W5-Collaboration and Teamwork

Post#2 by Lauren Greene- Collaboration and Teamwork

My place of work is truthfully like no other place of employment that I have ever worked for, and I say that positively. To think that I truthfully almost did not take the position because I was afraid that I would not be able to communicate with my staff and patients and in less than a year I am directing the clinical aspects of the clinic. Within the clinic there are Navegentes, which equate to a medical assistant in most medical offices. Besides performing the normal duties of seeing patients with providers, some of these Navegentes belong to work groups who are assigned to different initiatives that are typically linked to grant monies that fund our clinic. A work group is a collection of individuals who are charged with completing a specific activity or mission (Huber, 2018). Certain Navegentes are delegated the task of running our Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) and Vida Sana Programs. The DPP program is ran by two of my Navegentes and the Vida Sana has three running the classes. Vida Sana is a community health education program that supports patients with metabolic syndrome who are at risk for diabetes by providing nutrition education, exercise support, and cooking classes in a small group setting. Vida Sana is currently in its fourth year, having enrolled over 640 participants. The program has been recognized for its successes, as an article published in the Journal of Community Health reports that “nearly 90% of Vida Sana participants showed an increase in their health literacy, and at least 60% of participants decreased each of the risk factors (blood sugar, cholesterol, body mass index or waist circumference) associated with metabolic syndrome”. Our DPP educates individuals with pre-diabetes about how to lead a healthy life and prevent the onset of diabetes. Pre-diabetes is incredibly common - it is estimated that 1 in 3 American adults have pre-diabetes, the grand majority of it undiagnosed. Clinica Esperanza serves as the DPP provider for the Olneyville Health Equity Zone in Rhode Island.

Nurse leaders are responsible for developing care delivery systems with adequate structure and an effective communication system that enhances care coordination (Huber, 2018). I believe this is evidence on why in less than a year I was asked to direct the clinic with no previous leadership experience. My first day at the clinic as a RN I sat through what was a very quick orientation and began cleaning and reorganizing. It was only a matter of weeks before I started requesting to change different work flows that I believed to be inefficient or non-existent. Any change I made I explained to the staff why I thought my way would work better for the flow of the clinic and would ask staff if they had any objections while actively listening to any concerns. Listening is both a simple and complex process that demands concentration, open mindedness and tolerance (Northouse, 2018). My staff have told me numerous of times that they love that I listen and then execute what was asked of me, if possible that is.

Huber, D. L. (2018). Leadership & nursing care management (sixth). Elsevier.

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Introduction to leadership: concepts and practice (fourth ). SAGE.