The Dimensions of Inter-Professional Practice Essay

The Dimensions of Inter-Professional Practice - Essay Example The role of inter professional practice protective meal times in UK hospitals The term protected mealtimes can be described to imply periods within the hospital setting when there are completely no urgent issues or activities at hand. During these times, patients are able to take their meals without interruption and staffs are readily available to offer help to those who need it. Research shows that patients whose mealtimes are protected eat more and are better nourished with improved chances of recovery. Protected meal times can influence achievement of benchmarks including conducive environment, assistance to eat and drink, obtaining food, and food presentation, monitoring, and eating to promote health. Older people admitted to hospital have malnutrition on arrival and most of them are at risk of becoming malnourished or their current nutritional state worsening in hospital, if precautions are not taken. Facilitation of protected meal times Inter-professional working team should fa cilitate implementation of protected mealtimes through the following ways. First, is by ensuring that patients are served with all the three basic meals of breakfast, lunch and dinner. They have to follow each mealtime with a one hour rest period for interaction with visitors, relatives and supporters. The team should also alter the drug delivery time so that patients are given food only after taking their meals and allowed to have enough rest. No other activity should be scheduled during mealtimes to ensure that all patients dedicate their time to meals and no other business. The team should plan to enhance service delivery by recommending a balanced diet and enhancing availability of patient assistants to offer services to patients who are not able to eat by themselves or in need varying assistance. The team should recommend that an audit be carried out after every two weeks to verify whether these rules and procedures of protected meal times are being followed (Rolfe, Freshwater & Jasper 2001). The following measures will be taken by our inter-professional team: There should be medical staff moving rounds, radiology focusing lunchtime slots on other areas, nurse routine- nurses want to get everything done, junior staff reluctant to challenge visitors and staff. The areas intended to put more emphasis include surgical areas, considering how protected mealtimes will interact with theatre lists, and wards which have greater impact on other departments like radiology. This should be followed by an audit to measure and review success in all these areas. There should be an arranged meeting with the hospital management to collaborate and ensure that the whole process is implemented. The unique role of the Inter-professional officials in the Inter-Professional Practice team is both individual and collective in that it takes one’s own conviction and commitment compounded by knowledge and professional experience to mould together with others like minded profes sional colleagues in order to achieve a set collective objective; which in our context is superior delivery of service in protected