HOW DOES INTERPROFESSIONAL WORKING IMPACT ON PROFESSIONAL Essay

HOW DOES INTERPROFESSIONAL WORKING IMPACT ON PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE CLINICAL SETTING - Essay Example The patient will be referred to as Mr. X to maintain confidentiality as stated in the nursing and midwifery code of professional conduct (2007). The author’s interest in Mr. X is based on his clinical experience and reflection of his involvement in the delivery of his care. The positive and negative aspects of inter-professional team will be discussed. Also, the author will use appropriate literature to examine how responsibility and accountability can be enhanced through inter-professional working. According to Alan (2007), Inter-professional working is defined as a practice where a number of professionals with different qualifications come together to meet a particular target. Some of their characteristics include direct service delivery, good professional relationship, collaboration and communal trust. Further, Matrix and Weeds (2007) describe Inter-professional working as a group of professionals with complementary skills, who are committed to a common purpose and hold themselves mutually accountable for its achievement. Inter-professional working includes collaborative practice, multi-professional working and team working. This is supported by Mickan and Rodger, (2000a) who describe teamwork as shared and agreed responsibilities, decision making and problem solving. The members of an inter-professional team communicate effectively in order to provide quality patient care. According to Braine (2006), clinical governance should be viewed as an opportunity to improve care delivery in the aftermath of some highly publicised failures in the NHS in the 1990s. The most notable of these was the Bristol Royal Infirmary Inquiry (2001) which accounts for 23 deaths of cardiac surgical paediatric patients. Other notable cases were the Royal Liverpool Children’s Inquiry (Alder Hey Inquiry), the case of the GP Harold Shipman (Smith 2005), and the trial of the nurse Beverly Allitt in 1993