A Morning in Their Shoes by Kati Blocker for UCHealth shares the importance of doctors understanding the roles and responsibilities of RNs. First-year residents at Poudre Valley Hospital spend an entire shift shadowing nurses and learning their duties, patterns, and the difficult, in-depth caregiving nature of their work. The newfound appreciation for RNs help the residents be better doctors and better coworkers, "it fosters better communication and better patient care." (Blocker, 2017)
For example, one resident noted during her shadowing shift that nurses are constantly traveling back and forth collecting medicine orders. She realized that timing her own order made no difference to her or the patient but could significantly reduce strain on the RN. The now second-year resident places all orders at once so that the nurse is not wasting time and energy having to constantly ping-pong between the pharmacy and patients.
Although most standard hospitals have a pyramid or dual-pyramid structure, this type of matrix style communication opportunity is important for all stakeholders.
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Interesting article! It really shoes how valuable it could be to put yourself in your co-worker's shoes. I feel as though this could create better understanding and collaboration.
ReplyDeleteThere is a probably a systemic fix that could be put in place if leadership could coordinate it. This is the kind of thing that people who study Lean work on. They try to eliminate waste in processes.
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