Opening Doors in Healthcare
In healthcare, building effective communication and working practices can mean the difference between life and death. The best outcomes for patients are usually achieved when we all work together, learn together and progress our practices and services together.
In order to move the NHS forward, interdisciplinary team work is vital. This is why it is important that we open our laboratory doors and start a dialogue with other healthcare professionals.
There are lots of benefits to connecting with other parts of the healthcare workforce:
- we form a greater understanding of the role of other teams in the hospital, and how our own roles relate to them
- we facilitate the effective communication needed to manage patient diagnosis, treatment and safe discharge
- we lower staff stress levels by seeking the right help from the correct departments and thereby streamline patient services
- we create a safe, productive haven between staff groups where open talking practices are in place - producing a happier and more effective workforce
- we learn to share responsibility for timely patient care
When in place, these key values help us to deliver world-class service and a gold standard of care.
The NHS has been going through tough times; with staffing issues, smaller budgets and an ever growing population to care for. However, within this gloomy picture stands the dedicated staff - the backbone of the NHS. Doctors, nurses, biomedical scientists, pharmacists and countless other professions, working hard, day-in day-out, taking pride in delivering a level of care which is envied across the world. And it is up to us to build as many bridges as possible so that we can keep providing the best care we can.
On Biomedical Science Day this 20 June 2019, we should strive to be the voice of our discipline and our team and open our laboratory doors to other healthcare professionals in the hospital. Together with the IBMS, I have developed the poster attached to this webpage. It can be printed in A4 or A3 and put up in staff rooms – encouraging people to get in touch and arrange laboratory tours.
Hopefully, bringing people in to our laboratories will help us to break down some communication barriers, give people a deeper understanding of our roles and let them know why we sometimes have to make unpopular decisions. It will also give us the opportunity to show the wider workforce that biomedical science is a vital aspect of patient care and that we are all 'at the heart of healthcare' together.
By Sobana Qadus
Biomedical Scientist at Manchester Foundation Trust