Essay Example on In the forming stage the day shift staff meet in the staffroom at 7am

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In the forming stage the day shift staff meet in the staffroom at 7am and the nurse in charge of the night shift Nurse 1 comes in to handover the patients The deputy nurse in charge of the day shift arranges which nurses will oversee each of the bays In the beginning there are no interactions as the nurse in charge starts to discuss the patients and the events that occurred overnight Members of staff start to make assumptions on the nurse in charge Forsyth 2014 states that at this stage the members of the group are uncertain of their role and what they should be doing to help the group reach its goal The nurses do not yet know what tasks need to be performed that day and so the handover is useful to inform them of anything that has recently been done to the patient and what needs to be done This is where there is an exchange of information to help the staff perform their activities Mild tension may start to rise in the storming stage as the nurse states that some things have not been done referrals for the social worker and TTOs To Take Out medication for patients have not been requested etc 



Assumptions that were made in the forming stage are revealed and staff start to get frustrated as they handed some of these tasks over days ago Forsyth 2014 states in his book Group Dynamics that conflict is unavoidable in groups like this however argues that low level conflict can be an indication of positive interpersonal relations whereas Fisher 1980 stated that it is most likely do to with boredom and being unmotivated Competition between individuals over being leader occur here as Nurse 1 is formally in charge of the situation as she is handing over however Nurse 1 and Nurse 2 do not get along Nurse 2 tries to gain authority and leadership over the team openly challenging Nurse 1s authority Eventually the Nurse regains authority of the situation and continues handover Forsyth explains that at the norming stage the team prepares to get down to the work at hand and this is proven in handover as team members are still complaining but have gotten over the initial conflict the team becomes more stable and task focussed Team members become more trusting supportive and cooperative Forsyth 2014 and help is offered by the deputy sister who is working in the office that shift and tasks seem to become more manageable 



Differences of opinion are still occurring but are being dealt with constructively through negotiation with other members of the team In the performing stage members shift their attention from what the group is to what the group needs to do Bushe and Coetzer 2007 Staff start the shift and begin to carry out the tasks that have been set for them Along the way more tasks may be added but the group comes together to support each other and the deputy sister helps where possible Overall each member of staff focuses on their individual goal and nurses delegate tasks to others such as asking the HCAs to carry out some observations and repositioning patients to prevent pressure damage Tuckman 1977 described the adjourning stage as the break up of the group which in this cases is the end of the shift where there may be a sense of achievement for individuals if they have completed all of their tasks However tensions could begin to rise again in the following handover if tasks have not been completed The deputy sister may consult her staff to measure the individual s success for the day Overall the handover process was successful Pothier et al 2005 supports the use of pre prepared handover sheets stating that the use of a pre prepared handover sheet and verbal handover almost entirely prevents the loss of information during handover thus impacting on the quality of patient care 



There was also a clear leader in charge of the shift the deputy nurse which meant that conflict did not occur within the team to gain authority as there was already a leader allocated Forsyth 2014 Barriers to communication in the team during handover include noises such as the ward buzzers sounding and members of staff talking amongst themselves When important information is being communicated the less noise the better as a loss of data could occur which would make information inaccurate and the constant noise could cause annoyance in the team Argyle 1975 Not only does this distract others listening to handover but it also means that the members of staff that are talking are not listening to important information about their patients This is where personalities within the group can become obstacles Douglas 1993 states that the domination of an individual demonstrating their personal characteristics within the group is inappropriate and is considered an obstacle to the development of the group in this example the nurse that is demonstrating personal characteristics is Nurse 2 as she is trying to gain authority over Nurse 1 who is handing over It was clear in the group who was communicating well in the group and listening to the nurse in charge you could see those who were listening as they displayed non verbal communication such as nodding their heads which is usually done in agreement holding an intermittent gaze with the speaker and facing leaning towards them slightly Argyle 1975 Whereas those who were disinterested were yawning which usually suggests boredom Argyle 1975 Further behaviours which suggest disinterest include closed posture use of mobile phones and talking to others around them Openness indicates a positive attitude Argyle 1975 therefore in order to show that you are listening you must display an open posture where arms are relaxed and not crossed leaning forward maintaining gentle eye contact Egan 1986


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