An Importance of Attending Care Conferences for Nurses

Residential care versus hospital settings? Different levels and setting of care but have almost the same task the PN have in either location. PN must take leadership to finish a task. They will delegate tasks to the RCAs and communicate with the other staff members, family members, and the patients. The PN must be able to complete and understand the task especially before care conference and during the conference. Care conference is defined as “a gathering for discussion or deliberation. Multidisciplinary care conference in the nursing interventions classification, a nursing intervention defined as planning and evaluating patient care with health professionals from other disciplines”. It is a very vital and important task because, through this, the patient family can talk about the patient with the doctor whether they are doing good or notб or if there are any changes and improvements in their health. However, before the care conference, the practical nurse must prepare the thing the nurse needs and must also understand her role in the conference. While being in the conference the nurse must also know what do to prevent any potential conflicts that may occur for both the patient and the staff.

The nurse has a very important task before the day of care conference with is preparation. Preparation means”. This is an important task because the health of the patient will be based on the items the nurse will prepare.

Firstly, make sure who are the people attending the conference and the location where it going to be held. They can do it by calling in person or emailing them to remind them that a meeting is going to happen and to whether know they are coming or not and also where it is going to happen. While the nurse is making sure who is coming, she must also schedule which patient is going to have the care conference first, because if it is unscheduled properly and everyone shows up at the same time it will just become too crowded. No meeting will also occur because other patient family members are there and sharing the patient's information no conversation that will start.

After reminding the attendees, the nurse must let their team know that there is a care conference that is going to occur so that they can help, such as making sure that their charting about the patient was accurate and on time. Making sure that the nurse knows about the changes in the patient’s wellbeing.

Next to it is organizing the patient’s care chart. The nurse must organize them because all of the patient’s medical history, diagnosis, lab test result, assessment result and special instruction are on the chart. This needs to be prepared because the physician and other staff in the interdisciplinary team will use these as the base and see if there were any changes from the previous meeting up to date that needs to be addressed. While organizing they must also take note for anything that needed to change in the chart.

Not only the nurse needs to organize the chart but also the list of the patient medication. This is needed because the team will want to know if the medication effective and cause not causing any problem for the patient and the staff members looking after them. If there is a problem, the members of the team that is looking after the patient will assess and check whether the medication is need of change, effective, higher dose, lesser dose, add a new one or stop the medication.

In addition, the nurse must organize the patient’s recent chart that was written by the staff the looked after the patient. This chart is different from patient care chart. It the written reports from the staff about what the patient said, what health concern they have, what they perceived from them, falls that happened or any pressure ulcer that occurred from the past weeks or so. When an alarming concern is reported from the chart and it will be discussed in the conference, a care plan will be ordered for the problem to be managed. Not just a care in needed but also other devices that can improve patient’s well-being. The chart must also include the patient's recent vital sign assessment. The recent vital signs are not included in the care chart. This is important because if the vital signs fluctuate more than it should be it might indicate the patient is experiencing something.

These items and tasks must be prepared before the care conference because through these items a health concern may be discovered and a care plan can be written about it. In doing this task the nurse must have the ability to manage their time because she was to lead the conference for three patients and task need time to complete.

It is not only the preparation of the items are the things the nurse need to do, they also have a very important responsibility that must do during the care conference. Responsibility is described as “A thing which one is required to do as part of a job, role or legal obligation”(Oxford Dictionaries | English, 2018)

First of all, listening is the most important responsibility of the practical nurse during the meeting. This responsibility is vital since the practical nurse is accountable for taking after the patient and making the care plan for them. During the meeting, the doctor will ask something or request something the nurse will be responding to them and the nurse must listen carefully to be able to answer. Through the answers, the doctor refers to create any orders.

Next responsibility the practical nurse must do is to speak up. Speak up means that the nurse is responsible for reporting the patient’s status and any changes in their health. Through this responsibility, the attendees will know and understand if there are any changes in status. Or if their need for the patient to be comfortable or problems that are needed to handle.

Another task the nurse must have, make during the meeting, is, take notes. This is important because when the doctor ordered something must able to write it down so that they can implement it. Order such as changing of medication, need of assessment, and anything that helps the patient to have a improve wellbeing. They take notes, so they can put it to the care plan and be able to let the staff to know and be implemented the order.

Lastly, the nurse must ask questions during the meeting. Nurses are not only to have to listen but also they must ask questions. It is not wrong to ask questions it shows that they are meticulous and do not want any order to be wrong and miscommunicated. By questioning, many factors can arise. These factors can help in many ways such new ideas that help the patient’s well-being or a new problem might discover like alternative ways of treatment.

At anywhere a conflict can occur. Not a single individual experiences conflict at any kind or at anyone. Conflict is defined as “is a disagreement in values or beliefs within oneself or between people that causes harm or has the potential to cause harm”. It not good when there is no conflict but it good if it can be prevented before it occurs. To manage any potential conflict in the future the practical nurse must always listen. Through listening the nurse can take notes of the decisions and orders. If a problem arises, the nurse is able to respond and show the notes she took and be able to prove that she followed the order given to her.

Another thing they can do is to clarify. Anything can be clarified from the order, last test, changes in medication and the request of the family to the patient. They can clarify by asking a question or asking them to repeat it. When the doctor or anyone who attended the meeting gives a request and the nurse wanted to make sure of it is right. When the ask question they can understand more about in what is needed to be documented and followed.

In conclusion, a care conference is both important and time-consuming. In order for it to happen effectively, the nurse must understand what it is. Nurses do not only have a role of taking care, advocating for and educating the patient. They must also have to take responsibility in preparing for the care conference and also act their part during it. They are one of the most important members of the staff. Through, the needs can be address by the staff them. They act as a bridge between the patient and the team that is looking for them.