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Collaborateive Practice

Collaborative Practice 1

Collaborative Practice

Collaborative Practice 2
Collaborative Practice
In the world of today's nursing, it is virtually impossible to take care of patients without the help of others. Others include but are not limited to fellow nurses, physicians, case managers, physical therapists, speech therapists, the patient themselves, nursing assistants, and patient families. The job of a nurse could not effectively been done without collaborative practice. Collaborative practice involves the nurse along with all the above mentioned people working together to ensure the best patient outcome possible. Collaborative practice involves taking nursing diagnoses and collaborating with all other disciplines to reach the desired outcome. This paper will focus on one patient, the collaboration among healthcare workers to ensure a positive outcome for the patient as well as identification of potential barriers to that collaboration along with the most common situations in which collaboration takes place.
The Patient
For the purpose of this paper, one patient will be focused on to show how collaborative practice takes place. Due to HIPPA this patient will be known only by the initials of D.A. D.A. was admitted to the hospital on February 5, 2007 for uncontrolled seizure activity secondary to alcohol abuse. D.A. was admitted to a step-down unit under the care of a hospitalist. D.A. had a past medical history of brain damage due to previous brain surgery for aneurysm repair, aphasia secondary to aneurysm surgery, alcohol abuse, and a history of smoking. D.A. developed a collapsed lung on February 11, 2007 and was transferred the Intensive Care Unit and placed on a ventilator. D.A. was extubated from

Collaborative Practice 3
the ventilator on February 21, 2007 and subsequently transferred to the Medical/Surgical floor. As the nurse taking care of this patient, it was extremely clear this patient was going to require significant...