92245 Organisational Relationships

Subject level: Undergraduate

Handbook description

This subject enables students to appreciate the nurse's role, status and responsibilities within local, national and global health environments. Critical issues of health care delivery are examined with particular emphasis on the effects of power, policy and politics on everyday nursing relationships. The interpersonal skills required to negotiate and collaborate are developed and students are introduced to the processes of change. Within this subject students are prepared for the transition to registered nurse by exploring the transitional experiences of others and by developing strategies for gaining employment, career advancement and support.

Subject objectives/outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

1. appreciate the relationship between politics and power in constructing health policy (ANMC competencies: 2.2, 2.3)
2. develop an understanding of the ethical and resource based dilemmas which nurses face in the decision making process toward patient care (ANMC competencies: 10.4)
3. determine the role of the nurse in health care delivery processes within local, national, and international environments (ANMC competencies: 4.2, 10.3)
4. discuss the structural and organisational complexity of health care and its impact on nurses (ANMC competencies: 2.4, 2.7. 7.5)
5. appreciate the potential for politics and power to affect therapeutic relationships. Fulfils ANMC (2005) competency (ANMC competencies: 9.1)
6. broaden relationship skills to include those required to negotiate and collaborate in multidisciplinary settings (ANMC competencies: 0.1)
7. prepare for the transition to registered nurse (ANMC competencies: 4.3)
8. recognise the importance of a variety of information technologies for effective management and communication within health care organisations (ANMC competencies: 5.2)
9. develop an appreciation of the finite nature of health resources (ANMC competencies: 2.4)

Content

• Power and policy in health service delivery: Students are introduced to the forces that shape health care policy and the complexity of health care structures and processes. Issues of equity in health care access and policy formation will be presented. Models of nursing care will be discussed and the role, status and responsibilities of the registered nurse at local, national and international levels will be analysed.
• Relationships and the workplace: The challenges in health care today require input and collaboration from everyone involved. Health care teams and nursing delivery models are being promoted as a way to optimise the delivery of quality patient care. Relationships and cooperation within the model of multidisciplinary health care will be analysed. The challenges and opportunities that both multidisciplinary and nursing models have for patient care will be considered.
• Preparing the new graduate for transition to the workplace: Clinical practice offers constant challenges for the professional. For the new graduate, the first of these challenges is how to 'take on' the responsibilities of the workplace and yet be realistic about its challenges. The subject addresses the issues that may confront the graduate and assists the beginning registered nurse to be prepared for such workplace challenges.