Question

dentify a professional nursing organization and review their position on interprofessional practice Review the following case study: Case Study: Ms. Tuckerno has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). The patient receives care at an internal medicine clinic. Her internist is not in the office today and she is being treated by the nurse practitioner. The patient is on two medications for her MS, three different blood pressure medications, one medication for thyroid disease, one diabetic pill daily, insulin injections twice a day, she uses medical cannabis, and uses eye drops for glaucoma. Upon assessing the patient, the nurse practitioner (NP) decides her treatment plan should be adjusted. The NP discontinues some of the patient’s meds and discontinues medical cannabis. She orders the patient to follow up in two weeks. The patient returns and is seen by her internist. The internist speaks with the patient and reviews her medical chart. The internist states to the patient, "I am dissatisfied with the care you received from the nurse practitioner." The internist places the patient back on originally prescribed medications and medical cannabis. By Day 3 Post an explanation of your understanding of interprofessional practice. Also, explain the position on interprofessional practice for a professional nursing organization that you are a member of or of which you plan to become a member. Then, explain what you think is the best collaborative approach to manage Ms. Tuckerno’s care.

Answer 1

Interprofessional Care or practice is the provision of complete health services to patients by different caregivers who work collaboratively to provide quality care within and across the healthcare settings. An interprofessional practice ensures multiple benefits like improving access to health care, better outcomes for people with chronic diseases, less tension and conflict among caregivers, effective use of clinical resources, easier recruitment of caregivers, and lower staff turnover rates. It requires collaboration form professionals of healthcare and education systems and with patients and families. The elements of collaborative practice include responsibility, mutual trust and respect, coordination, communication, cooperation, assertiveness, autonomy, and mutual trust and respect and accountability. Interprofessional Practice collaboration between providers as essential for efficient and effective care delivery (Bankston & Glazer, 2013).

There should be an increased collaboration between the NP and the physician for the better care. The elements of collaborative care must be preserved. The failure of communication between the providers for this patient leads to the disputes. The absence of mutual respect of providers is seen in this case.

The nurse practitioner was supposed to follow the treatment plan unless there was an issue of safety for the patient. Effective communication with the internist when he returned could have enabled them to discuss the issues that the patient was having at the time and creating a better treatment plan. NPs are supposed to communicate with the physician about there plan of care. The attitude of the physician in discussing the NP with the patient was also not appreciable.

According to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), more than 234,000 nurse practitioners (NPs) are licensed in the United States. The workforce of NPs has nearly doubled since 2007 when there were an estimated 120,000 NPs. The patient's faith in NP-provided health care is evidenced by the more increased number of visits made to NPs annually. NPs have been providing primary, acute and speciality health care to patients of all ages for more than a half-century with emphasis on the high-quality, patient-centred care. The growing number of nurse practitioners continue to be one of the solutions to America’s health care needs.

The collaboration between NPs and physicians is needed for the effectiveness of the care. Patient must be benefited from the collaborative practice. The resistance from few physicians along with support from many are seen about NPs practice. According to Bankston & Glazer, 2013, there are many issues like gender (physician being male-dominated, and nursing being female dominated) and hierarchy (physician vs. nurse) that may have a negative effect on the collaborative process. The lack of understanding of the NPs scope of practice on the part of the physician is another problem (Hain & Fleck, 2014). The NPs and physicians can work together to ensure all aspects of healthcare are addressed and positive outcomes for the patients are achieved. Mutual trust, respect and the freedom to perform within the scope of practice is essential for the effective and positive collaboration. There (Bankston & Glazer, 2013).

In the above case study, both the physician and NP made mistakes in terms of breach of mutual respect or trust. NP should not have modified the physician's treatment plan unless there was a safety issue without discussing with the Physician. The physician should not have revealed his dissatisfaction with the NPs care to the patient. The healthcare team must have a team spirit and autonomy to gain patients confidence.