What Hospital Nurses Can Teach You About Teamwork

One of the best professions to turn to if you want to enhance your teamwork skills is nursing. Those working in the nursing field understand the extreme importance of effective teamwork because without it, patients won’t receive proper care and things can quickly go wrong in an emergency. These are some ways in which you can learn about teamwork from hospital nurses.</p> <h2>Rebuilding Teams</h2> <p>No matter the industry, there is always a need for <a href="http://nursing.advanceweb.com/Article/Building-Blocks-of-Teamwork.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">rebuilding teams</a>. A team may work well together for an extended period of time, but there almost always comes the day when a new team needs to be built. Nurses find themselves building new teams on a regular basis, sometimes even daily. The teams that they work in depend on the departments they are working in. Nurses can’t afford to sit around waiting for teams to form on their own. Instead, they take the initiative to seek out other healthcare professionals who can help them accomplish their patient care duties.</p> <h2>Networking with One Another</h2> <p>Hospital nurses can teach you about teamwork because they do a lot of collegial networking. They tend to be members of various associations as well as establish relationships with colleagues who share the same interests. Their willingness to network goes a long way in making sure the teams they work on are effective in accomplishing team goals and agendas.</p> <h2>Tackling Health Issues Before They Start</h2> <p>The top priority of nurses is to work with other healthcare professionals in a way that <a href="http://www.rwjf.org/en/about-rwjf/newsroom/newsroom-content/2012/07/Nurse-Leader-Uses-Teamwork-to-Improve-Pediatric-Care.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">prevents patients from enduring health-related crises</a>. Whether it be preventing the flu, assisting in an open heart surgery procedure, or seeing a toddler for a regular check up, nurses work directly alongside team members to tackle health issues before they start or get worse.</p> <h2>Clearing Up Expectations</h2> <p>Nurses don&#8217;t have time to deal with unclear expectations, and they understand the importance of knowing exactly what is expected. In the nursing profession, one unclear expectation can be the difference between life and death for a patient, and this just isn’t unacceptable. The number one way nurses clear up expectations is by asking for clarification, and when it comes to teamwork, clarification is vital to the overall health and effectiveness of the team.</p> <h2>Respecting Team Members</h2> <p>Many nurses are employed in facilities, including veterinary clinics, where they work alongside hundreds of other healthcare professionals. Because of this, it is very common for some of these nurses to not like one another. They don’t necessarily have anything against one another, but that their personalities clash. When this happens, the nurses understand they can&#8217;t let their personal issues with one another get in the way of the patient care that they provide. Respecting team members is one of the most <a href="http://carrington.edu/blog/medical/top-tips-new-nurses/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">important things you can learn from hospital nurses</a>.</p> <h2> Starting the Day with Shift Meetings</h2> <p>Successful patient care comes through daily shift interchange. Both CNAs and hospital nurses tend to take part in daily shift meetings, and more importantly, the meetings are carried out in person, not via paperwork and notes. During the meetings, agendas are created and this helps to ensure effective teamwork is maintained and that all nurses know what is expected of them during that day&#8217;s/night&#8217;s shift.<br /> When you find yourself overwhelmed with tasks, you need to ask yourself, &#8220;Is there any way that better teamwork could lessen my workload and help me carry out my duties more effectively?&#8221; If the answer to this question is yes, then gathering your team members together and discussing ways to improve collaboration will be extremely valuable. Keep in mind, two factors that tend to influence teamwork in a negative way include unclear expectations and focusing on weaknesses instead of strengths.</p>