Communicating With Pharmacy, RT, OT, PT

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Outline

Overview

Multidisciplinary healthcare teams are key to managing patients with complex health needs.
Nurses are often at the center of this team and responsible for coordinating care.
This requires effective communication and teamwork.

Nursing Points

General

General principles
1. Work to establish a team culture
2. Understand and respect their role
3. Involve other professions in patient handover if possible
4. Training together has huge benefits
5. When schedules clash try to be flexible, if it’s a constant problem consider re-scheduling medications or treatments
Communicating with the MDT (multidisciplinary team)
1. Pharmacy
  1. Get to know them!
  2. Recognize they are an amazing resource
  3. Call if you are unsure about…
    1. Doses
    2. Concentrations
    3. Routes and rates
    4. Contraindications
    5. Compatability
  4. Please and thank you’s go a long way
    1. and may get you your meds faster!! 🙂
2. RT
  1. Include them in your daily planning
  2. If they are around, talk to them about your patients after handover
  3. Let them know if you are worried about a patient
  4. Be willing to work around their medication administration times they are the same as yours.
3. PT/OT
  1. Value their input…
    1. Movement is crucial for decreasing complications associated with hospitalization
    2. Fewer complications = healthier patients = happier nurses

Nursing Concepts

Communication
1. Nurses are central to coordinating multidciplinary patient care and this requires excellent communication skills.
Professionalism
1. Nurses and other healthcare providers demonstrate their professionalism by valuing collaboration and teamwork.
Teamwork & Collaboration
1. The most important benefit of working collaboritively with other healthcare professionals is improved patient outcomes.

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Transcript

Hey guys, today I’m going to talk about communicating with other healthcare professionals- specifically, Pharmacy, Respiratory therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy.

So MDT’s are the norm now for patient care. Patients benefit from having a team of professionals looking after them, this is especially true for patients with complex and chronic illnesses. Most of the time nurses end up being right at the center of this team so we, more often than not, end up making sure things are integrated and coordinated properly.

Okay so here are some general tips to keep in mind. First, try to prioritize fostering a team culture. This is usually best done by working to respect and understand the roles and professions of the other team members.

Keep the communication doors open so that you are talking with the other teams often. Frequent communication will keep things running smoothly.

Occasionally, it can feel like the various goals and objectives of these professionals clash, or they are all needing to happen at the same time. Try to be flexible so that the patient can get all the input they need.

The pharmacy team is an incredible resource, so take some time and get to know them! They may just seem like this voice on the other side of the phone but they are a wealth of knowledge and part of the team!

Call them when you have questions about anything medication related- they are almost always more than happy to help.

Sometimes a little bit of bad blood can seem to develop between nurses and pharmacy because we might be requesting meds and feeling frustrated when they are late. Just keep in mind that politeness goes a long way- and I swear my meds are delivered faster when I am nice on the phone!

So, where pharmacy may seem like they are a voice on the phone, RT will be on the floor with you, in your patient’s rooms with you, in the med rooms with you. So again, get to know them and include them in your daily plans. They are a great resource and are a huge help if you are worried about a patient’s respiratory status. I mentioned this earlier – but learn to be flexible and work around each other’s to-do lists.

When working with PT and OT always keep in mind that getting patients moving is one of the best ways to prevent complications. So their efforts are a crucial step in getting patients ready to go home!

They are a great resource when you have concerns about patient’s mobility or are unsure of how to safely move a patient. And they can really help when providing patient education- especially when it comes time to discharge, so make sure you give them the chance to get involved there!

So, your key points for this lesson are to always keep in mind that no matter how complicated they may seem, Multidisciplinary teams provide the best outcomes for patients. Nurses play a key role in helping coordinate these teams.

One of the best ways to ensure good communication is to include these various professionals in handover or rounds. These fosters teamwork and makes sure everyone is on the same page. Lastly, try to be flexible. Schedules and priorities may clash but the more you can work together the better off for everyone!

We love you guys! Go out and be your best self today! And as always, Happy Nursing!