Published by: Sandy Laycox on 12/14/2011 8:45:04 AM
William Bruno, M.D., pediatric medical director of Memorial Integrated Health at Memorial Healthcare System, sits at a table surrounded by an integrated health care team. They’re discussing 10-year-old Dyman Hicks, who shares a chronic illness with her mother – end-stage renal disease. Bruno pauses at this fact, and then listens intently as Social Worker Eneida Medina describes Dyman’s demeanor during a recent visit to her home. “There are many situations where a nurse goes to the home and tells us, ‘my patient needs a little bit more care,’” Bruno explains. “That’s why it’s so vital that we have the social worker and the nurse at the meeting.”
Bruno and his team at Memorial Healthcare System are practicing interprofessional collaboration, which involves multiple health professionals working collaboratively in fully functional teams. And nurses are increasingly being seen as an important part of these teams. According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, “Because they are trained to treat the whole patient, nurses are particularly well equipped to understand, promote and facilitate true collaboration.” As Dyman’s story illustrates, nurses’ crucial role becomes apparent in the complex needs of children with chronic disease. As nurses are integrated into the patient dialogue, patients and their families truly become the central focus of care.