Affordable Care Act introduction was a significant step of revolution for the health sector in the US. The act brought with it amendments that introduced the five core competencies in nursing, among them the creation of interprofessional teams. Health care is now more than treating diseases but aims at providing wholesome care, which necessitates collaboration between professionals in various disciplines. According to the American Nurses Association, inter-professional teams make healthcare patient-centered and easier to educate and monitor patients(Berman, Snyder, & Frandsen, 2016). The iCARE components: compassion, advocacy, resilience, and evidence-based practice have significantly improved the quality of healthcare at Joyhopes Hospital and Nursing Home. The inter-professional team, which comprises of the management and staff, has embraced the iCARE concepts thus enhancing patient-doctor relation considerably. This essay explains how medical practitioners at Joyhopes Hospital contribute to inter-professional teams through iCARE.
Compassion
The ability to feel the pain, worries, and concerns of patients is a practice advocated for in nursing and across all medical fields. Nurses are in constant contact with patients and have most details of the progress of the treatment. Compassion draws the medical practitioner closer to the patient, who becomes more willing to disclose personal information that could be essential in the treatment process ( Durkin, Gurbutt, & Carson, 2018) . Talking an example of a patient who has lost his lower limbs in a car accident, the patient is traumatized, in pain, and wants reassurance that he will walk again. In this case, inter-professional teams increase patient outcome. The orthopedics will be required to ease the pain and find solutions to his broken legs, and then counselors will help him get over the trauma, especially if he lost people close to him in the accident. Nurses will at the same time, nurse his wounds until he is well, and then pass him over to physiotherapists. The whole process requires all practitioners to go beyond being professionals, to feel the pain and concerns of this patient ( Durkin, Gurbutt, & Carson, 2018) . In this case, different professionals have come together to provide better quality healthcare. Such collaboration cultivates a culture of appreciation of diversity and discovering the niche of every individual in a hospital. It is through such inter-professional success stories that every professional appreciates the need for compassion to patients ( Berman, Snyder, & Frandsen, 2016) , as they change departments. The treatments should focus on beyond treatment of pain: the need to connect and understand individual patients.
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Advocacy
In most cases, patients do not know their rights or have no power to fight for them. Nurses are also advocates of patient rights for quality healthcare. At the same time, advocating for patient rights can be controversial ( Abbasini, Ahmadi & Kazemnejad, 2019) , and could lower the security of the nurse’s job. It is especially daunting when the nurse has to advocate for patient rights across professions. The practice is a challenge in a case where the facility feels the nurse is contravening the ethical and legal precepts of the practice. One of the steps of advocacy is allowing the client access to their medical information ( Berman, Snyder, & Frandsen, 2016) . As witnessed at Joyhopes Hospital in the recent past, a nurse was fired for offering information that the facility was not “ready to offer the client yet." The statement meant that the hospital was withholding information that the nurse found essential for the decision making of the patient. The case involved a dentist and a laboratory technician who had received samples on the client’s dental health, which was as a result of an allergic reaction due to drugs administered by the same hospital. Advocacy in inter-professional teams is not an easy task, and choosing how far to go can be hard to define. Advocacy requires boldness with modesty, which could create a culture of disparity among disciplines ( Abbasinia, Ahmadi & Kazemnejad, 2019) , which affects patient outcomes negatively.
Resilience
Due to the stressful nature of their career, nurses are expected to bounce back even after experiencing the most horrifying sights ( Thomas & Revell, 2016) . For instance, Joyhopes staff responded to a fire incident last week. The sight was horrific, with close to ten people being burnt beyond recognition, and many others severely injured. The emergency medicine team was first to arrive and managed to rescue a number aided by the fire brigade. The nurses waiting at the hospital were expected to attend to all the affected despite their regular working routines. Those who work in the pediatrics, neurology and planned Parenthood had to respond too, which was not easy for them as they have not worked in the accidents and emergency department for years. Although they have specialized in different professions, they had to respond to the emergency, and remain strong enough to perform their duties the next day, the resilience that is required of medical practitioners in all departments. Resilience inculcates team spirit, since helping other professionals reduce their workload does not feel like being overworked for the helpers.
Evidence-based practice
Professionals are expected to make decisions based on experience, facts, and data. In the decision-making process, all stakeholders from different professions should be involved to avoid scenarios of uncooperative staff or unsatisfied patient advocates. All decisions must be made based on client feedback, the availability of resources, and timeliness of the intervention (Ellis, 2019). As part of developing patient-centered care, the organization emphasizes that all the concerned must be informed of decisions that affect them, especially when care spreads across disciplines. If this was practiced diligently, there could be less of workers grumbling, go-slows, and strikes, as it creates a culture of inclusion and improves motivation, and consequently improved patient outcomes.
Summary
iCARE was initiated as an avenue to improve healthcare and improve patient outcomes, especially with the establishment of inter-professional teams. Practitioners who attend to their patients with compassion, advocate for their best treatment, are resilient in their duties, and evidence-based practice medicine create a culture of continuous improvement. The management has the role of motivating employees from all hospital departments by involving them in the decision making the process and rewarding work well done.
References
Abbasinia, M., Ahmadi, F., & Kazemnejad, A. (2019). Patient advocacy in nursing: A concept analysis. Nursing ethics , 0969733019832950.
Berman, A., Snyder, S., & Frandsen, G. (2016). Kozier & Erb's Fundamentals of Nursing: Concepts, process, and practice . Boston, MA: Pearson.
Durkin, M., Gurbutt, R., & Carson, J. (2018). Qualities, teaching, and measurement of compassion in nursing: A systematic review. Nurse education today , 63 , 50-58.
Ellis, P. (2019). Evidence-based practice in nursing . Learning Matters.
Thomas, L. J., & Revell, S. H. (2016). Resilience in nursing students: An integrative review. Nurse education today , 36 , 457-462.
