Effective communication is necessary in order to obtain goals and have positive outcomes. According to Gombert, Jahn, and Rivera-Rodriquez (2012), good listening skills are a characteristic of effective communication and “effective teams have excellent communication and listening skills”. Unfortunately due to time constraints providers or nursing staff do not have to luxury of spending vast amounts of times with patients. In my current position I do have the ability to spend extra time with patients and I have learned so much just by listening to their concerns and problems. Often times, I am able to share what I have learned with the Primary Care Providers and this in turn has helped guide treatment plans. A good example, I had a patient that could not afford to pay medication co-pays and was embarrassed to tell their physician. I was able to make the physician aware and the physician agreed to write new prescriptions so the patient could receive a 90 day for the same price as a 30 day supply of the medication. This is also demonstrates the need for teamwork to promote positive …show more content…
Although research and safety standards are of great importance and needed to support healthcare and nursing, I find it grueling and redundant at times. It is one of those necessary evils, you must participate and understand in order to have positive outcomes and have successful programs. Politics however is another beast. I have seen firsthand how politics can negatively influence healthcare. In my past, I was the director of a local home health agency within the health department and ran by local elected officials. Healthcare decisions were being made by individuals that did not have any medical background and had their own agendas to fulfill placing the communities’ health in jeopardy. Although it will never happen, because of government spending in healthcare, politics and healthcare should be