Surgical Nurses Role In Communication

The speciality surgical nurse plays a crucial role in communication and the inter-professional team. The role of a surgical nurse has rapidly developed into a speciality type of nursing. Medical advances in technology continue to expand and develop for surgical nurses and patients undergoing different types of surgery such as palliative, exploratory, emergency and elective surgery. A surgical nurse is required to have a high level of critical thinking skills, ability to multi task, an extensive knowledge of disease and body systems and competence with working in a multi-disciplinary team. Communication is an essential core skill for surgical nurses and any health professional working within a team (O’Toole. Page 4)

The role of the surgical
Each member within the inter-professional team has a particular amount of knowledge and level of understanding which is why it is important to communicate to our patients at the level of individuals needs (otoole page 8). In the surgical setting a breakdown in communication is commonly one of the major reasons for failures in inter-professional team work, good communication ensures a successful outcome for all (amnc page 4). Communication can be improved through clear role definition, skills, and responsibilities of all team members and respecting one another’s role (jellis page 77). The surgical team leader role within a inter-professional team is to plan, coordinate, monitor the group activities, convey a vision, inspire collaboration. Nurse team leaders need to be good, articulate, effective communicators and good listening skills, with a commitment to a common vision in patient care so that it leads to cooperation and collaboration of all multi-disciplary members (D’Souza). A surgical nurse team leader key role often involves communication through providing feedback, that is required to be in a respectful and compassionate manner (D’souza). It is important
The use of multidisciplinary teams in the acute care setting has increased as numbers of patients with high complexities and their care has increased (Edwards k). Literature defines a team in the healthcare setting as a divergent group of individuals, who are clear about their role and roles of others, that come together to achieve a common goal (Jellis 75). A major obstacle in inter-professional teamwork is that all nurses, doctors and allied healthcare professionals are all educated independently and do not have an understanding of each professions roles and often lack in leadership (jellis v page 73). Teamwork and effective teams are known to enhance staff satisfaction which is a goal of a team leader, additionally research on good teamwork has shown an increasing emphasis on safety and quality of patient centred care and productivity improvement that also in turn decreases hospital stay (Edwards). In the inter-professional team, under the 9 team roles list by Belbin, the nursing team leader best corresponds in the team worker role (Belbin). Team role characteristics include being people orientated, helpful, accommodating and diplomatic, like to work together and create a team spirit but also lack in making decisions at critical times and avoid conflict and