Introduction
Interprofessional collaboration is essential in the health and social care concept that has been in operation for decades. Various situations require health and care professionals to work together to ensure quality service delivery to the clients. For this to happen, effective communication, collaboration and coordination are critical (Thomas et al., 2014). The practice also helps practitioners to gain insightful understanding of other health professionals and harness knowledge exchange between them.
This assignment features a discussion and reflection of my professional role that I picked as a member of a simulated interprofessional team. The assignment required us to choose a case study and analyse it through identifying the key concerns and issues, determine the health professional roles involved and each of the team members to adopt one, work together to come up with a Care Plan to address the issues and concerns identified in the chosen case study, and present the same in the form of a interprofessional team meeting. It also offer a reflective conclusion of my experience in the assignment and what I learnt from the exercise.
Brief overview of the case study and professional roles
The case study selected involved a family where there were concerns and risks around an older person (Khan) with health care needs following a stroke. Our team adopted different professional roles which included adult social worker, physiotherapist, domiciliary care manager, day centre manager, and residential care manager.
I took up the role of a domiciliary care manager. Despite having basic idea of this role, I had to take an extensive research to understand my responsibilities. Through the research I understood that I have a task and duty of care under the Care Act 2014 and the Health and Social Care Act 2010. This information was essential in identifying my responsibilities regarding the case study concerns and issues as well as a member of the interprofessional (Barnes et al., 2017). The Care Act 2014 introduction aimed at harmonizing various care and support entitlements that were regulated by varying legislations making the social care system complex and hard to navigate. The act sort to standardise and simplify care for all eligible adults to help them remain independent via concentrating on prevention measures than dealing with issues when they arise (Cooper and Bruin, 2017). Through this aspect, the act eliminates chances for discrimination that can occur during needs assessment processes (Glasby, 2017). The law puts the main responsibility for care provision on the local authority requiring them to perform needs assessment and eligibility of an adult as well as develop a care plan that suits within the service users’ concerns and issues. In addition, the Act requires local authority to enhance collaboration and partnership between the care service providers, carer, and the service user. It also introduced six principles that aim at safeguarding the vulnerable adults from any harm. These principles are empowerment, protection, prevention, partnership, proportionality, and accountability. It introduced national minimum eligibility criteria and replaced the Fair Access to Care Services (FACS) guidelines (Cooper and Bruin, 2017). This reform means that there are universal eligibility criteria for enrollment to social care applicable in all England councils rather than previously when each local authority set the threshold for eligibility. The requirement for partnership means that care providers must work together through an interprofessional working teams to enhance protection and outcome of the service delivered to vulnerable adults.
As a domiciliary care manager for Khan, my first responsibility as described in the Care Act 2014 (sec. 1) was conduction an initial and needs assessment to determine his needs for care and support. The legislation requires me to ensure extensive need assessment and involve the adult, the carer of the person or the person authorized by the adult to take care of his interest. I had to achieve this goal in liaison with the adult care worker (Scie, 2016). The essence of this assessment was to identify Khan’s needs and wishes to help me and my team of professionals develop a personalised care plan. I had to be mindful of the family issues, cultural and religious needs, and the carer concerns in to ensure Khan gets personalised care upon discharge from our facility (Glasby, 2017). Due to stroke and improper care by his son, Khan had lost his mobility. The hospital recommended that he be taken to a residential home to enhance quality support and care. However, Karim who is the carer of Khan was opposed to this idea. As such, I had to assess the home environment to determine if it’s suitable for Khan. I did this using the Common Assessment Framework which offer diverse approaches for conducting assessments. To understand the client’s needs, we applied the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The approach was crucial in enabling us understand issues and steps to take while developing a concrete and effective care plan. We met as a team to enhance partnership and collaboration as required under the Care Act 2014. Upon deliberation on the issues and concerns, we decided that the Khan’s case met the needed care and support criteria that calls for interprofessional collaboration and meeting to address how each team member will work in enhancing efficient management of the case risks while ensuring safety and better care provision.
Summary
We agreed on working together to safeguard Khan from any potential harm and improve his well-being by developing a care plan that aim at improving his life quality. The interprofessional collaboration was essential to eliminate any chances of harm or death due to negligence or inadequate care. As Frosts’ (2005) argues, communication, coordination, and collaboration are crucial elements in enhancing interprofessional working (Fox et al., 2021). I had to coordinate and communicate with other team members to ensure the social worker commits to see Khan and perform various check-ups to assess his progress. Also, we agreed that we need to involve Karim and his two sisters to ensure there is no discrimination in the process. This also is crucial in observing the interprofessional values and ethics (Glasby 2017)). The team show it important to enhances information sharing to boost understand, collaboration, and eliminate task duplication possibilities. All these efforts were crucial to harness effective formulation of a care plan fit for Khan.
Conclusion
In my conclusion, I will be apply the Boud (1985) reflective model to reflect on my experience on this course and taking part in the interprofessional simulated team. Boud (1985) provides a three-sided model that focus on three aspects What which is the event description, so what which involves the unpacking of the event, and what now expressing learning or knowledge gained from the experience.
