iCARE Paper
Interprofessional teamwork in nursing practice facilitates coordinated patient care in
cardiac nursing setting. As a cardiac nurse in critical patient care in a hospital setting, I am
expected to collaborate with other healthcare workers in planning, delivery, and management of
acute cardiac complications of different patients in the ward. The level of care at the cardiac
ward depends on the unique patient nursing care needs and the nature of treatment plan decided
by the interdisciplinary team. Interprofessional teams are present in my work setting and play a
critical role in achieving positive patient care outcomes. The interprofessional team comprises of
physicians, cardiac care nurses, pharmacists, cardiologists, and biomedical engineers. The team
function that requires improvement is pain management in cardiac patients. The team members
collaborate and participate in decision-making regarding the vascular monitoring, medication
administration, stress test evaluations, and conducting of heart surgeries. The paper will discuss
interprofessional teams in my current work setting and how the efforts of the team can deliver
quality cardiac nursing care founded on compassion, advocacy, resilience, and evidence-based
practice (EBP). The paper will identify the nursing action and roles for each iCARE element, the
impact on the organizational culture, and impact on patient outcomes.
Compassion
Compassion refers to responding to others’ suffering and emotional distress. Compassion,
empathy, and emotional connectedness are central in responding to patients’ physical, social, and
emotional needs in pain management at the acute cardiac nursing unit. A nursing action that
could contribute to compassion through interprofessional team support is ensuring
compassionate collaborative care (CCC) and addressing the psychological and emotional needs
of the pain during pain management alternative evaluations (Plaff & Markaki, 2017, p 65).
Cardiac patients are vulnerable to pain and emotional stress and interprofessional team should
address spiritual and emotional needs of the patient in pain and stress management by alleviating
pain immediately after major surgery, counseling the patient on family issues, and advising them
on ways to maintain positive attitude during the recovery process (Nissim, Coleman, Malfitano,
Rodin & Elliott, 2019, p 33). The implementation of compassion in acute cardiac nursing unit
will foster a collaborative team work environment that facilitates task coordination and shared
decision-making in the entire organization. The nursing action enhances expected patient
outcomes by relieving patient pain, reducing patient stress levels, facilitating nursing care
delivery, and enhancing patient satisfaction with the overall treatment. Compassion has led to
respect among team members and positive engagement in the unit (Plaff & Markaki, 2017, p 65).
Advocacy
Advocacy entails defending property and rights of others, and entails advancing and
protecting the interests of patients. A nursing action that can advance advocacy at the unit is
prioritizing patient needs and making informed decisions regarding the care needs of the cardiac
patients. The interprofessional team at the unit is expected to protect the interests of the patient
by considering the patient beliefs and perspectives regarding the preferred treatment mode and
incorporating the unique needs of each patient in decision-making (Plaff & Markaki, 2017, p 65).
The acute cardiac patients are vulnerable and nurses are expected to respect the inherent dignity
of each patient, prevent unethical practices, and utilize due diligence in preventing medical errors
(Nissim, Coleman, Malfitano, Rodin & Elliott, 2019, p 31). The nurse action will create a
intercultural awareness at the unit and support cultural diversity in decision-making. In this case,
advocacy will lead to high recovery rates and reducing of medical errors (Plaff & Markaki, 2017,
p 65).