Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
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Unit 1 Health Informatics Career Pathway
The use of teams helps to improve patient safety, quality of patient
care, and even customer service. Teams also reduce the cost of patient
care by employing workers with different levels of training. For example,
a nursing team that includes a registered nurse, a licensed practical
nurse, and a certifi ed nursing assistant is able to care for a larger group
of patients than a single registered nurse can. As a healthcare worker,
you need to know your roles and responsibilities within a team and
understand how to be an effective team member.
Roles and Responsibilities
Myesha, whom you read about earlier in this chapter, is part of an
interdisciplinary (ihn-ter-DIH-suh-plih-nair-ee) healthcare team in her
medical clinic. The team members include doctors, nurses, therapists,
medical assistants, insurance representatives, and even the housekeepers
she works with in the offi ce. Each member of the team has different skills
and knowledge and contributes to the patient’s care in a different way.
Myesha knows that she must code patient procedures in a reasonable
amount of time so that the clinic will receive payment for its services.
She knows which people are responsible for each part of patient care and
whom to ask if the medical records lack the information needed.
As part of a diverse interdisciplinary team, Kia—the medical
assistant—organizes appointments so that patients do not wait for long
periods of time and the doctor does not have to wait for the next patient
to arrive. When there is an emergency or a delay, Kia adjusts the schedule
and continues to meet the needs of patients. Calming a frustrated patient
can be a challenge. As the fi rst person who answers the phone, Kia must
quickly assess the level of each caller’s need. If every call went directly
to the doctor, the doctor’s day would be spent on the phone instead of
assessing and treating patients. Sometimes Kia calls 911 if there is an
emergency, but often she can have a nurse return the patient’s call. In spite
of many interruptions to her work, Kia is also careful to keep accurate and
complete patient records so that the billing process goes smoothly.
You also read about Adam, the education specialist. All of the people
on Adam’s team are from the same discipline—they are all educators.
The team members have similar responsibilities that include developing
educational workshops, scheduling groups of students and teachers
to attend the workshops, and organizing equipment and supplies for
teaching these workshops. When the members of this team meet, they
coordinate teaching schedules and evaluate the outcomes of their teaching
methods to make improvements. They all benefi t from working together.
Knowing your own roles and responsibilities is the fi rst step in
becoming an effective team member. You must also know the roles and
responsibilities of the other members of your team. The responsibilities of
each team member are part of his or her scope of practice, which includes
certain tasks he or she is qualifi ed to perform. For example, when Kia
directs a phone call to the nurse, she is communicating a patient’s need
that she is not qualifi ed to meet. By knowing each team member’s scope
of practice, she is able to choose the correct person to help the patient.
interdisciplinary
healthcare team
a group of professionals
from different health science
training backgrounds
working in coordination
toward a common goal for
the patient