hand and healing relationship with my patients and their families by proving them with the tools and resources they need for self-care management of their conditions. By supplying them with the tools they need to be successful in managing their illnesses they will know that they have my support and that I am aiding them in being as healthy as possible. Incorporating the patient and their family during each step of the nursing process will help them feel involved in their own care and help me gain trust. I will keep the patient involved during my assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation of their care plan and evaluating their health outcomes. For my patients to feel like they have a healing relationship with me I need to create a nonjudgmental emotional bond, consciously manage my practice in a way that most benefits the patient and display a commitment to caring for my patients over time. This will help my patients trust me and feel like they are being heard when they express their health concerns.

In clinical practice, there needs to be collaboration and strong interdisciplinary relationships to best serve patients. One way to develop professional partnerships with healthcare team members is by taking a team-based care approach. Team-Based care as defined by the National Academy of Medicine is, “The provision of health services to individuals, families, and/ or their communities by at least two health providers who work collaboratively with patients and their caregivers to the extent preferred by each patient- to accomplish shared goals within and across settings to achieve coordinated, high- quality care” (Schottenfeld et al., 2016, p.2). Implementing this approach not only helps develop healthy professional partnerships among team members, but also improves comprehensiveness, value of care, effectiveness, efficiency and the satisfaction of both providers and patients (Schottenfeld et al., 2016). To utilize this team-based care, providers need education, training and there needs to be changes in the culture and organization of care. Developing professional partnerships with other team members includes communication, active listening, trust in others, viewing the team as a whole and using each other’s skills to provide the best quality care for the patients. Having team meetings with all team members to discuss patient care will also help make the relationships stronger. It is also essential to be open to working with other team members and make it known that you want to collaborate with other members of the team to improve patient care.

In order to develop these professional relationships with other members of the healthcare team, there cannot be biases and negative attitudes towards others. Research has shown that implicit biases among healthcare professionals can lead to a negative correlation between the implicit bias and working together to provide quality of care (FitzGerald & Hurst, 2017). It can actually affect quality of care if providers have biases among each other (FitzGerald & Hurst, 2017). I personally do not think I express any biases, negative behaviors or attitudes towards other healthcare professionals that I work with. I have worked hard on being approachable and using collaboration in the nursing job I currently work at. Collaboration is key in providing quality patient care and I know the importance of having strong professional relationships with my co-workers. Listening to others and asking for their opinions while having a positive attitude towards them makes a significant difference. I will continue to strive to have positive behaviors and attitudes without expressing any biases to gain the trust of other members of the healthcare team.

References

Dunphy, L. M. H., Winland-Brown, J. E., Porter, B. O., & Thomas, D. J. (2015). Primary Care: The Art and Science of Advanced Practice Nursing (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis Company.

FitzGerald, C., & Hurst, S. (2017). Implicit bias in healthcare professionals: a systematic review. BMC Medical Ethics, 18(1), 1-18.

Schottenfeld, L., Petersen, D., Peikes, D., Ricciardi, R., Burak, H., McNellis, R., & Genevro, J. (2016). Creating Patient-Centered Team-Based Primary Care. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality