Role Of Collaboration In Nursing

Collaboration with your interdisciplinary team in nursing.
Why collaboration is important to provide high quality and safe patient care

Nursing in the last 20 years has changed dramatically. Even as a young licensed Practical Nurse I knew that being able to communicate with my fellow interdisciplinary team was going to be highly important. Not only for the care of the patients and their families, but to also gather the needed information to stay up to date on all changes in the facet of the healthcare industry. From my experience, you get most of your updates and need to know information from other nursing employees and through word of mouth.
Collaboration with your interdisciplinary team includes not only fellow nurses but also physicians,

All facilities and hospitals require continuing education to keep all employees up to par on the industries newest informatics and health law requirements. At least monthly my employer has some sort of online course that must be completed to stay abreast with all aspects of healthcare. In my opinion, this is highly important due to many changes that occur especially in informatics. With nursing becoming more of a computer driven occupation all nurses old and new must have the knowledge to perform their duties using these updated lines of communication. The times are gone where you must drive or fly to a conference to learn about a new process that has been implemented, now all you need is a computer screen and a telephone. You are still able to ask questions and receive the necessary information, but from the comforts of your office or home. Per Hillery, S. M., Factors associated with professional role socialization of nurses, the professional role of the registered nurse is associated with many socialization factors. One socialization factor is participation in ongoing professional development activities. (Hillery, 1991)These are an important aspect of being a nursing professional, due to changes that occur almost overnight. Networking, on the other hand helps to make you as the nurse feel more a part of a family rather than just a career professional. It also gives you the opportunity to meet with fellow nurses and share stories about the good, the bad, and the ugly. This form of socialization allows you to gather ideas and opinions of other nurses working in all areas of nursing and prepare yourself if such arises. Enrolling in a Nursing Association not only as a student but also as a professional can provide you with nursing related information and networking opportunities that you would not normally experience in the workplace. Options