What:
I assumed the role of a domiciliary care manager in the interprofessional team. Working with other team members sounded as a normal thing considering I have been part of groups along my career. However, upon researching about my roles, I realized that I had to understand various legislations that informed me on the responsibilities and duties I will be carrying on my role. In particular, the Care Act was a crucial legislation which I had to follow in my duty. The legislation requires care professionals which acts as the agents of the local authority to promote the well-being of the older adults while enhancing their care and support. Considering that the service user in the case study had suffered a stroke, I had to be mindful of any risks and harm through ensuring I safeguard them and enhance his safety as required under the Health and Safety Act 2010 (Cooper and Bruin, 2017). Through the research I gained insightful understanding of the legislations and challenges that one can face in the implementation phase. However, by working together with other professionals was a learning opportunity that enhanced my experience. I realized the need for communication, coordination, and collaboration among members of an inter-professional team as (Frost 2005) recommends. I also understood the importance of inter-professional team in the delivery of credible care services to adults (Littlechild and Smith, 2013). The success of this process require efficient participation the service user to ensure the development of a holistic and personalised care plan that can help manage risk and protect them from harm while observing the interprofessional values and ethics
So What:
The development of our team is a reflection of the Tuckman’s Group Formation Theory (1965). The theory argues that groups undergo five stages which are forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning (Jones, 2019). This theory reflects how our team evolved from the identification of the case study to development of the care plan. In the formation stage, we met, went through the case study, and agreed on which role each member will take. We also agreed to research each ones role independently. The group later met after a moment. This marked the storming stage. I realized that some of the members expressed unease with their assigned roles and wanted to change them. Some push and pull developed which made the group stall for some time (Ambrose-Miller and Ashcroft, 2016). However, I realized that this was part of the group development. After some consultation and argument, we agreed that each member to concentrate on their role making the norming stage. We also agreed to join hands and work together as a team to complete task ahead with insightful realization of how conflict and disagreement can impact teamwork and collaboration in the real life situations. We realized and recognized our differences, understood our diversity, and adopted a working style that accommodated every member. This aspect helped us develop a concrete care plan and present it in the meeting making the performing stage.
Before starting the assignment, I saw myself as a coordinator. However, as we progressed with the task, I turned to the role of a shaper (Belbin 2010). I found myself offering support to other members to ensure the team remained focused on the objective and did not lose the momentum. I am a goal and result-oriented person and my purpose was to ensure we remained on the track of developing a perfect care plan that will fit the service user needs effectively. Hence, I had to motivate other members which made me assume the team leader position. Being a leader meant that I had to chair all the team’s meetings. I would remind the team of our objective and why each member needs to do their best to realize it. However, it was challenging considering I did not have previous experience in leading groups. Nonetheless, I took the position positively and saw it as a learning opportunity. Working together with corporative members made my work easier and we were able to craft and present an outstanding care plan.
What now:
Undertaking the case study and this unit offered me a great opportunity to understand the inter-professional working practices. Through the unit, I worked on different activities which enhanced my knowledge and skills on working in the inter-professional teams. The unit also introduced me to various theories, models, and legislations that care professionals need to follow and apply while performing roles in collaboration with other professionals in the health and care sector (Littlechild and Smith, 2013). I can now link the experience particularly the case study activity to a professional community that apply social learning approach. The task offer a chance to share knowledge, understand the each other’s roles and importance of collaboration in the care sector (Thomas et al., 2014). Essentially, it impacted me on the importance of communication, collaboration, and coordination while working with inter-professional peers (Frost, 2005). Participating in the role research was another learning opportunity. It helped me enhance my researching skills which will be essential in my career journey.
In summary, this unit has been a learning opportunity that has enhanced my knowledge on the essence of interprofessional working in the health and care sector. It also boosted my understanding of different legislations, processes and tools applied in this field. I have gained insights on case study analysis, the meaning and importance of evidence based practices, and critical reflection. I have developed my application of theories and models into real life situations. Notably, the course introduced me to legislation such as The Care Act which will make my practice easier in future. The Frost (2005) model was also a powerful backbone that informed me on how to work together with colleagues and succeed by ensuring efficient collaboration, coordination, and communication.
References:
Ambrose-Miller, W. and Ashcroft, R., 2016. Challenges faced by social workers as members of interprofessional collaborative health care teams. Health & social work, 41(2), pp.101-109.
Barnard, A. 2011. Key themes in Health and Social Care: a companion to learning. Abingdon: Routledge
Barnes, D., Boland, B., Linhart, K. and Wilson, K., 2017. Personalisation and social care assessment–the Care Act 2014. BJPsych Bulletin, 41(3), pp.176-180.
Belbin, R.M., 2010. Team Roles at Work.
Cooper, A. and Bruin, C., 2017. Adult safeguarding and the Care Act (2014)–the impacts on partnerships and practice. The Journal of Adult Protection.
Fox, S., Gaboury, I., Chiocchio, F. and Vachon, B., 2021. Communication and interprofessional collaboration in primary care: From ideal to reality in practice. Health Communication, 36(2), pp.125-135.
Glasby, J. 2017 “Anti-discriminatory Practice and Social Exclusion” in the guided reading book “Understanding health and Social Care” Palgrave, MacMillan.
Jones, D., 2019. The Tuckman’s Model Implementation, Effect, and Analysis & the New Development of Jones LSI Model on a Small Group. Journal of Management, 6(4).
Littlechild, B. and Smith, R., 2013. A handbook for interprofessional practice in the human services: learning to work together. Routledge.
Scie. 2016. Collaborative working and partnership. Available at: https://www.scie.org.uk/care-act-2014/safeguarding-adults/safeguarding-adults-boards-checklist-and-resources/collaborative-working-and-partnership/ accessed on 27th November 2022.
Thomas, J., Pollard, K. and Sellman, D. eds., 2014. Interprofessional working in health and social care: Professional perspectives. Macmillan International Higher Education.