Reflective Practices in Health Care: Collaboration and Compassion

Reflection
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Reflection
Collaboration and Compassion
The nursing profession is a distinct professional. Nurse provides services to patients who are their most vulnerable states. As a result, extra responsibility is required from the nurses to meet that patients’ needs. Nurses should aim to provide services and create an environment that promotes better health outcomes and improved overall well-being and quality of life for patients. Nurses may often need to reflect on their patient care. Reflective practice allows nurses to integrate their emotional response and practical experience into an improved understanding of the care they deliver, supported by evidence-based practice, theory and research.
Program Outcome #5
Compassion and collaborative care are highly desired elements in healthcare delivery. However, there have been increasing concerns regarding decreasing level of compassions in healthcare in developed countries since 2000 (Pfaff, & Markaki, 2017). Pfaff & Markaki (2017) defined compassions as recognition, emotional resonance and understanding of pain, distress and suffering by others, accompanied with motivation and action to alleviate such suffering, distress or pain. Collaborative practice has multiple interpretations, but most people perceived colorations as multiple disciplines of healthcare team members working with patients and families to achieve shared goals via processes, such as inclusive communication and shared decision-making. Collaboration applies perfectly well when dealing with more advanced and complicated healthcare issues such as chronic disease management and patient safety issues.
In healthcare, nurses have often been described as the advocate of the patients. With the level of education, experience and training, nurses hold immense potential in advocating for better interventions that improved quality outcomes among the patients. However, nurses may fail to advocate for patients if they lack compassion and collaboration skills. Compassion and collaborative practice are linked to high-quality healthcare. Recent evidence illustrates a relationship between compassionate care, improved patient outcomes and enhanced provider well-being (Pfaff, & Markaki, 2017). However, despite such observation, compassion remains elusive in the overall healthcare system, remained poorly conceptualized and empirically understood (Pfaff & Markaki, 2017). When appropriately adopted and integrated into nursing practice, compassionate and collaborative care can often lead to improved health outcomes, strengthen care delivery, and manage healthcare costs. These befits are increase broader access to quality, affordable and efficacious healthcare services for populations.
While reflecting, it is apparent that compassion and collaborative practices are associated with specific values, expectations, and needs of healthcare providers, including nurses, patients, and their families. Pfaff & Markaki (2017) perceive compassion as a foundation for ethical practice amongst healthcare professionals, health institutions, and a cornerstone of quality healthcare by patients, families, clinicians, and policymakers.
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