I work as a nurse in the Fall Committee in the rehabilitation center. Specialists in this committee aim to provide help for patients who experienced falls and work on their prevention. It is an essential discipline because it falls by hospitalized patients, which may increase their hospital stay and is costly for patients and institutions. My duty as a rehabilitation nurse is to prevent falls and assist individuals with chronic illnesses and adapt to the altered way of life. According to Ruby (2017), “Fall prevention should be a multi-disciplinary effort including physicians, physical and occupational therapists, patients and their families, and of course, nurses.” Nurses’ important responsibility is to provide complete physical assistance and reporting as a part of the post-fall intervention. They have to check the patient’s consciousness and other vital signs and communicate with the family members and inform them of any changes. Analgesics have to be prescribed cautiously to a patient after falling until results from a neurologist.
Effective communication is essential in establishing good relationships within the group. Nurses can communicate verbally and in a written form updating medical documents and information from the briefings. Nursing leadership promotes effective communication and interpersonal collaboration through openness, conflict management, and constant improvement. According to Williams (n. d.), by making themselves accessible, nurses enhance relationships and establish the base for cooperation between other specialists. Nurses can implement an open-door policy to allow their colleagues to ask questions and discuss fall prevention issues. Being able to assist other nurses in implementing their observations from bedside check-ups into an improvement effort is a sign of leadership. Finally, it is crucial to encourage nurses to direct patient care.
Conflicts between employees can morally damage the team, but nurse leaders can approach conflict from the other side, using them for growth and learning. They gather the team and encourage talk and work towards conflict resolution. According to Sibiya (2018), conflicts between specialist and patients or their family members are severe barriers towards quality health care as they distract from tasks or aims. In this case, conflict management promotes collaborative relationships.
The last way to promote collaboration as a nurse leader is to improve the working environment continually. This can be achieved by providing staff with equal opportunities to speak and deliver thoughts. It also includes practicing universal fall precautions. These include making patients familiar with the environment and call light available, encouraging patients not to hesitate and ask nurses for help when needed, and making the area uncluttered. Nursing leadership requires the organization of individual meetings for the team members to make sure that they follow the instructions and raise awareness on fall precautions among patients. The best way to improve the working area is to conduct hourly rounds, ensuring that there is nothing that can lead to falls.
References
Ruby, S. Z. (2017). Preventing in-patient falls: The nurse’s pivotal role. Nursing 2020, 47(3), 24-30.
Sibiya, M. N. (2018). Effective communication in nursing. IntechOpen.
William, E. (n. d.). The role of a nurse leader in communication. Chron.