Since beginning the practical component of this course, I am constantly learning the importance of working with the other allied health professionals and the value of developing a good relationship with them. Until my current neuro practical, I have had a positive experience with nursing staff, OT’s and the doctors and realise the benefit of working with them as a team for the patient’s optimal outcome. At the beginning of this placement, the other students and I were introduced to all the staff on the ward and over time have built a respect for each other, with the one exception being an occupational therapist.
There are a few OT’s that currently work on this ward, and a majority have been so helpful in my learning of the overall rehabilitation required post stroke. Unfortunately I have had repeated incidents with one OT with regards to a particular patient and scheduling our respective treatment sessions. On the ward there is a board with patient’s names and room numbers on, and there is a column for allied health professionals to write in appointment times. Over all this board has been a great help in organising my day and treatment times with patients. This particular OT is the only staff member that does not utilise this board consistently, and it has resulted in them returning a patient to ward repeatedly late for my treatment sessions- with me waiting up to an hour for them to return.
Initially I just accepted that not all treatment session times can be predicted, but after several of these incidents I decided to approach them about the issue. Before addressing this concern with the OT, I was nervous as she was a qualified professional and I have never had previous conflict with hospital staff before. In the end I decided the best approach was to acknowledge the issue: that by repeatedly showing up late, it was impacting on my treatment sessions and then offer an easy solution: Ask her to utilise this board to avoid future situations. I attempted to discuss this with her in the most respectful way, and was relieved when she apologised for her actions as she didn’t realise I had booked appointments with that patient. She accepted the solution, and has since used this board to avoid future miscommunications.
My learning from this experience was that although daunting at times, if you approach other staff with respect and a reasonable solution, issues can be resolved quickly and can usually be a simple result of misunderstanding. If any one has any other possible solutions or alternative ways I could have better approached this situation I would appreciate it. Thanks.
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You did well ange, I find that generally, if you approach the staff and negotiate with them, they are usually quite well with organising a time so that you can do your treatment. If they can't, then you will have to work around what they are doing. And just to note that not all staff will check the boards so it is best to double check with them whenever possible, so lets say you want to do your session early lets say at 9am, go and talk to the nurses and make sure they can get them ready. In the end, we are all working to help the patient get better!
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